Little Feat

About Little Feat

Little Feat started as one of those early seventies Los Angeles bands that everyone in the music industry seemed to know about before the general public caught on. Lowell George formed the group in 1969 after getting kicked out of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention, reportedly for writing a song Zappa thought was too commercial. That song was "Willin'," which tells you something about how weird things were back then.

George pulled together bassist Roy Estrada from the Mothers, keyboardist Bill Payne, and drummer Richie Hayward. Their self-titled 1971 debut had that swampy, loose-limbed groove that became their signature, mixing rock with New Orleans funk, country, and jazz in ways that shouldn't have worked but did. "Willin'" appeared on that first record, and while the album didn't sell, the right people were paying attention.

The second album, "Sailin' Shoes" in 1972, refined their sound without cleaning it up too much. The title track and "Trouble" became staples, and George's slide guitar playing was already sounding like nothing else in rock music at the time. But commercial success remained elusive. They were a cult band, which meant critics loved them and they could barely pay rent.

Everything shifted with "Feats Don't Fail Me Now" in 1974 and especially "The Last Record Album" in 1975. They'd added a second guitarist, Paul Barrere, and percussionist Sam Clayton, and the expanded lineup let them stretch out. "Oh Atlanta" got some radio play. They were touring constantly, building a reputation as a killer live band. "Waiting for Columbus," their 1978 live album, captured what people had been talking about and is still considered one of the better live rock records ever made.

Then "Down on the Farm" came out in 1979, and Lowell George died of a heart attack during the tour. He was 34. The band fell apart, which made sense given that George had been the primary songwriter and the center of their sound.

The surprising part is what happened next. The surviving members regrouped in 1987 with Craig Fuller on vocals and kept going. George's death could have been the end of the story, but they've been touring and recording for decades since. They've had various lineups, with Payne as the constant presence. Barrere was with them until he died in 2019.

They're still playing now, which feels both strange and appropriate for a band that always operated slightly outside normal music business logic. The setlists lean heavily on the Lowell George era because that's what people want to hear, but they're not just a tribute act. They're professionals who show up and play the songs right. Some bands from that era turned into nostalgia acts. Little Feat just kept being a working band.

Little Feat crowds are devoted without being cultish. Shows move at their own pace, unhurried, with the band treating every song like it deserves the space to breathe. People actually watch and listen instead of just standing there. The energy builds steadily rather than peaks and crashes.

Known for Dixie-Chicken, Oh Atlanta, Sailin' Shoes, Rocket in My Pocket, Fat Man in the Kitchen

See Little Feat Live