Way back in 1969, two outcasts from Frank Zappa’s band, guitarist/singer Lowell George and bassist Roy Estrada, formed a new band. Depending on whom you believe, Zappa either fired George for writing a song about drugs or because he was too good to be a sideman. Estrada followed his friend, hoping for greener pastures.
After recruiting pianist Bill Payne and drummer Richie Hayward, the duo formed a band called Little Feat. The band released its first, self-titled album in 1971.
Now after more than 50 years, multiple gold and platinum albums and classic tunes like the slow-rolling “Dixie Chicken,” the truck-driver anthem “Willin’,” the fiery jazz fusion of “A Day at the Dog Races” and the rollicking runaway train “Let It Roll,” Little Feat is calling it a day with “The Last Farewell” tour.
The tour stops in Charleston for two nights at the Charleston Music Hall on Sept. 14 and 15.
Little Feat might just be the consummate musicians’ band. Everyone from Bonnie Raitt to the Black Crowes and Led Zeppelin loved the group, largely because of its stylistic range and the songwriting skill of George, who was also an incredible slide guitarist and a singular vocalist with a drowsy growl of a voice.
George died in 1979 of drug-related health problems and the band broke up. But a 1988 reunion was well-received, as was the gold-selling reunion album, Let It Roll.
In 1973, the band expanded into the six-piece version that is considered the “classic lineup.” That was Payne, Hayward, George, bassist Kenny Gradney, percussionist Sam Clayton and guitarist Paul Barrere.
These days, Payne, Clayton and Kenny Gradney are accompanied by guitarist Fred Tackett, who joined in 1988, guitarist Scott Sharrard, who stepped in when Barrere died in 2019, and drummer Tony Leone, who took over on drums after Hayward died in 2010.
Still today at its heart, Little Feat is still the adventurous, exploratory musical unit that had enough skill to fill the critically acclaimed double-live Waiting for Columbus album in its prime.
This is not a band that plays the same show every night.
So over two nights in Charleston, as Payne told the Charleston City Paper recently, you can expect a lot of stretching out.
“Two nights sets up perfectly for us,” Payne said. “It’s the best of both worlds because we can do certain songs on both days but change up the set list otherwise.”
Payne is the sole surviving member of the original four-piece Little Feat lineup. He remembers that in the 1970s, the band broke up frequently.
“I don’t remember exactly, but it was four to six times, officially and unofficially,” Payne said.
The band members were making so much money doing recording sessions for other artists in Los Angeles that staying together in a struggling band seemed foolish. But after reforming as a sextet in 1973 and releasing Dixie Chicken, the band kept drifting back together.
“Our management would always come back and ask us to try something. ‘What do you think about making a record?’ ‘OK.’ ‘Let’s do a live album, what do you think?’ ‘Cool, dude.’ ”
When Lowell George died in 1979, Payne and the band didn’t get to say goodbye the way it wanted. Payne said the band is taking its time on this final swing, saying goodbye on the right terms.
“It means the world because our fans are the best,” said Payne, 77. “And people are still coming up to us and saying, ‘You sound better than ever!’ But what this tour has done is give us a real focus on what we’re doing. If you know you’re only going to go up to bat five more times, you want to make it count.”
The band is definitely making it count, stretching the “Final Farewell” into 2027 and even playing on a multi-day rock cruise.
In fact, Payne joked that he’s incredibly busy for someone who’s supposed to be retiring.
“My workload is really intense now,” he said with a laugh. “I have a book coming out in February called Carnival Ghosts: A Memoir of Life, Loss and Rebirth with Little Feat. And I’m also doing a solo album in December. So I guess ‘edging towards retirement’ needs a new definition.”
No matter how far away it seems, though, the end of the road is in sight for Payne and Little Feat, which, along with writing the book, had Payne thinking about the band’s legacy.
“The legacy is the music,” he said. “When we got together in 1969, we discussed what kind of band we wanted to be and what sort of music might it encompass? The legacy is that it was an elastic group. And as it turned out, the group was bigger than any of us.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: Doors open at 6 p.m. Sept. 14 and 15 at Charleston Music Hall, 37 John St., Charleston. Tickets range from $99-$335; charlestonmusichall.com.
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