In Praise of Little Feat

Posted: May 12th, 2025 | Filed under: Culture, Music, Rock & Roll Rewind | 12 Comments »

In the nature of rock & roll acknowledgment, it is a mistake, an egregious omission of the highest order.

A travesty.

For those like me obsessed with such matters, it is difficult to swallow. Thus, I hardly give a glance to the annual induction announcement from the institution that ostensibly is the chronicler of excellence in the genre.

I choose to ignore.

Until I can’t.

Yesterday, while putzing around my hacienda, I pulled Time Loves A Hero off the shelf.

As I was taking care of my tasks, bouncing around with a boogie beat to the syncopated rhythms, mesmerized as always with the masterful musicianship, smiling bemusedly at the astute clever lyrics, listening in wonder at the truly unique eclectic stylings, that cloud hovered.

As I am wont to do, I thought, even uttered out loud with disgust, LITTLE FEAT IS NOT IN THE ROCK & ROLL HALL OF FAME!

How can this possibly be?

How can this iconic band, comfortably in the conversation contemplating the best outfits of the Rock Era, have slipped through the cracks?

The R&RHoF inductee list is full of charlatans, unworthies. So many, to name but a few would be an injustice.

But no Little Feat.

What. A. Crock.

Not sure I understand the selection process. Or the various categories in which any performer or contingent can be dubbed worthy. One has to assume there are people in charge with some sense of rock & roll. There are standards, right?

Taste is obviously subjective. Excellence though, far less so.

I do note that it took for the latest round of initiates to include Joe Cocker, rock’s greatest interpreter of the classics,

And Warren Zevon, a category unto himself. Some friends are in London now. Going to text them, tell ’em to head over to Soho, seek out Lee Ho Fook’s, get a big bowl of beef chow mein.

Lowell George must have really pissed off Jann Wenner somewhere along the way.

Send in the lawyers guns and money

 * * * * *

Just from this jazz-infused Feat album, there are several classics, even though I’d offer it’s far from the best studio endeavor of the classic lineup.*

*I remember getting in a dialog with my good pal Johnny C, who was then in the 70s the music reviewer for the Louisville Times Scene. Which was the better album, “Sailin’ Shoes” or “Dixie Chicken?” I argued for the former. My adversary, a man of opinion, but prone to be less assertive than me, immediately put me down. “You are wrong!” He was indeed right. 

From TLAH, “Day At The Dog Races” is arguably Ellingtonian.

“Old Folks Boogie” resonates for us alter cockers.

And you know that you’re over the hill/ When your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill/ Doin’ the old folks boogie/ And boogie we will/ ‘Cause to us the thought’s as good as a thrill

Then there’s Lowell George’s major contribution to this LP, on which his writing is less present than earlier. The lyricsmith, ever with a double entendre, was never shy about his woes with the ladies.

Don’t understand that girl, no, I can’t explain/ She got one foot on the platform/ And the other on the train/ Got a rocket in my pocket/ I said rocket/ A finger in the socket

From “Fat Man in the Bathtub” Spotcheck Billy got down on his hands and knees/ He said, “Hey mama, hey, let me check your oil all right?/ She said, “No, no honey, not tonight/ Come back Monday, you come back Tuesday/ Then I might.

As for George, who died too young, during a band breakup period late 70s/80s, he should be in the HoF individually, as well as with the band.

If only for this masterpiece (among his many):

Two degrees in be-bop, a PHD in swing/ He’s the master of rhythm, he’s a rock and roll king, yeah

He’s singing about himself, I’d say. As well as his mates.

OK, I’ll stop.

The band’s catalog is extensive.

Dixie Chicken, both the song and the album, mostly George tunes, is a masterwork.

Those who know, know.

Those who don’t, oughta. (Like the muckety mucks at the R&RHoF.)

Not familiar. Go Listen to the albums mentioned above.

Their live Waiting for Columbus will give you a sense of how thrilling the classic lineup was in concert.

 * * * * *

I’m often asked about the R&RHoF.

Have I visited?

Did I watch the induction ceremony?

What do I think of this year’s inductees?

Been there once. Seeing the shirt Hendrix wore at Woodstock was, uh, nice. Viewing Buddy Holly’s songwriting scribbles, a bit more so.

I spent most of my time at the listening station, bringing up obscure tuneage. Some that I knew but hadn’t heard in awhile, like my doo wop fave, “I Love You” by the Volumes. Some I didn’t know.

The music, that’s the essence. So I’d opine. Looking at somebody’s Telecaster, meh.

Most people are enthralled with place. A reaction I love, even if I was non-plussed by my sense when visiting on a cold winter’s day in Cleveland.

I pay but scant attention to the annual announcement, peering over only to see if any wrongs had been righted. Two of which did actually come about this time around.

 * * * * *

My pal Dood, who also hipped me to Bo Diddley, introduced me to the Feat. Their eponymously titled  first album. Includes “Willin,” one of the best truckin’ songs of ever.

I heard the classic lineup — George, Paul Barrere, Bill Payne, Richie Hayward, Sam Hayward, Kenny Gradney — a couple times.

Once in Lexington at Memorial Coliseum.

On a Derby Sunday at Louisville Gardens, when they were smokin’ hot.

After George’s passing, a number of times. Including their iconic reunion show on the Riverboat President during the ’88 JazzFest, with Bonnie Raitt* playing the Lowell George licks.

*One or the other supposedly taught the other that unique slide styling. Never remember which is which. Or, whether this is truth or lore, because they dated once upon a time.

Stood next to Dr. John at that gig. Sayeth the Dr.: “You wanna do some livin’ before you die. Do it in New Orleans.”

Little Feat.

A rock & roll blessing.

Whether the folks who are supposed to know, know or not.

— c d kaplan


12 Comments on “In Praise of Little Feat”

  1. 1 Roadrunner said at 6:43 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    Travesty indeed. Never been to the R&R HOF but also never have felt compelling need to visit. As you note, it’s all about the music — which, thank goodness, we can hear anywhere. But if I could, I’d reserve a suite at the Commodore Hotel, go down to the bar and wait patiently for a mysterious female.

  2. 2 Marc Winston said at 6:51 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    Right there with ya dude. All time best. Unfathomable there not in already. And oh yeah believe it or I caught that Louisville Gardens show but wasn’t that Derby 1978?

  3. 3 c d kaplan said at 7:37 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    With all due respect Mr. Winston, I know what you were doing during that show, and, though you were in the Gardens, It Was Not Listening To The Music.

  4. 4 c d kaplan said at 7:40 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    As you well know, Roadrunner, your patience would have been significantly tested.

  5. 5 scorpiocard said at 8:24 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    The rock and roll hall of fame is a joke. The induction process is corupted by industry politics. Even a lot of musicians who are in it don’t fully respect it. I will never set foot in that dump.

  6. 6 scorpiocard said at 10:18 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    Roadrunner, you may want to stand outside the Commodore Hotel, as he met her under a street lamp.

  7. 7 c d kaplan said at 10:26 pm on May 12th, 2025:

    Scorp bein’ harsh about R&R HoF. But comin’ with some sage advice for Roadrunner.

  8. 8 Mr Bunny said at 1:56 am on May 13th, 2025:

    I thought I would just chime in as one who was incubated and inundated by the “Classic Feat” lineup – a connection to something deeply compelling and alive – From the first chords of “Rock n Roll Doctor” to the Rainbow 🌈 Theatre in London where the TOWER OF POWER horn section backed the Feat on stage & was the backbone of that funky tight groove that Lowell laid down.

    I offer up for your consideration Day or Night -a very underrated song as it is the lead in to the holy trinity of the brilliance of Mercenary Territory & Spanish Moon – but it sure sets the groove –

    https://youtu.be/H8Z3ExTgMiM

  9. 9 c d kaplan said at 6:54 am on May 13th, 2025:

    Of course, Mr. B. Too many to mention in one piece. Feat’s brilliance is voluminous.

  10. 10 Hobbsey said at 9:22 am on May 13th, 2025:

    Those who know, know

  11. 11 Allen Busj said at 11:22 am on May 15th, 2025:

    Wonderful piece, CD. Little Feat=peerless.

  12. 12 c d kaplan said at 1:31 pm on May 15th, 2025:

    Thanks for kind words, Mr. Busj.


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