Paula Nelson’s album Little City, which draws its title from her home in Austin Texas, opens with the reflective and meandering song “Ready Or Not,” an appropriate salutation to a splendid album, by a gifted singer – songwriter who has toured extensively in recent years. Ms. Nelson grew up playing with Johnny Cash and June Carter’s children and in the company of fellow Texan Kris Kristofferson, a close friend of her father Willie Nelson. She considers Rita Coolidge, who at the time was married to Kristofferson, to be one of her early mentors. Paula Nelson learned her lessons well and absorbed all that musical culture, while adding her own signature to her music. Paula Nelson is much more than the daughter of a music icon, for she is a very talented artist in both the studio and on stage and she is also warm and friendly.  Landis Armstrong’s guitar solo on “Ready Or Not,” strikes the right balance, impressing you with his playing, while not coming across as showy or gimmicky.

Ms. Nelson is backed on the album Little City, by her band The Guilty Pleasures and on the title song the sound is reminiscent of classic country. The use of a resonator guitar adds another layer and serves as a fine compliment to Paula Nelson’s gentle vocals that possess a bit of a vibrato.  The mood is laid back, and it is late at night. There is the sky and the lake and the singer is alone with her thoughts.  

One of the treasures included on Little City is the duet that Paula and Willie Nelson sing as they cover John Fogerty’s “Have You Ever Seen The Rain,” in down-tempo fashion. The playing is elegant and you just want to sit back, close your eyes and listen to a legend and his daughter; an artist who has already turned more than few heads in music circles. They take turns singing verses and harmonize on the chorus. There is also a guitar solo by Willie Nelson.

There is a little bit of something for everyone on Little City by Paula Nelson & The Guilty Pleasures and the fourth song “Drink,” bears evidence of that as it is a saloon song that rocks, and Ms. Nelson’s friend Carolyn Wonderland sits in on guitar and vocals.  In contrast, Paula Nelson’s original musing “Riddles and Rhymes,” that wonders aloud why it is that when we think we make the right choices they aren’t so right and when we think we are wrong, we are wrong about being wrong.  Landis Armstrong serves up a lesson throughout this album to young guitarists in how to accompany a singer versus competing for the spotlight and we will take a moment here to compliment the sound engineer, for the mix on this album is superb.

“Here Comes The Rain,” the longest song on the album, at 5:20 has that Tony Joe White “Polk Salad Annie,”  guitar vibe supporting Paula Nelson’s recounting of a rainy day friend and the struggles of a friendship that seems wish washy at best. The rainy theme continues with “Baby Blue,” another original by Paula Nelson and a song where a digital echo chamber is used with the guitars and it creates a retro early sixties sound effect.

Little City closes out with “Laugh While You Can,” a relationship song that causes one to ponder if this is drawn from personal experience, as Paula Nelson told this writer two years ago, “If it wasn’t for relationships, I wouldn’t have any songs.” This song is neither a song about broken hearts, nor is it about being madly in love; it is about taking the relationship for what it is and in stride, enjoying the good and taking things one day at a time.

Paula Nelson is one of the most honest songwriters in music today and she is a good singer backed by a strong band, The Guilty Pleasures.