We’re just about to post my review of last night’s Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performance at the Beacon, but I couldn’t resist posting this incredible video of the group’s cover debut from Monday night’s Beacon Residency Opener. Watch as Petty and his band cover Willin’ by Little Feat…

Earlier this week we broke the news that two of Jerry Garcia’s effects pedals are up for auction and now we’ve got another set of auctions we think our readers will be interested in. A number of Little Feat keyboardist Billy Payne’s keyboards as well as other gear are up for auction.

California-based musical instrument seller Techno Empire has listed four pieces of gear owned by Payne. Among the items up for sale are Billy’s Hammond B3 Organ, Fender Rhodes Seventy-Three and speaker, an anvil-style road rack flight case, and a Yamaha CS-80 synth. It appears these items were used by Payne in the early days of Little Feat’s revival which started in 1988. Most of the keyboards have been used extensively and are listed in “very good” condition. Unlike the Garcia gear auctions, there are very high “Buy It Now” prices listed for Billy Payne’s keyboards. Have an extra five grand lying around? Buy Payne’s B3 organ. Have $2,800 handy? Billy’s Rhodes can be all yours. The flight case is only $200.

Leon Russell and Little Feat @ The Klein, January 11

Photos: Chad Anderson

After SuperStorm Sandy led to the cancellation of Leon Russell’s tour of the Northeast with Little Feat, the two legendary acts finally pulled off the shows this past week. Our pal Chad Anderson was on hand to shoot the pair’s January 11th performance at The Klein in Bridgeport, Conn. and has filed a set of photos from the evening.

[All Photos by Chad Anderson]

Little Feat is in the midst of their last run of shows with guitarist Paul Barrere before he takes a year off the road starting in March to battle Hepatitis C. Here’s the setlist from Little Feat in Bridgeport…

Set: All That You Dream, Spanish Moon, Rag Top Down, Dixie Chicken > Bass jam > Key/Drum jam > Dixie Chicken, Church Falling Down, Willin’ > Don’t Bogart That Joint > Willin’, Rooster Rag, Fat Man In The Bathtub > Abba Zaba > Boogie On Reggae Woman > Fat Man In The Bathtub

Encore: Let It Roll

Check out a full gallery of Chad’s shots featuring Little Feat and Leon…

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Little Feat @ Beekman Beer Garden – August 22

Words: Sam Rosenberg

For the 3rd year, CEG Presents and Nolafunk brought the Annual Nola Funk Jazzfest to the South Street Seaport waterfront with Little Feat and supporting acts Papa Grows Funk and Stooges Brass Band. The Nolafunk Summer Jazzfest in past years featured Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue, Rebirth Brass Band, John Cleary, Joscephus & the Love Revival Orchestra and many more.

Little Feat is one of the most underexposed blues/bayou classic rock bands of all time. They represent American music to its core as a band that seamlessly blends different styles and genres into something all their own. These under-the-radar fathers of jam music encompass a beautiful blend of everything from funk to jazz and continue to stay relevant today.

Apart from their incredibly popular 1973 album Dixie Chicken, Little Feat hasn’t received much attention from the mainstream yet they’ve cultivated a legion of loyal followers. Their 1978 release Waiting for Columbus is arguably one of the greatest live albums of all time; an album that Phish covered as their musical costume on Halloween in 2010 at Atlantic City’s Boardwalk Hall.

Even with multiple lineup changes since their founding, a funky soul unites Little Feat. Original member Bill Payne (vocals and keyboard) has an amazing musical family in Sam Clayton (percussion and vocals), Paul Barrere (guitar and vocals), and Ken Gradney (bass) who have been involved with the band for over 40 years. The incredibly talented Fred Tackett (guitar, trumpet, mandolin, vocals) joined in 1987. Those who question whether this band can still keep the folks movin’ after the death of founding drummer Richie Hayward in 2010 should see this band with Gabe Ford. He is remarkably sturdy and really breathes unique life into the tempo of Little Feat.

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In 2009, drummer Gabe Ford found himself in a rare set of circumstances: a career-defining move that was part of an impossibly difficult situation. He’d spent three years as the drum tech for Little Feat, and in August of that year began filling in at live shows for Little Feat’s legendary drummer, Richie Hayward, who left the road to battle liver cancer.

Ford, like his bandmates, saw the job as temporary: of course Richie would come back. But it was a battle Hayward lost. While awaiting a liver transplant, Hayward succumbed to complications from lung disease on Aug. 12, 2010, at age 64.

It wasn’t long after, in the midst of a painfully emotional transition, that the remaining members of Little Feat — who know a thing or two about returning from a tragedy — gave Ford the permanent drum chair, completing a move into what might be called the fourth major era of the beloved 43-year-old band.

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As we head into Phish’s big weekend in Atlantic City, it seemed only fitting to plant a Little Feat seed. Since performing Waiting for Columbus on Halloween in Atlantic City in 2010, the material has been mysteriously absent with no songs entering the regular rotation. Thus, a return to one of the many great songs on the double LP would be a welcome treat for the weekend.

This particular version of Fat Man in the Bathtub comes from a 1975 session of The Old Grey Whistle Test, the BBC’s very first live music program. The show, which aired from 1971 to 1987, emphasized “serious” rock music as opposed to just highlighting the chart toppers.

Last Friday night in New Orleans, the Nolafunk Jazz Fest Series kicked off at Republic, where one of the night’s main events was a superjam featuring guitarists Fred Tackett and Paul Barrere of Little Feat with Anders Osborne and members of his band. Take a look as Osborne, Tackett, Barrere, Billy Iuso, Carl Dufresne and Eric Bolivar jam on the Grateful Dead’s Fire On The Mountain…

Little Feat/Anders Osborne – Fire On The Mountain

The series continues tonight at Republic, with EOTO and Wyllys and the New York Hustlers.

For this week’s B List we found ten videos on YouTube featuring just the guitar players from some of our favorite bands without any accompaniment. When we sat down to put this together, we thought it would be easier to find clips of just the axe-slingers in action without anyone else but it didn’t work out that way. Thankfully, after a few hours of digging, we did find ten gems worth sharing.

1. Al Schnier and Chuck Garvey of moe. – Summer Camp Guitar Clinic

The dual lead guitar players for moe., Chuck Garvey and Al Schnier, jammed out by their lonesomes on May 27, 2011 at the Summer Camp Music Festival in Chillicothe, Illinois as part of a Guitar Clinic. Over the past 20 years these guys know each other’s style like the back of their hands and you can see that connection in this clip.

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The ownership of band names is a tricky subject, which has filled the wallets of many lawyers thanks to the dozens of lawsuits filed over the years. As the groups of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s start to age, many acts have had to figure out who has the right to tour under the original name. This week’s B List looks at 11 groups with only one original member left in the band as of 2011.

There’s a variety of reasons why there’s only one member left in these bands. Some of the groups are a band in name only and are really a solo vehicle, some have lost members due to death and illness, while others splintered due to lawsuits and bad business decisions. Here’s our list…

11. Iron Maiden

Steve Harris – Bass

The leader of Iron Maiden started the band in 1975 as a 19-year-old in London. Over the past 35+ years, Maiden has gone through a number of lineup changes with Harris left as the only person who has been a member of Iron Maiden since the group’s inception. Guitarist Dave Murray, who remains with the band, joined Maiden just just two months after they formed.

READ ON for 10 more bands with only one original member left…

Well, we flip the calendar year over to 2011 and it of course takes me a little while to make the adjustment. Every week [errr, almost every week] when I go to write this piece, the first thing I do is do an Advanced Search on the Live Music Archive for the range of dates from last week. At first I put in 2010 and got a little confused. Right, 2011. OK, back on track. A lot of the selections this week all come from either Jam Cruise or moe’s destination concerts down in the Dominican Republic. A Caribbean edition if you will.

You can download all of this week’s audio in one easy to listen to MP3 that we call the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast, click here to download.

[Thanks to tonedeaf for this week's photo]

Little Feat – Fat Man In The Bathtub > Abba Zaba > Fat Man In The Bathtub
Date & Venue: 2011-01-03 – Infinity Hall – Norfolk, CT
Taper & Show Download: Dave Malloy (CTDave)

Well, since I got in alphabetical order – we’re actually leading off with the only selection not from a warm climate. But this is a very hot section of music from Little Feat’s encore which features their classic Fat Man In The Bathtub, a tribute to Captain Beefheart with Abba Zaba, and I heard a little bit of Scarlet Begonias in there too. Little Feat [tour dates] plays tonight at The Neighborhood Theater in Charlotte, NC.

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All That You Dream from a few nights later:

READ ON for tracks from Lotus, moe. and Stockholm Syndrome…

I apologize that you have not seen a new addition of Last Week’s Sauce in nearly a month, but I have recently switched coasts and am now a resident of San Francisco. I’m settled in and excited to get back to my regular HT columns. This week, we’ll take a listen to a new song from the moe. side project Disgrace, Keller Williams, Jimmy Herring Band and a great acoustic segment to close from Little Feat members Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett.

A reminder, you can download all of this week’s audio in one easy to listen to MP3 that we call the Last Week’s Sauce Podcast, click here to download.

[Thanks to RobC for this week's photo]

Disgrace – Little Miss Cup Half Empty
Date & Venue: 2010-11-09 Southgate House – Newport, KY
Taper & Show Download: K.C. Cadwallader

moe. has got a new side-project titled Disgrace that features Al, Chuck and Rob on acoustic instruments. In addition to a lot of moe. songs and covers, the project debuted an original at this Kentucky show titled Little Miss Cup Half Empty. Disgrace [tour dates] plays tonight at 8×10 in Baltimore, MD.

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READ ON for tracks from Keller Williams, Jimmy Herring Band, and the Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett Acoustic Duo…

[Originally Published: June 24, 2009]

Following up on last week’s Willin’ Cover Wars, which the Black Crowes won by a small margin over Uncle Tupelo, we’re re-running an old Cover Wars on another Little Feat classic – Skin It Back…

Skin It Back is a track off the 1974 Little Feat album Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. It also has the distinction of being the first Little Feat song where the songwriting credits are solely that of guitarist Paul Barrère.

This is the second Little Feat song selected for CW. Longtime readers might remember that Mule was the winner of the Spanish Moon Cover Wars. [Ed. note - We've tackled Willin' since this was originally posted]

Let’s get down to business and look at this week competitors…

The Bridge: Leading off this week is the only band that also appeared in the Spanish Moon Cover Wars and there is some excellent guitar work in this one. Source: 8-17-2005

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READ ON for the lowdown on the rest of this week’s contestants…

We’re still abuzz from Phish’s fantastic interpretation of Little Feat’s seminal 1978 live album Waiting For Columbus that we wanted to continue to pay tribute to the highly influential, yet somehow criminally underrated band.

This week we’re placing that act’s classic trucker anthem, Willin’, into the squared circle – a song that has been rumored as the reason that Lowell George was asked to leave Frank Zappa’s Mothers Of Invention, and thus the impetus for the formation of Little Feat. The track originally appeared on the band’s self-titled debut sung in a sparse, talking, country-blues style by George and featured Ry Cooder backing him on steel guitar. The definitive version of tune was reworked for Little Feat’s sophomore release Sailin Shoes, and given the full band treatment with country-rock harmonies and some great piano work courtesy of Billy Payne.

Contestants:

The Black Crowes have no problem wearing their influences right on their sleeve with the band owing a great debt to Little Feat’s potent mix of rock, soul, gospel, jazz, country and funk. The Robinson Brothers & Co. have been covering Willin’ consistently since all the way back in 1992, with Chris channeling the ghost of Lowell George. Source: 2009-11-07

As an added bonus, here’s The Crowes with John Popper and the members of Wilco from a HORDE tour stop on August 27, 1995…

READ ON for more covers of Willin’ from the likes of moe., Uncle Tupelo, Linda Ronstadt, Bob Dylan, The Byrds and others…

With Phish covering Little Feat’s double-live album, Waiting For Columbus, last Sunday night at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, there’s been a renewed interest in LF’s music – at least according to the traffic figures for our old posts about that band. As such, we wanted to point you in the direction of four fantastic live recordings from the group’s ’70s hey-day.

Thirty-five years to the day before Phish covered WfC, Little Feat threw down one of their best performances ever at the Orpheum Theater in Boston, MA. In David Fricke’s essay found within the Phish Halloween Playbill, keyboardist Page McConnell mentions this bootleg was his introduction to the band.

• 10/31/1975 Re-Mastered FM Boston, MA

For a taste of the band’s early days, check out this radio program they taped at the Ultra Sonic Studios in Hempstead, NY back in 1973. On Your Way Down is particularly smokin’…

• 04/10/1973 SBD Hempstead, NY

A string of seven performances from August 1977 made up Waiting For Columbus. One of these shows, from London’s Rainbow Theater, is on the Live Music Archive and this soundboard recording features many songs that didn’t make the album such as Skin It Back and Walking All Night…

• 08/02/1977 SBD London, UK

We finish with the last show from the Lowell George-era on the Live Music Archive – a soundboard recording from a performance in Grand Rapids, MI on October 14th, 1978. Future Little Feat singer Craig Fuller joins George et al for a raging Feats Don’t Fail Me Now and this boot also contains essential versions of Fatman In The Bathtub and Spanish Moon as well as a pretty Willin’ sandwich with Don’t Bogart That Joint as the filling.

• 10/14/1978 SBD Grand Rapids, MI

[Originally Published: December 1, 2009]

On Your Way Down was originally released on Allen Toussaint’s 1972 album Life, Love and Faith. It’s OK if you thought this was written by Little Feat, because a lot of people do. Little Feat recorded their studio version just months after Toussaint and put it on their record Dixie Chicken.

The Contestants:

Elvis Costello & Allen Toussaint: I’m always torn on whether or not to include tracks like this in Cover Wars. That is, covers that also feature the original recording artist. But in this case, Elvis Costello handles the lead vocal duties for the duration of the song, plus it’s an amazing take – so it would be a shame not to include it. If you’re not familiar with this CD/DVD, it’s amazing – would make a good holiday gift. Source: The River In Reverse

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READ ON for the scoop on the rest of this week’s contestants…