For the third of our three-part interview feature on Little Feat’s Join The Band, we spoke with co-producer Mac McAnally. Mac’s best known as the lead guitar player in Jimmy Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band, but he’s one of the best utility guys in the game capable of writing, producing, engineering and playing a large number of instruments. After getting to know Mac while recording Buffett’s License to Chill, Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne asked McAnally to co-produce Join The Band.

Scott Bernstein: How did you get involved with Join The Band?

Mac McAnally: The real answer is a lifetime of prayer. I’m a lifetime fan. I’ve been a fan of Little Feat forever. Back in Mississippi, when I was growing up, I used to take their records and I’d listen to just the left side and listened to the just the right side and tried to figure out what they were doing. They’ve always been heroes of mine. It was actually Jimmy Buffett, he and Billy Payne were the driving force behind getting this thing done. When it came out that this was going to happen and I got an opportunity to work, it was a resume thing for me. If I was writing up my lifetime, saying I got to work with those guys would be high up in the first paragraph. I’m a big fan.

READ ON for much more with Mac McAnally…

As Little Feat prepares to the celebrate their 40th anniversary together in 2009, the group has just put an extraordinary new album that pays tribute to the band’s past, present and future. It’s hard to classify Join The Band, as the disc is equal parts tribute, cover and reworked greatest hits album. A number of legendary performers who have either influenced or been influenced by Little Feat including Emmylou Harris, Bob Seger, Dave Matthews and Jimmy Buffett, have joined the septet on their best release in years.

We spoke with Little Feat keyboardist Bill Payne, who also co-produced Join The Band, about how this collection of memorable tunes came together, the dark days of Little Feat and many other topics. Also, be sure to check out Glide’s main site for an interview with drummer Richie Hayward and keep your eyes out later this week for our interview with co-producer, special guest and Coral Reefer Band member Mac McAnally. Here’s our talk with Bill…

Scott Bernstein: I’ve been listening to Join The Band for the last couple of weeks now and I really dig the album. It’s an album that flows nicely from the first track to the last. I don’t know what you’d call it…

Bill Payne: I was hoping you’d say that!

SB: It’s certainly not a tribute album or a straight greatest hits album. How did this album come about? I know it’s been four years in the making, can you take us through the timeline?

BP: Let’s go back about four or five years before that even. I tried to bring some people to the Fox Theater in St. Louis to play a large Little Feat show with a buncha different artists. That proved to be too complicated, but Dave Matthews actually signed on to do it. So, four or five years later when (Jimmy) Buffett’s people called him, Dave’s people they said “we told Billy we’d do it way back then and we’ll do it now.” So he was on both times.

But really what brought it together, honestly, was Jimmy Buffett. He more or less helped not only finance the album but really brought this thing into reality in terms of giving us an actual platform to do something. He provided his studio down in Key West. It was amazing to get a chance to work in the studio with Mac McAnally who produced that album and then work with Alan Schulman who was the engineer and Mike Utley of Jimmy’s band. When the idea for this album was born, I called Mac up and asked him if he would produce something with me for this record and he said sure. Then Jimmy came onboard and everything kinda fell together.

READ ON for much, much more from Little Feat’s Bill Payne…

Between all the jam and the indie we cover around here it’s quick to forget about all the classic rock bands that got us to this point. Well that’s going to change, I’m instituting a new policy around here that we’re going to do some digging into the YouTube archives to bring you some classic live performances.

To kick things off I thought I’d go with something from the highly underrated (at least in my book) Little Feat. Check out this ripping performance of Dixie Chicken from the Rainbow Theater in London, England from 1977…

Little Feat kick off their summer tour in fine style with their first appearance at Bonnaroo, you can catch them Saturday at the Other Tent.

Rolling Stones keyboardist Chuck Leavell is the rare professional conservationist who spends years of his life traveling on gas-guzzling planes. Leavell, who is best known to us for his monumental piano solo on the studio version of Jessica, visited five continents with the Stones on their recent “A Bigger Bang” tour. Chuck explains how he would pass the time by drafting setlists and arrangements in an article he wrote for the NY Times.

Hopefully this batch of links will help you get over the midweek hump:

• The Felice Brothers’ self-titled debut finally hits stores on March 4th
• Radiohead’s In Rainbows tops the UK album charts this week
• House’s Hugh Laurie gives his best Beatles and Dylan impressions
• Susan Greenbaum got the idea to cover Carole King’s Tapestry from Phish
• Peter Gabriel hands distribution of his Real World record label to Ryko
• Stereogum’s OldStand examines Rolling Stone’s December 1977 edition
• Gongzilla hosts their first NAMM Jam featuring Jim Loughlin, Jeff Pevar and Charlie Hitchcock next Friday
• Willie Nelson does a pretty poor job covering Dave Matthews’ Gravedigger
• Monitor Mix ponders the meaning behind some politician’s campaign music

Finally, stars of baseball and rock ‘n’ roll came together on Sunday night for the eighth annual Hot Stove Cool Music benefit in Boston. Where else can you see Little Feat, Theo Epstein and Peter Gammons all on the same stage? That must’ve been one helluva Dixie Chicken.

Two of this rag’s favorite musicians joined forces on Saturday night when Mike “Silent G” Gordon came out to play bass during Chest Fever at Levon Helm’s Midnight Ramble in Woodstock. Saturday was Gordon’s second appearance at the Ramble, but it was the first time he actually performed. Levon keeps busy this month with Rambles scheduled for the 15th, 29th and New Year’s Eve.

It’s been a busy weekend, so let’s all get caught up with the haps:

• Bruce Springsteen plans his return to Giants Stadium
• Time for some fun facts: Did you know bands like Little Feat and Buffalo Springfield made their television debut on sitcoms?
• N.Y. Times uncovers what led Radiohead to revolutionize the industry
• Hot Chip straddles pop and electronica with great success
• Neddy runs down the shows of the week in New York City
• Tom Waits, The Blind Boys of Alabama and Paul Weller all contribute tracks to two new soundtracks for HBO’s The Wire
• Like many of us, Lefsetz asks whether The Grammys are relevant

And we’re happy to see that Ovation has picked up the Artist’s Den series, which features rock bands performing in unconventional venues. If the Crowded House show at the Masonic Lodge is any indication, we’re in for quite a treat.

Travel budgets at major music publications must be hurting today after four major festivals went down at locations across the globe this weekend. Pearl Jam brought the house down at Lollapalooza. The Allman Brothers, Assembly of Dust and John Butler Trio added a hippie-rock tinge to the Newport Folk Festival. The Smashing Pumpkins stole the show at the Virgin Festival down in Balt’more, and the Fuji Rock Festival went off without a hitch over in Japan.

But the festivals were the only thing goin’ down in the rock world. Check out these links to see what else was happening this weekend:

• Papa’s got a brand new kid (or two): DNA tests show that James Brown fathered two more children back in the day
• Crowded House’s Neil Finn talks about getting the band back together
• There’s a new Live Phish release: Say hello to 10/21/95
• The moe.down schedule has been released
• Mike Greenhaus catches up with Disco Biscuits bassist Marc Brownstein about where the band goes next
• John Fogerty will be releasing a new album in October
• Some Velvet Blog pays homage to Little Feat
• The phrase “live album” has taken on a whole new meaning this summer
• Gospel stars Robert Randolph and Ryan Shaw faced resistance from their churches when they started playing secular music
• Legendary bluesman John Hammond Jr. loves Jersey City
• The Police will be all over the TV and radio this month
• Here’s a novel concept: Sellaband.com and slicethepie.com allow fans to help support their favorite artists

And as always on Mondays, read on after the jump for a full slate of setlists from the weekend, including but not limited to the Allmans, the Crowes, the Rush, the Party, the House, the Giants, the Joel, the Green and many many more…

Breaking out the oft-employed Cleveland Rocks Clause, allow us to produce some fantastic Forest City shots from our friends at Christian James Photos. A handful of quality shows have rolled through the House of Blues in C-Town (don’t ever call it that) lately, and our Midwest shutterbug Chris has been front and center waiting for close-ups of open pores and sweat drips.

Newly appointed guitar wizard Ben Harper’s been just about everywhere lately: the Bonnaroo SuperJam, the National Anthem during the Game 3 of the NBA Finals, my most vividly erotic dreams. The night he played the Anthem at the Cavs-Spurs game he also showed up for a gig at the House of Blues, where the Cleveland Scene blog filed a full report (with no real conclusion either way).

Little Feat played the same venue a week earlier, and while the post-Lowell George era of this band is not everything it once was, they’ve made a nice career out of making peopel question whether they play funk-rock, funk-rock or funkrock.

So let’s take a look at a couple of sweet photo galleries from Chris of Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals and Little Feat in Cleveland, which I hear rocks.

We’re eschewing our regular The Kidzz Are Alright end-of-the-week segment of ‘Tubes in favor of the following video, which can only be described as “sweet ass sweet,” or “fantastically bitchin’.” Let’s start with a little Robert Palmer, add a touch of Little Feat and a dash of an old classic like Man Smart, Woman Smarter, and the result is an incredible pro-shot clip that’ll stick with you for days. Shit, that Bobby Palms is just a seriously handsome gentleman. There, I said it.

• Click here for the most recent posts in the Pullin’ ‘Tubes archive

I like to listen to all types of music, but sometimes I just want some good ol’ rock and roll music. This week’s Grousing The Aisles takes a look at four bands that, for the most part, play straight-up, guitar-driven rock. We start off with a tasty Little Feat show before we check in on Perpetual Groove, a Rolling Stones compilation from ‘78 and a ridiculous Police show from ‘79. It’s all waiting for you:

Little Feat 9/1/88 FM (MP3, FLAC, STREAM):

Little Feat called it quits after Lowell George’s untimely death in 1979. But then less than a decade later, a new generation of fans started discovering the band’s music. So naturally they decided to get back together, and they added vocalist/songwriter Craig Fuller to the mix just before they entered the studio to record some new music. The revamped Feat released Let It Roll, a rare, great album of tunes from a band that just experienced a nine-year layoff.

After touring for a few months, Little Feat was on fire heading into this show from San Francisco’s Fillmore Auditorium. The setlist is chock full of Little Feat classics, with a few songs from Let It Roll getting some love as well. It’s almost eerie how well Fuller sang Lowell George’s songs — check out Spanish Moon for a fine example of his style. The rest of the band sounded great, including Paul Barrere’s fine guitar work on Time Loves A Hero. Other highlights include Rock and Roll Doctor, which was dedicated to Lowell, and the Dixie Chicken at the end of the set. Thanks to the wonders of the Live Music Archive, you can stream or download this crispy sounding show. Read on for plenty more Grousing…