Though outwardly resembling a Southern-fried blues outfit, Little Feat defied easy categorization from the start. Songwriter and guitarist Lowell George guided the group through an eclectic mix of blues, R&B, country, and rock & roll. Technically gifted players whose refined skills aligned with the glossy production emerging from Southern California in the 1970s, the musicians nonetheless avoided slickness through a surreal outlook rooted in George’s distinctive songcraft, which earned them devoted support from critics and fellow performers alike. While they enjoyed moderate airplay on album-oriented radio, the band’s momentum halted with George’s death in 1979. Little Feat regrouped in the late 1980s and matured into a consistent touring unit that extended its catalog through solid new studio releases.
The band never set out as a conventional blues-rock act. Core founders Lowell George, handling vocals, guitar, and slide guitar, and Roy Estrada on bass had previously played in Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. George’s path to that point included an early harmonica duet with his brother Hampton on Ted Mack’s Original Amateur Hour and high-school flute studies that led to oboe and baritone saxophone appearances on Frank Sinatra sessions. In 1965 he and drummer Richie Hayward formed the folk-rock band the Factory, which recorded for Uni Records; those tapes remained unreleased until the 1990s. After the Factory dissolved, George joined the Mothers of Invention and met Estrada. Zappa urged him to launch his own project after hearing “Willin’,” yet George held off until a short Standells reunion.
George and Estrada assembled Little Feat in 1969 alongside Hayward and keyboardist Billy Payne. Their self-titled debut of 1971 and the 1972 follow-up Sailin’ Shoes drew strong notices but modest sales, prompting a temporary breakup during which Estrada left music for computer programming. When the band reassembled later in 1972, New Orleans bassist Kenny Gradney replaced him; guitarist Paul Barrére and percussionist Sam Clayton also joined, infusing a funkier character heard on 1973’s Dixie Chicken. Extensive touring built a loyal audience across the South and East Coast, even as the musicians continued session work in Los Angeles.
Despite growing cult status, several members grew impatient with George’s unpredictable conduct and mounting substance issues. After 1974’s Feats Don’t Fail Me Now, Barrére and Payne took over most songwriting duties and steered the band toward the jazz-inflected textures of 1975’s The Last Record Album. That direction continued on Time Loves a Hero (1977), the double-live set Waiting for Columbus (1978), and Down on the Farm (1979). Dissatisfied with the increasingly improvisational and jazz-oriented approach, George issued the solo album Thanks I’ll Eat It Here in 1979. Shortly afterward he declared Little Feat finished and began a solo tour; he suffered a fatal heart attack midway through. Down on the Farm and the rarities compilation Hoy-Hoy! (1981) appeared posthumously.
Following seven years of sideman work, Payne, Barrére, Hayward, Gradney, and Clayton revived Little Feat in 1988, recruiting vocalist/guitarist Craig Fuller and guitarist Fred Tackett. The much-awaited Let It Roll arrived that year to mixed notices yet earned gold certification. Subsequent reunion efforts—Representing the Mambo (1989), Shake Me Up (1991), and Ain’t Had Enough Fun (1995)—sold in declining numbers, though the group sustained strong concert draw. On Ain’t Had Enough Fun the band replaced Fuller’s Lowell George-style vocals with singer Shaun Murphy; this lineup recorded Under the Radar (1998) and Chinese Work Songs (2000). Compilations and live sets filled the intervening years before 2003’s Kickin’ It at the Barn, the first release on the band’s own Hot Tomato Records imprint. Rocky Mountain Jam appeared in early 2007, followed by Join the Band, a 2008 collection of duets with guest artists, issued on Proper Records.
Founding drummer Richie Hayward succumbed to pneumonia and lung disease on August 12, 2010, after battling liver disease. Little Feat kept touring, bringing in Gabe Ford on drums. Nine years after their previous studio set, Rooster Rag emerged in 2012. Guitarist Paul Barrére dealt with health complications throughout the 2010s and died on October 26, 2019. The band carried on, introducing drummer Tony Leone in a reconfigured lineup unveiled in 2020 that issued the single “When All Boats Rise.” Early in the following decade Little Feat released archival projects, among them a box-set edition of Waiting for Columbus and expanded versions of Dixie Chicken and Sailin’ Shoes.
