Fifty years of Little Feat, and Bill Payne has been along for the whole ride. From the band's origins in 1969 with Lowell George to their eclectic evolution through jazz, fusion, and rock, the journey has been anything but predictable. As they celebrate their golden anniversary, Payne is taking stock of the past.
“Did it feel like 50 years?” I ask. Payne laughs. “Yeah, it does. But we’re still out here playing great music, and that’s what it’s all about.” The 50th Anniversary Tour is rolling through Louisville on October 11th, bringing a setlist spanning their entire career. And what a career it’s been.
In the early days, Little Feat was all about open-ended musical exploration. “We drew from jazz, country, rock & roll, R&B—we wanted to keep things eclectic. If we played Happy Birthday, it would still sound like us,” Payne explains. That mindset led to a sound that constantly shifted. The band’s early boogie-infused records gave way to a heavier jazz influence by the mid-70s, something Payne credits to artists like Miles Davis, Weather Report, and John Coltrane.
“Jazz was always there,” he says. “Lowell had A Love Supreme in his record collection when we first met. Miles was making Bitches Brew. It was only a matter of time before it became part of our sound.” By the time Feats Don’t Fail Me Now came out in 1974, Little Feat wasn’t just flirting with jazz—they were weaving it deep into the fabric of their music.
But the road had its bumps. The late ‘70s were a rough time, and Down on the Farm (1979) marked a turning point—not just for the band, but for Payne personally. “That was not a great experience,” he admits. “Lowell was disappearing for weeks at a time, and the band was struggling. By the end of that album, I knew I was done.” George’s death later that year seemed like the end of Little Feat, and Payne spent the next decade working with everyone from James Taylor to Bob Seger, Bonnie Raitt to Stevie Nicks.
It wasn’t until 1988 that Little Feat rose from the ashes, with Let It Roll proving that the band could survive without George. “People asked, ‘How can you do this without Lowell?’” Payne recalls. “But look at the Yardbirds. Look at Fleetwood Mac. If it still sounds like Little Feat, then it still is Little Feat.”
The band kept rolling for the next 30 years, their last album, Rooster Rag, dropping in 2012. But is there another one coming? Payne’s written 20+ songs, but he isn’t sure what the future holds. “I’d love to make another record, but we’ll see. I’ve got plenty of material—some of it might even end up with the Doobie Brothers.”
Speaking of which, Payne has also been playing with the Doobies for nearly a decade, and with their own 50th anniversary coming up in 2020, he’s pulling double duty. “Next year’s another big one,” he says. “I finish this tour and head straight into theirs. Two 50th anniversaries back to back—who would’ve thought?”
Before we wrap, I bring up Oh Atlanta, the band's fan-favorite anthem. “It starts with a Kentucky reference,” I say. “Was that a real place?” Payne grins. “Yeah, it’s about the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky airport. That’s where I wrote it.” Turns out, the song wasn’t just about Atlanta—it was about watching planes take off in Kentucky and dreaming about where they’d land.
For Little Feat, the journey has taken them places they never expected, and Payne is grateful to still be on the ride. “We’ve been doing this a long time,” he says. “But the way I see it, we’re not done yet.”
Listen to the interview above and then check out some classic tracks below.
