By Hunter60
No matter how it happened, Lowell George was again on his own and quickly formed up Little Feat. The band came together quickly as George had previous relationships with his band mates Hayward and Estrada (from the Mothers). The missing piece at that time was keyboard player Bill Payne. Payne, a classically trained pianist had migrated to Los Angeles like so many others in search of an opportunity in the music business. After gigging in various local outfits, Payne began hanging out at Frank Zappa's office asking for any leads. To hear Payne tell it, it was a secretary at Zappa's office who turned him onto Lowell George. Payne went to George's home and waited. When Lowell returned home, he found Payne in his living room. The two started talking about music, their visions of what direction a band should take and trading licks back and forth, George on the guitar and Payne on a piano that was tucked away in the corner of the living room. By the end of the night, Little Feat had a keyboard player.
Little Feat did a demo of the single "Willin" and based on its strength, the band was signed to Warner Brothers Records.
Although George had always dabbled in slide guitar with The Mothers, it was an accident right before he was ready to lay down the guitar tracks for Little Feat's self-titled debut album "Little Feat" that helped him develop his signature sound. Lowell was engaged in his lifelong hobby of building model airplanes. One night while sitting at his kitchen table, George was adjusting a propeller on a plane and cut two fingers on his fretting hand. Realizing that he had lost the ability to gauge how much pressure he needed to apply to the frets on those two fingers, Lowell picked up his slide and quickly re-worked the guitar parts for the record.
The debut album was released in 1971 and sold poorly at only 11,000 copies. It remains a lost classic even amongst Little Feat fans. The record really shares little in common with the more fully realized, slicker albums later in the catalogue; it does give a glimpse into the burgeoning genius of George and Payne. Funny, raw and full of gut check energy, the album was much better than sales would show. Little Feat came dangerously close to being dropped by Warner Brothers but they were given a second chance.
In 1972, the band released "Sailin' Shoes" which was produced under the watchful eye of Ted Templeman. The record was clearly an attempt to create a more saleable record by Warner Brothers and Templeman. By showcasing the more idiosyncratic song writing of George and steering the sound away from the fringe sound of the debut, the album has a more polished sound, one that would become attached to Little Feat in later records. Again the album sold poorly but a bright spot did appear; both albums were hits with critics. Warner again decided to stand behind the Feat.
During the supporting tour for "Sailin' Shoes", Estrada had become disillusioned with George and Little Feat. He left the band and went back to work with Zappa. During this period, George and Payne became enamored with the R&B sound of New Orleans and began to experiment with a more Creole and southern roots sound. George hired three new members for the band; Kenny Gradney (bass), PaulBarrere (guitars) and Sam Clayton (drums/congas). With this lineup, Little Feat released "Dixie Chicken" in 1973. The band had found their sound. "Dixie Chicken" is a testament to Lowell George's powers as a songwriter and is perhaps the most favored Little Feat disc in their catalogue, although it too initially failed to sell up to the labels expectation.
The follow up disc, "Feats Don't Fail Me Now", was released in 1974 and revealed the true strength of the band members. Lowell was stepping back from his role as a band leader and the rest of the band members moved ahead to fill the gap. "Feats Don’t Fail Me" became a template for the band – smooth, and seductive yet funky.
For a brief period after the release of "Dixie Chicken", Little Feat broke up at George's suggestion. He felt it might be best for each of the members to pursue their own ideas away from the band for a time. Payne landed a temporary gig with the Doobie Brothers while George spent time producing albums for Bonnie Raitt and John Sebastian as well as appearing as a guest on John Cale's Paris, 1919.
Reformed again in 1975, the band produced "The Last Record Album", which almost proved prophetic. The disc itself reveals a distracted Lowell George. His song writing skills were failing and he was showing signs of the same obsessive nature of Zappa with his up all night, weeklong editing and mixing and sessions on tracks seeking that elusive 'sound'. The end result was, at best, a nominal Little Feat album. The overall tone was there but it was missing the spark that had marked the previous releases.
The follow up was "Time Loves A Hero" and it was an album that was almost never completed due to the erratic behavior of Lowell. According to producer Ted Templeton (who was called in by the band to replace George as the producer since he had been shirking his responsibilities) "Lowell kinda distanced himself on that record … When we did "Rocket In My Pocket", it came time for him to do a solo, he called and said 'I can't do it today, I'm sleeping in'. So I called Bonnie Raitt and she came down and played this killer *&*^ solo. So I called Lowell and said "listen to this. What do you think? Doesn't this burn?" He actually got out of bed and came down and recorded the solo. When it was finally released, it was considered by both critics and fans as a major disappointment.
In 1978, the band released their live "Waiting For Columbus" to critical acclaim. The band's credibility had been restored but it was short lived. The band returned to the studio to begin work on their next disc "Down On The Farm". However it was clear that George had little interest in the disc, turning most of his time and attention to his own solo effort, "Thanks, I'll Eat It Here" which was released in 1979. Shortly after its release, George announced that Little Feat had broken up and George embarked on a tour to support his solo disc. Part way through this tour, Lowell George died of an apparent heart attack in Arlington, Virginia on June 29th, 1979.
The band released "Down On The Farm" shortly after George's death.
The remaining members of the band did re-form in 1988 adding vocalist and guitarist Craig Fuller and guitarist Fred Tacket. The newly reformed band released "Let It Roll" in 1988, going gold quickly. Each subsequent albums sold slower than the one before and yet the band continued to be a large concert draw. In later years, the band brought in female vocalist Shaun Murphy and have released two albums with her at the microphone, 1998's "Under The Radar" and 2000's "Chinese Work Songs". The band formed their own label, Hot Tomato Records, and released 2003's "Kickin' It At The Barn" and 2007's "Rocky Mountain Jam".
Although the band may have only had a few certified hits in their deep and varied catalogue, they were astonishingly original and daring in their early days and remain seen as tremendously influential. There is little doubt that Lowell George and Little Feat have left an indelible set of foot prints on America's proud rock and roll history.
[FONT=Tahoma]"All I can do is be me ... whoever that is". Bob Dylan [/FONT]
