Four Crossroads for Little Feat

LOWELL GEORGE in 1973. The spiritual leader of Little Feat couldn’t chase away his demons. His death in 1979 ended Little Feat’s ’70s run. Source: Getty Images

Lowell George propelled Little Feat to be among the top rock bands of the ’70s despite not charting one hit single.

Little Feat is the quintessential American band. They might have formed in Southern California (in 1969), but their pedigree is steeped in Southern rock, Memphis blues, New Orleans swamp boogie, jazz, and country stirred into a rich “rad gumbo.” Could it be that Little Feat is comfort food?

Their ’70s songbook includes such beloved classics as “Willin'” (1971), “Oh Atlanta” (1974), “Time Loves a Hero” (1977), “Dixie Chicken” (1973), “Fat Man in the Bathtub” (1973), “Spanish Moon” (1975), and “Down on the Farm” (1979).  Not since Creedence Clearwater Revival has a California band taken on such a swampy persona.

Here are four crossroads for Little Feat:

1) Phi Zappa Krappa

In the late ’60s, Lowell George played guitar and sang in a famous band called the Mothers of Invention (along with future Little Feat bassist Roy Estrada). Head Mother Frank Zappa fired George for performing his song “Willin'” which contained the lyrics, “And if you give me weed, whites, or wine.” Frank tolerated casual drug use among band members, but drug references in lyrics reflected poorly on the whole band (and especially Frank). Zappa told George to go out and find his own damn band.

Legend has it that before George was shown the door, a member of the Mothers, Jimmy Carl Black (“I’m the Indian of the group!”), told George he had “little feet.” A band name was born with “feat” instead of feet, a homage to the Beatles.

Zappa eased his guilt by helping Little Feat secure a recording contract with Warner Bros.

Little Feat. Source: Alamy stock photo

2) The Decline of Lowell George

The young man from Hollywood High School was finding it increasingly difficult to cope with being Little Feat’s founder, producer, bandleader, songwriter, and lead singer. So he started taking large amounts of drugs and alcohol on a daily basis, for which he would pay the ultimate price.

But before that played out, Lowell George was making a name for himself. He taught himself how to play a sublime slide guitar. By 1972, George crafted a complementary band lineup that would last for the decade: Kenny Gradney replaced Roy Estrada on bass, Bill Payne on keyboards and vocals, Paul Barrere on guitars and vocals, Sam Clayton on percussion, and Richie Hayward on drums. Payne and Barrere were particularly strong songwriters.

After back-to-back hit albums with Dixie Chicken (1973) and Feats Don’t Fail Me Now (1974), George’s substance abuse accelerated. By mid-day, he was often on his second bottle of brandy with a mound of cocaine at the ready. George caught hepatitis and withdrew from production duties for the 1977 album Time Loves a Hero. His only songwriting contribution for those sessions was “Rocket In My Pocket.”

Withdrawal

By the late ’70s, George was spending less and less time with the band he founded. He became a session player for various artists such as Bonnie Raitt and Robert Palmer. He produced the 1978 Grateful Dead album Shakedown Street. George recorded a solo album titled Thanks, I’ll Eat It Here.

In the summer of 1979, Lowell George went on tour to promote his solo album. On June 29, 1979, at a tour stop in Washington, DC, George died of a massive heart attack alone in his hotel room in Arlington, VA. He was 34.

Here is Little Feat performing “Dixie Chicken” on the TV Show Midnight Special in 1977, featuring Bonnie Raitt and Emmylou Harris, three minutes long, published by William Muppet via YouTube:

3) Who Rocked the ’70s?

When namechecking the best rock bands of the ’70s, Little Feat is often forgotten. Easier-to-recall favorites who peaked in the ’70s include Billy Joel, Eagles, the Grateful Dead, Queen, the Doobie Brothers, Steely Dan, the Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Wings, and Led Zeppelin.

The problem for Little Feat is that they never really had a true hit single. Without hits, it isn’t easy to get songs on the radio. Little Feat bet the house on recording full-length record albums. They released seven between 1971 and 1979. A live album, Waiting for Columbus, went Platinum in 1978. All of the bands listed above released the same number of albums in the ’70s give or take just one.

Another reason Little Feat seemed to get the short shrift is that nobody wrote a biography about the band until 2013, when esteemed Rolling Stone writer Ben Fong-Torres published “Willin’: The Story of Little Feat.” The book is full of testimonials from fellow musicians like Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, and Marshall Tucker bearing witness to Little Feat’s greatness.

Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin said in a 1975 Rolling Stone interview that Little Feat was his favorite American band.

Source: Wikipedia

4) Keep On Keeping On

The death of Lowell George “cost the band their joy,” according to Little Feat’s website. The band went on hiatus until a chance 1986 meeting between Bill Payne and Paul Barrere sparked plans to get Little Feat walking again. They recruited singer/songwriter Craig Fuller, a co-founder of Pure Prarie League and the songwriter of “Amie,” Pure Prarie League’s massive 1975 hit. Fuller’s singing voice was similar to Lowell George’s.

Little Feat 2.0 released the album Let It Roll in 1988 and a remarkable thing happened: The album yielded two hit singles, “Hate to Lose Your Lovin'” (#1) and the title song “Let It Roll” (#3). Their next album, Representing the Mambo (1990), netted Little Feat their second and last number one, “Texas Twister.” Craig Fuller, who left the band in 1993, received songwriting credit for all three songs.

Coda

Led by the last surviving original member Bill Payne, Little Feat still performs to adoring arena/music hall crowds who remember how it was. They recently released an album of blues covers titled Sam’s Place with percussionist Sam Clayton taking over singing duties.

Although they’ve been eligible for 20 years, Little Feat has yet to get the call from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The snub is reminiscent of another popular ’70s band, the Doobie Brothers, who waited until 2020 to get inducted. Little Feat inevitably tops various internet lists of Most Overlooked Artist Not…

Could it be that Lowell George should have released singles? I’ve heard that he had no regrets.