For all the eye paid to late frontman Lowell George and stalwart modern-era chief Invoice Payne, Little Feat at all times appears to return alive when a brand new voice enters the dialog.
The arrival of guitarist Paul Barrere, bassist Kenny Gradney and percussionist Sam Clayton gave a career-saving jolt of funk and soul to 1973’s Dixie Hen that had been lacking on Little Feat’s preliminary two albums. Occasional collaborator Fred Tackett’s promotion to full-time standing sparked a brand new song-focused sense of function on 1988’s gold-selling High 40 hit comeback Let It Roll. The forthcoming Strike Up the Band, Little Feat’s first album of unique songs since 2012’s Rooster Rag, likewise advantages from the presence of Scott Sharrard, a lifelong fan who initially joined the touring lineup to exchange the late Barrere in 2019.
Make no mistake, Little Feat remains to be very a lot a musical collective. All of them chip in on vocals (together with Clayton, featured on 2024’s Grammy-nominated blueser Sam’s Place), and Payne, Tackett, Sharrard and drummer Tony Leone wrote or co-wrote each track. Their sound stays thrillingly disparate, transferring from country-fried R&B to shotgun shack-shaking blues to a heel-toe hootenanny vibe with outstanding ease. Camaraderie, as at all times, leaks out of each groove. However Strike Up the Band nonetheless appears like a brand new iteration of Little Feat, with Sharrard as the plain catalyst. His first live performance was a cease on Little Feat’s late-’80s Let It Roll tour. He is clearly spent many nights contained in the open tuning of their traditional data.
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You hear it from the primary, as “4 Days of Heaven, 3 Days of Work” (co-written by Payne, Sharrard and Leone) catches this ferocious groove. Sharrard, a former collaborator with Gregg Allman, wrote and sang the rumbling, horn-driven “Midnight Flight.” His title monitor is given a contact of twang by the presence of Larkin Poe on backing vocals. No Little Feat album is full and not using a second of laugh-out-loud humor. For Strike Up the Band, Sharrard cowrote the winking “Too Excessive to Lower My Hair” with Tackett.
On the identical time, Payne stays a sturdy, very important factor, whether or not meaning romping by means of “New Orleans Cries When She Sings,” drifting right into a Cajun sway on “Dance a Little” and dusting off “Bluegrass Pines” from writing classes with Grateful Useless lyricist Robert Hunter that powered the Rooster Rag challenge. All of the sudden, Little Feat had extra songs than may match on a single LP. Some have been left apart. Maybe followers will not have to attend one other 13 years for his or her subsequent new album? Both method, a reworked lineup has – as soon as once more – created new momentum for Little Feat.
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Gallery Credit score: Allison Rapp
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