Riding on the success of "Red Headed Stranger" Willie was given a reasonable degree of freedom by his record company. But they must have still had their doubts when Willie went outside of his country background to release a collection of covers of classic tin pan alley songs. It's a musical gamble that works though. Willie seamlessly blends the jazzy tunes like "Georgia on my mind", "Blue skies", "Somebody to watch over me" and Moonlight in Vermont" with a hint of his country background, similar to the mix of styles that Norah Jones would later toy around with in her first two albums (but then it's known that she's a big Willie fan).
The real star here is Willie's voice. It's so distinctive, somehow strong and frail at the same time. He makes these familiar songs come alive in a new way. Will definitely keep an eye out for this one next time I'm out shopping.
*as you can see from the top of this post, I have since found a copy too
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