Get ready to dance when Little Feat rocks Brown County Music Center stage in March
In 1969, Frank Zappa was prescient. He fired Lowell George from the Mothers of Invention and advised him to organize a band of his own. Soon, George called on Bill Payne, and they rounded up drummer Richie Hayward. They even had, for a little while, Zappa veteran Roy Estrada playing bass.
The Little Feat band was getting big.
Little Feat is bringing its "Waiting for Columbus" tour to the Brown County Music Center March 13 and tickets are selling quickly. The band got its name when a musician in the Mothers of Invention noticed the size of George's feet. With a hats-off to the Beatles, "Little Feat" stomped into the music-industry arena.
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George died of a heart attack in 1979, causing the band to stop working. The musicians eventually regrouped and found a way forward.
Years earlier, Payne's grade school music teacher had been instrumental in making Payne into a future star. She told his mother, ”I’ll make sure he knows how to read music, but I won’t take the magic out of it.”
In seventh grade, Payne's wood shop teacher, knowing Payne's keyboard prowess, told him he would pass him if he "stayed away from saws" to safeguard those hands.
When he was 15, a musician asked Payne if he knew how to play the piano. "I guess," Payne responded. He guessed right. Since 1969, including a few changes in band members and some time off, Payne has rocked his way through success.
Little Feat's inaugural live album, still a fan fave, was "Waiting for Columbus." As with other bands such as Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Poco, Little Feat has its niche and has been, perhaps, underappreciated. It also has its ardent followers. Many have said Feat is one of the best southern rock and blues bands ever.
COVID-19 paused their touring, but the band members are back on the road, with old favorites and other songs including their newest, “When All Boats Rise.”
American music's norm once included a trove of styles connecting in something distinctive. Feat combines rock, rockabilly, blues, California, folk, funk, jazz, New Orleans swamp boogie and country and gives its audiences music for dancing. As composers have said, if you can't dance to a tune, it has no rhythm. And Feat's rhythm section has always been its strength.
"Dixie Chicken" (1973) is considered to be one of the best blues/rock songs ever written, and according to songfacts.com, the band promoted it by bringing fried chicken to radio stations with Lowell George wearing a chicken suit.
Payne admitted the album "Under the Radar" is autobiographical. It's the band's 12th studio album (1998) and their fifth after they got back together in 1988.
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Robert Hunter, lyricist with the Grateful Dead, and Payne wrote 20 songs together, and Payne remains close friends with the Doobie Brothers. In fact, he said, "I helped name (rock classic) 'China Grove' back in 1972." Tom Johnston (now a rock and roll Hall of Fame member) was coming up with the tune, and the two started talking about China Grove, a town whose name they had seen on a road sign. It stuck. Johnston didn't tell Payne until 25 years later.
Feat has performed with a wealth of well-known musicians such as Phish, the Black Crows, the Byrds, Garth Brooks, Jackson Browne, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Robert Palmer, Bonnie Raitt, Linda Ronstadt, John Sebastian, Richard Shindell, Carly Simon, Van Halen, Joe Walsh and Jimmy Buffett.
Current Little Feat members are Bill Payne, keyboards and vocals; Sam Clayton, percussion and vocals; Fred Tackett, guitars and vocals, Kenny Gradney, bass; Scott Sharrard, guitars and vocals; and Tony Leone, drums.
If you go
WHO: Little Feat band.
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. March 13.
WHERE: Brown County Music Center, 200 Maple Leaf Blvd., Nashville, 812-988-5323.
TICKETS: ticketsales.com/little-feat-tickets-brown-county-music-center/event/3752005.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Little Feat band on schedule to rock Brown County Music Center stage
