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Home , Bill Payne, Craig Fuller, Discover America, Don Heffington, Fred Tackett, Inara George

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, A 70s visionary and genius , LOWELL, GEORGE of LIT TLE FE AT is rocks lost star. MICHAEL SIMMONS pays tribute.

Y THE MID-1970S, AND were regulars at their shows. “The Stones so wanted to hang around him,” chuckles friend . “They could tell he had the Tao of the .” almost got thrown out of the Plaza Hotel in New York for blasting “my favourite American group…too loud”, while “ loved ’em,” says Danny Hutton of Three Dog Night. “I remember after Robert had that accident, he was on crutches B with his foot taped up, and he was at a show! I said, What are you doing here? He said ‘I wouldn’t miss this for anything!’” “They” are and “he” was their leader, . By 1979, Lowell would be dead of a combination of cocaine, booze and over-the-counter medicines, the proverbial “ heart attack”. He left behind a wife, four kids and Little Feat, “a band of assassins” as top fan calls them, who blended rock, blues, country, soul, , jazz and with fi erce experimentation. Lowell was lead singer, possessed of unequalled honey-and-hot-sauce soul pipes. In a holy trinity of electric slide guitarists, alongside Duane Allman and , he wrote/co-wrote some of the most memorable of the 1970s (Willin’, Truck Stop Girl, Sailin’ Shoes, Dixie Chicken, Easy To Slip) for a band in a parallel universe of their own design. “We had an expression: droit gauche,” explains Van Dyke Parks. “To do what was right, might take a left turn. [Lowell] did that in his work.” It also explains the duality of an artist who desired commercial acceptance, but strictly on his terms, rendering success elusive and allowing Little Feat, he toiled with for a decade, to disin- tegrate as they reached rock stardom. Years after his death, his bandmates consulted a psychic who’d never heard of George. Contacted in the afterlife, Lowell was asked The eyes have it: Lowell George, NBC what led to his death. The droll wit of his answer gave it credence: “I fucked up.” Studios, Burbank, Portentously, Lowell arrived on Friday the 13th of April 1945, the last of two sons , 1976. to Willard and Florence George. Pal Martin Kibbee cracked that “He was born under a bad sign – the sign.” His father Willard was “furrier to the stars” and died when his youngest son was 10. Parks recalls the only photo of Lowell’s dad he ever saw: Willard and W.C. Fields standing next to a Stutz Bearcat covered with freshly shot mallards. A bright, mischievous, chubby kid with an instinct for music, as a nipper he

Getty Images (4) Images Getty and older brother Hampton appeared on a televised talent show, duetting on a ➢ here in Credit here in Credit

68 MOJO MOJO 69 On Sunset Strip: Little Little Foot: Feat at the Whisky Orient Express (1966’s Dirty Wa- A Go-Go, 1972: with Peter ter), whose fans didn’t cotton to (clockwise from left) Walker (far left) , Lowell, and Lowell, bare- Lowell’s girth and sitar mini-set. , foot with sitar. In November 1968, Frank Zap- , Sam pa hired George as second guitarist Clayton and Barrere, . and singer for . He’s credited on – on Didja Get Any Onya? he even vocally mimics a saxo- phone – and co-produced Permanent Damage by The GTOs, the Zappa-sponsored groupie group. When the dope-averse Zappa heard a new Lowell , Willin’, with its chorus of “weed, whites, and wine”, he advised its com- poser to start his own band. George had be- friended musician at the Kin- nara School. Titelman became part of producer ’s inner circle and was hired to contribute to the soundtrack for ’s fi lm debut in . For years it has been rumoured that Lowell played slide on Memo From Turner, despite Ry Cooder’s credit. Titelman confi rms the slide was Ry’s; Lowell ➢ single oversized har- played “Indian stuff” on the score’s instrumentals. monica. After picking at his Titelman was crucial when they acted on Frank brother’s fl amenco guitar at Zappa’s advice. age 11, he got a Fender Stratocaster that would ORN IN TEXAS, BILL PAYNE SPENT HIS remain his axe of choice. teens in Santa Maria, California surfi ng and He attended Hollywood Bpractising piano, on his way to becoming High School, along with one of the best keyboardists in rock. Like many future co-writer Kibbee, smart young musicians, he wanted to be a Mother. future Feats member Paul He got no further than Lowell George in June ’69. Barrere and future wife Invited to George’s home, he was greeted by a Elizabeth, who notes gorgeous blonde and Erik Satie music. George always seemed “She says, ‘You must be Bill. Lowell’ll be back in the roster. Little Feat had a deal. Recording began in headed in his own direc- four or fi ve hours. Make yourself at home.’ I look at mid-1970 with Titelman producing: “Basically I tion: “Lowell was sitting at thought the direction should be like a Band record. “"““‘‘Drugs quietened the his record collection which had , Om a table facing out on the rest by John Coltrane, The Fugs, the Smithsonian Sophisticated but rootsy-sounding at the same time.” of the class. I don’t know if collection of blues. I’m thinkin’, Whoever this guy An accident with a model airplane before record- ing began damaged George’s left hand and numbed demons. With proper that was because he was be- is, I can identify with him.” ’, ing segregated for being un- Little Feat Mark Thus began an extraordinary partnership. A re- two fi ngers on his right. He had no choice but to play ruly, but that was the fi rst 1: (from left) slide. With the aid of a compressor to add sustain, he , Bill mark Mothers drummer made care he d still be here." time I met him.” Payne, Lowell, about Lowell’s lower paws led to Little Feat, the “a” developed his signature sound: a few searing notes Richie Hayward. that could mimic a screaming or a long, piercing single Little Feat’s paltry pay by becoming a session guitarist and producer. In the marching band he played fl ute, for portability. added in a Beatles homage. Richie Hayward joined on drums, He’d sideman for , , Jackson Browne, “One occasion he turned the chart upside down and played as did former Mother Roy Estrada on bass. While writing note that could rattle one’s bones. Instead of an ordinary glass slide, he decided to use an auto mechanic’s socket wrench. , , , , The that,” says Kibbee. “It sounded great.” Adopting the beatnik persona and rehearsing, the only rule was that the music had no limits, but Meters, Etta James and jazz man , and produce Raitt of the early ’60s, he studied sax and mastered the shakuhachi, a Jap- the template was The Band: lots of chops but no show-offs, literate To describe Little Feat’s sound Van Dyke Parks came up with Cartoon Consciousness, nailing the songs’ visual synesthesia and sur- and the . He, Payne and Hayward all played on John anese wooden fl ute known for its diffi culty and became a brown belt lyrics set to arresting melodies. “Big Pink had such a big impact,” says Cale’s Paris 1919, George’s lush slide phrasing adding to the ’s in a martial art (which art is disputed), a fact he’d reveal for effect. future producer . Yet Feats music certainly wasn’t Big real wit. A Lowellism – “cracked mosaic” – referred to the fractured structure of Feat’s melodies and rhythms, created by shifts during orchestral wash. “It’s very subtly done,” refl ects Cale. “It fi ts right in. While attending college in autumn 1963, he got a job working Pink redux. It’s very warm and elegant. What he plays on Andalucia is gorgeous.” nights at a gas station where he gleaned romantic notions about the band jams and George’s composition process of hacking up tapes of “We had a year where we were writing, including an instrumen- Lowell also worked with Parks on his avant-calypso life of the long-distance trucker. He later credited Willin’ and Truck demos and splicing them back together. “I use tape like someone Discover tal called Dance Of The Nubile Virgin Slaves,” laughs Payne. “We America. At one session, Japanese group Happy End visited to ask Stop Girl, two of Little Feat’s earliest compositions, to this time. He played this material for Ahmet Ertegun and he looked at us: ‘Too would use manuscript paper,” he said. A primitive drum machine, idolised Howlin’ Wolf and told of a backstage meeting, babbling on diverse, boys.’ So we went back to the drawing board and [wrote] the DoncaMatic, also encouraged herky-jerky temporal variations. Parks if he’d produce them. He declined, due to commitments, so to Wolf about how much his music meant to him. The gruff blues- Brides Of Jesus, Crazy Captain Gunboat Willie, and Hamburger 1971’s eponymous debut received ecstatic reviews. In Rock an aide opened a briefcase full of $100 bills. As Parks told Bud man growled at the kid: “Well, fuck you!” This made George love Midnight – which were totally off the wall, so you can only imagine magazine, Bud Scoppa pointed out that “there’s something inexpli- Scoppa, Lowell “sidled up to the open case, and while caressing it, Wolf even more and his respect for musicians increased if they were how eclectic and weird the fi rst shit was.” cably strange and off-centre about it”, and dubbed it “a genre mas- uttered his most famous words: ‘I think we can make music out of “versed in the ways of Chester Burnett”. They had one accessible classic: Willin’. “That was one of the terpiece – in a genre I still can’t quite place.” George was averse to this!’” Lowell and Van Dyke wrote Sayonara America for the group, George and Kibbee, singer/guitar and bass respectively, formed calling cards with record companies,” Lowell would note. Regarded direction during the recording and insistent on a perfectionism that which became a Top 10 hit in Japan. By working with George, Parks a rock band in 1965, The Factory. Warren Klein played lead guitar by many as the truck-driving anthem, it was a perfect country song. wasn’t in the budget, resulting in a rupture between him and Titel- ensured his friend’s visibility at the label. Furthermore, when they while Lowell stuck to rhythm. The latter understood his function as Recorded by Johnny Darrell and Seatrain before the Feats’ fi rst al- man. “I was concerned fi scally about it and responsible for it,” says concocted the song Sailin’ Shoes for , Parks delayed rhythm player was to complement the song, prefi guring his tasteful bum was even released, there are over a hundred covers, including Titelman today. “Lowell wanted to redo a bunch of things.” And yet the release so Lowell could debut it with Little Feat. With staff pro- lead playing. Through an ad in the LA Free Press – “Drummer those by Linda Ronstadt, Dylan, , and . he doesn’t hesitate to add, “But he was so brilliant.” ducer Ted Templeman attached, Warners OK’d another album. Wanted. Must Be Freaky” – they found propulsive percussionist Titelman was knocked out: “I said to Lowell, Let’s go see [A&R The debut sold only 11,000 copies. George found an ally at Sailin’ Shoes, released February 1972, was as good as the fi rst, Richie Hayward. “Richie was unbelievable,” says Kibbee. By 1967, chief] at Warner Bros Records. I’ll be your pro- Warners who shared his disdain for authority – Van Dyke Parks, maybe better. The was the fi rst by surrealist painter Lowell was studying sitar. Ravi Shankar had opened the Kinnara ducer.” George brought an acoustic and Payne played the piano in who was director of Audiovisual Services. “Lowell approached me Neon Park: a cake with the legs of a dame, riding a swing with one School of Indian Music in LA and his students included Georges Waronker’s offi ce, performing nine songs. Waronker simply said, when I was a person of pivotal interest to his continuing at Warner shoe sailin’ off her petite foot, a slice cut from the cake suggesting Lowell and Harrison, and with respected acoustic guitarist Peter “OK, go upstairs and talk to Mo.” Mo Ostin was president of Warn- Bros, because he and his group had been dropped from the label.” feminine nether-region; Gainsborough’s Blue Boy watching from Walker, Lowell joined proto-world band Orient Express. But his ers, a hip corporate label with , Joni Mitchell, Neil Lowell had three young sons to support: two of his own with differ- afar. The fine art embodiment of Cartoon Consciousness,

need to work led to a two-month stint with one-trick garage ponies Young, , and the Grateful(4) Work DeadKinney C. Images, onGetty Seligo, Frank ent women and Elizabeth’s son from her fi rst marriage. He added to Neon’s work graced every Feats album until his death in 1993. ➢

70 MOJO MOJO 71 ➣ The Big Deal: Lowell Yet despite rave reviews, Sailin’ Shoes only sold a couple and thousand more than the debut. mock Warner Bros Mo Ostin and Feat lawyer Times were tough. Estrada joined And John Frankenheimer, His Magic Band for fi nancial stability, one of the funniest December 19, 1975. rock’n’roll in-jokes, given Beefheart’s uncommercial status. Yet as one door closed, three opened. Gossip of John Sebastian and Phil Everly joining Little Feat came to naught, and Paul Barrere was hired to play second guitar, freeing George to concentrate on singing and lead. Bassist Kenny Gradney and percussionist Sam Clayton joined from Delaney & Bonnie, bringing the polyrhythms of their New Orleans home to the band as the quirky headneck quartet became a monster N’awlins funk sex- tet. With George producing, Dixie Chicken fl ew the coop in January ’73 to ecstatic reviews, a masterpiece of grease (many thought Little Feat were a Southern band), redolent of tube tops, hot pants, co- caine, Quaaludes, and women of ill repute doin’ their deeds in a mythical Memphis. Warners convinced the band to hype the record by arriving at radio stations, dressed as tour, “he met a promoter in waiters, with Lowell in a chicken suit, distrib- DC who’d done Linda and I at uting boxes of fried chicken. Barrere wore the the Lisner Auditorium saying, chicken head – Lowell refused – and dubbed ‘You could play around here the stunt “bullshit”. Dixie Chicken doubled Sai- every weekend, people are cra- lin’ Shoes’ sales, but still the band briefl y split. Feat, live ’77 with Auxiliary Bonnie Raitt (second fromzy about you,’” recalls Jackson The LPs were expensive to record, cash left), andBrowne. The Lisner became a (far right) . reward was minimal, relations band favourite and the DC/Bal- strained. “Everybody sort of went timore/Virginia region became their own way and came to realise their turf. They’d record all the grass is always greener – sup- week and gig on the weekends posedly,” George told a DJ. at Lisner or small colleges. “We’re not Exxon, I’ll tell ya, in ““ "He was in over Another blessing came terms of well-oiled. I’m not really t, , during their time back east: after that.” he knew i his head was born on July 4, 1974. The period is recalled ESPITE THE STRIFE, but he could as being Edenic by the oft- they became the band fractious band. Dother musicians pointed For these sessions, Lowell to as the model of artistic prowess " not pull away.“““ encouraged the others to con- and integrity. “People go ‘Are you a Stones per- tribute material. “What I really tried to do was get a group son or Beatles person?’” says Ronstadt. “I’m a effort,” he said later. “Mostly because it’s time for all Little Feat person.” those guys to have their talent exhibited.” Payne conjured “Lowell was among the greatest musicians I Oh Atlanta, one of the catchiest tunes in the band’s rep- ever met,” says Bonnie Raitt. “He’s up there with ertoire. Like its predecessor, Feats Don’t… is a good- Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan.” The Feats time party album but with less cartoony deviance. One Auxiliary formed around the band and they were could say it was commercial. Perhaps that’s why it sold called on for sessions and sit-ins: Ronstadt, Raitt, almost 150,000 copies upon release. Browne, Hutton, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Bram- lett, , , J.D. Souther, and N JANUARY 1975, WARNERS SENT THE BAND . on a package tour to with the Doobie Broth- Ronstadt was knocked out when she fi rst saw I ers. North London’s Rainbow broke the band in the Little Feat, soon after Dixie Chicken’s release, at a 1976 tour UK. Lowell was pleasantly shocked when the audience club in Atlanta. “Lowell was singin’ and I went, programme. went wild: “It’s Sunday afternoon. Why aren’t you home in bed?” OHHHH GAAAAWD. He was hellaciously good.” Warners president Joe Smith described the Feats reception for Lowell accompanied Ronstadt and Browne on a bus tour in 1973 : “The people stood and just kept screaming.” while the Feats were on a break. In the DC area, Linda and Lowell The band returned to the States to record their fi fth album, but spent time with Emmylou, who was living there after the death of George’s behaviour was deteriorating. Despite earlier encourage- . Ronstadt and George collaborated at Blue Seas Re- ment, he was now griping about Payne and Barrere’s material. cording in Hunt Valley, Maryland. It was in this environment that Prone to rehearsal no-shows, or conversely fi xated on vocal re- she later saw a side to Lowell that would be exacerbated by time and takes, he was driving everyone batty. “He was like a dog chasin’ its cocaine: his epic no-sleep, nine-day studio binges. Ronstadt says it tail,” says Payne. “I don’t think it should’ve taken that much time or was more than drugs. “My deepest suspicion is bipolar disorder. money to make these records. I was pissed off by the idea of being Drugs are a way to quiet the demons. With the proper medication excessive on every level. Lowell was in over his head. He knew it and we’d still have him around.” yet he couldn’t pull himself away”. Referring to their next – and fourth – album, Barrere noted that As the group became more popular, Lowell became unhappier. “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now was a literal title, because Lowell got us all Tired of their line-up, he retreated into himself instead of Hamburger midnight: back together again and said, ‘OK, we’re gonna sink or swim.’” acting on his instincts; self-destruction through indecision. “He Lowell (centre) with Linda Ronstadt, Paul Cheaper than LA’s studios, Little Feat block-booked Blue Seas for didn’t think the band was as virtuosic as other Barrere (far left) and spring/summer 1974 and band and family – including a pregnant [musicians],” says friend Fred Tackett. George and Payne’s friends at the Roxy, Henry Diltz, ©Cheshercat.com, Corbis, Chris Cafi ero, Littlefeat.net ero, Cafi Chris Corbis, ©Cheshercat.com, Diltz, Henry Liz George – decamped to Maryland. On the Browne/Ronstadt personalities were no longer compatible – a notion the ➢ Sunset Strip, , early ’70s. MOJO 73 “The solo album, he thought, Browne, Harris, Larson. At was all radio songs, which they the end, the cast blasted turned out not to be at all,” says through Dixie Chicken while “““"His eyes were Feat’s fi nest. By ’ Chris Robinson. friend/guitarist Fred Tackett. For linking arms for the Feats’ the solo tour he turned to Tack- trademark high-kicks. After- , ett who recommended Eddie Zip Little Feat Dixie Chicken wards, recounts Jackson black his mouth (Warner Bros, 1971) (Warner Bros, 1973) and Sweet Magnolia, “New Orle- Browne, “Barrere broke into “If you’re a casual “This is their most ans guys that I played with as a Little Feat fan then popular album and this spontaneous version of was open but he kicks band. Lowell said, ‘Let’s this fi rst album the title track alone [the Clovers 1955 hit] Devil ’, hire the whole band.’” sometimes falls is everything that Or Angel in the backstage through the cracks. you love about In an interview prior to the It’s a real rock’n’roll rock’n’roll. It’s showers. Everyone was com- couldn ’t speak." tour, George was asked about record, a little less smooth than the Southern-sounding and it’s warm. pletely destroyed over his that followed, and maybe a Lowell is one of the most unique “Lowell came in and said, ‘What are you guys? reports that he’d “turned passing, but Paul was giving moody, reclusive”. little bit more country, but you can voices in American music, mostly voice to the fact that Lowell Fucking ?’” says Templeman. hear them starting to fi nd their own because of his lyricism, which cuts (When the song was performed live, George “That’s rock poop,” he re- Little Feat language. Willin’ also sets deep. Fat Man In The Bath Tub is a was infuriating.” would stroll off-stage.) An apathetic George had plied. Of Little Feat’s status, he the standard for the tunes they’d good example. Is that how he really The cover of the August 9 said, “I’m not really worried go on to write, while Bride Of Jesus saw himself? That’s a blues song, for Rolling Stone featured Amer- to be cajoled. When he refused to get out of bed to is just loaded in terms of imagery sure! I hear Robert Johnson in that, record a guitar solo, Templeman called Raitt. about it… groups break up and and mood. Snakes On Everything is but it’s matter of fact at the same ica’s new sweetheart, Rickie get back together all the time. another great track, it’s psychedelic time. That’s part of Lowell’s charm. Lee Jones. Above the logo “Bonnie played the solo and kicked it. [Then] without being psychedelia per se. Dixie Chicken is still a rough-edged Lowell came down in his pyjamas and really played Nothing is permanent.” read “LOWELL GEORGE But Payne and Barrere were Overall, the album sets Little Feat record. It also proves Steely Dan – 1945-1979”. Then there was it.” The album sold well in the States and made up as outsiders, especially in LA. much as I like them – fucked a lot the Top 10 in the UK, but Feats fans were mysti- already planning their own band. To me, the album’s up there with of things up by taking this kind of the posthumous album Down A decade had passed since Billy The Band’s Music From Big Pink. sound and cleaning it up. Little Feat On The Farm. Lowell wrote or fi ed by Lowell’s low profi le. still sounded dirty at this point.” And yet the next record, , Payne inspected Lowell’s record ,’ co-wrote five of the nine produced by George, was Little Feat at their fi nest. collection: “My last meeting with Sailin’’ Shoes , songs, including the ravishing They recorded shows in August ’77 at the Lisner in him, he drove up on his motor- (Warner Bros, 1972) Feats Don’t co-pen Be One Now, sport- DC and the Rainbow in London, the sites of their cycle to my house. His eyes were “Little Feat moved ing his aching vocal and proof as black as saucers. He had his on in terms of Fail Me Now of what was evident on the fi - most devoted audiences for a live album, an an- composition and (Warner Brothers, 1974) nouncer leading the crowd in the chant: “F! E! A! mouth open but he couldn’t say musicianship with “When I started nal tour: Lowell George was anything. He got back on his this album. In fact, singing, people getting even better. T!” as Lowell whacks his cowbell, Paul scrapes his by the time they would bring up strings, Richie and Sam start pounding. Payne said bike, drove away. That’s the last I ever saw him.” reached Sailin’ Shoes I would be names like Paul AYNE, HAYWARD, “it raised the hair on my arms” the fi rst time hard pushed to think of a group Rodgers or Terry he heard it. Joined by the With Tackett on guitar, Zip on from that era – other than maybe Reid. Lowell’s was Barrere, Gradney and Lowell, Topanga Beach, late Hammond B3, Don Heffi ngton Delaney & Bonnie – who were as another so I went out and bought Clayton initially scat- ’70s: “He was surf fishing, horns, all of Little Feat’s attributes are here: P on drums, and fi ve others plus good as them musically speaking. this album to see what they were tered but reformed as Little the big game fisherman and unequalled musicianship, big vocals and On this album, Lowell George really talking about. At the time it didn’t this is what he caught,” says crew and Elizabeth and comes into his own too as a lyricist. hit me because I was into music Feat in 1988 with Tackett on Elizabeth George. “I thought group harmonies, killer tunes, surreal Inara, Lowell hit the road on His songwriting gets more personal that was more jagged and I didn’t guitar and – later it was perfect.” (Below) with wit. The album went gold and most Inara George, 1979. June 15 for a three-week tour, and you sense he’s writing about smoke a lot of weed. Then things Shaun Murphy – on vocals. thought of it as a giant step instead of his own loneliness. The album’s changed, I got the fi rst album and

a last gasp. Among those impressed playing a combo of Thanks I’ll Eat sleeve, by Neon Park, is all about worked my way back to this. The Now a sextet with Tackett, they

➣ ➣ were the Grateful Dead who hired It Here and Little Feat tunes. Little Feat creating their own world production is incredible, rich, continue to record and tour. and identity. It’s not like they’re velvety and funky. To a lot of people latter endorses. Whether Lowell George to produce 1978’s “He was round like a ball,” “We still honour Lowell by says Tackett. “Everyone was creating a corporate brand, it’s this is the pinnacle of a great band.” playin’ his songs,” says Payne. Lowell’s increasing chemical use . more of a weird trip.” As told to Phil Alexander was responsible is up for debate; “But,” says that band’s publicist concerned. He’d had mononu- “It was something I wrestled his expansive, eccentric genius is Dennis McNally, “the Dead were cleosis and then he got bronchi- with in ’88. We were in com- not. “I thought of him as bigger coked out and so was he.” After tis.” Persevering with pharmaco- petition not only with every- than this world creatively,” says one all-nighter, Lowell gave drum- logical aid, on June 28 he returned to the Lisner in DC, performing body else, but with ourselves. In 1989, we played London and we confi dante Joan Turner. “He was mer Mickey Hart his two cents a 12-tune set of chug and blister. The crowd was rabid. The last walked on-stage and these people had their arms crossed, scowls on so brilliant, that to be in the mi- about the conga sound on a Hart song was a churning second-line Spanish Moon: “Don’t take long/ their faces and it was like, ‘All right, you’re Little Feat? Prove it.’” The lieu he was in, he had to mitigate solo album: “It sucked.” Hart start- To wake up ruined.” band won a 25-minute ovation. his creativity.” ed to choke a hyperventilating Tackett says Lowell phoned Richie Hayward, Kenny Gradney Lowell George is still not a household name. When Rolling Stone For the next album, The Last Lowell, whose brown belt failed and Sam Clayton after the show and assured them they’d reform listed their 100 Greatest Guitarists Of All Time, he was absent. Yet Record Album, Lowell co-wrote him against Hart’s black belt. Little Feat when he returned to LA. “After the gig we went to a no night passes in which Willin’ isn’t sung, be it by a bar band or the Mercenary Territory with Eliza- In the last year of his life, George party at somebody’s house, doin’ what musicians do,” drummer Black Crowes. “Lowell’s music is so heartbreakingly personal,” says beth (and Richie Hayward), refl ecting personal grief. “That was toured and began a new Little Feat album. He also worked on the solo Heffi ngton recalls. Around 7am, the band headed back to the Twin Luther Dickinson of the Crowes and North Mississippi Allstars. “He from a letter I wrote to him in a moment of fury and frustration,” album mandated by The Big Deal, and a solo tour. His producer status Bridges Marriott Hotel in Arlington, Virginia. Lowell went to sleep made the blues his own.” In 2009, Lowell was given the President’s says Liz. “It’s self-explanatory. ‘My nights turn into your morn- and passive/aggressive see-sawing fi nally drove Payne over the edge. around 8am, but had trouble breathing. Elizabeth and road man- Award from the Americana Music Association, a posthumous nod ings…’ and this isn’t so cool and I’m not the only parent here.” “He let me tell him over a two-day period, one on one, what I thought ager Gene Vano rolled him over and his breathing briefl y returned bestowed on Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt and . Despite trouble in the grooves, The Last… was solid, and sold a about him. How much I loved the guy. How much I appreciated his to normal. And then he died. “When you look at Lowell George, the reason he’s still being healthy 300,000 copies. Warners re-signed them in December ’75 being a mentor to me. Where I thought he was fucking up. How he “That was the longest day,” recalls Tackett. “We sat in the bar for discussed is because he took the wrong turn whenever he could, if for a million, a contract known as The Big Deal. “Everyone bought was hurting us. Hurting himself.” Little Feat had fi nally broken up. hours and you’d look at your watch and it had only been 10 minutes.” it meant he might fi nd something out,” muses Van Dyke Parks. “He a house,” laughs Barrere. The agreement called for three Feats LPs Thanks I’ll Eat It Here, Lowell George’s solo album, was fi nally The cops swept the hotel room, but found nothing and the death was a man of depth and understanding, a troubled mind seeking and a Lowell George album. released in April 1979, with 45 musicians credited on a sprawling was ruled a heart attack. Lowell had been doing blow, drinking and peace publicly. We all want a happy ending [but] it’s very hard to When it came to record the sixth Feats album, Payne and Bar- project that took three years. He sings his ass off and the songs smoking heavily, but Liz maintains he was taking self-prescribed fi nd one in a man so overlooked as he is. I still miss him very much.” rere asked Ted Templeman to produce. “They wanted somebody to range from very good to sublime, but with only half originals, it quantities of over-the-counter cold medications to quell his fl u and Parks pauses and notes a contradiction. After all, here we are still look at it objectively,” he says. If any other band had made Time Loves wasn’t the anticipated masterwork. No small featnote is his cover that this – in combination with the alcohol – is what killed him. discussing Lowell 31 years after his death… “How can I miss him,” A Hero, it would be considered fi rst-rate, but it’s bereft of Lowell’s of ’ Easy Money. “Lowell is responsible for When he discovered there was no insurance for Elizabeth and Van Dyke guffaws, “when he won’t go away?” M humour, and – most noticeably – of George himself. One source of bringing her to Warners’ attention,” says Templeman. Jones’ the kids, Payne suggested a tribute concert. Held on August 4, 1979 SLIDE AWAY! EXPECT A SERIOUS BOTTLENECK TO FORM ONLINE AT WWW.MOJO4MUSIC.COM contention was Day At The Dog Races, a fusion instrumental devel- eponymous debut was released in March 1979 and Chuck E.’s In at the LA Forum for a sold-out crowd of over 20,000 including the AS WE HAIL GOOD KING GEORGE WITH A SELECTION OF THE BEST OF LOWELL AND LITTLE MORE MOJO FEAT (AND THE BED BUGS). BRING YOUR OWN WEED, WHITES AND WINE… oped at rehearsals when the erstwhile leader couldn’t be found. Love shot up the charts. Corbis George, Elizabeth Governor of California, it starred Little Feat with Ronstadt, Raitt,

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