Sam's Place Little Feat

• 1 Milkman 04:30
• 2 You'll Be Mine 03:29
• 3 Long Distance Call 03:59
• 4 Don't Go No Further 02:47
• 5 Can't Be Satisfied 04:29
• 6 Last Night 04:58
• 7 Why People Like That 03:11
• 8 Mellow Down Easy 04:45
• 9 Got My Mojo Working (Live) 04:19
• Total Runtime 36:27

Info for Sam's Place

LITTLE FEAT, one of rock’s signature and most acclaimed bands, are inviting everyone to join them over at SAM’S PLACE.

It marks the band’s first new studio album in 12 years, first-ever blues album and the first one to feature linchpin conga player Sam Clayton on lead vocals on every song.

The members of LITTLE FEAT 2024 are: Bill Payne, Keyboards and Vocals; Sam Clayton, Percussion and Vocals; Fred Tackett, Guitars and Vocals, Kenny Gradney, Bass; Scott Sharrard, Guitars and Vocals; and Tony Leone, drums and vocals. Their individual musical chops and collective chemistry light up the nine-track SAM’S PLACE, which was waxed at Sam Phillips Recording in Memphis, TN (August 2023), except for “Got My Mojo Working (Live),” recorded live at the Boulder Theatre in Boulder, CO (December 17, 2022). This is the first LITTLE FEAT album recorded with new members Sharrard and Leone.

The band’s longtime friend, the beloved Bonnie Raitt, provides vocals on the Muddy Waters gem “Long Distance Call,” a duet with Sam, and the album’s other special guests are Michael “Bull” LoBue on harmonica, Marc Franklin on trumpet, and Art Edmaiston on saxophone on select songs.

LITTLE FEAT emerged from the pandemic with their sense of humor, chops, and collective joy in playing intact—and their creativity has been renewed with SAM’S PLACE. The idea for the album started with Bill, but the whole band jumped in. They started working on songs at sound checks. Sam, Scott and Fred wrote a new song, “Milk Man.” Visiting backstage at a FEAT show, Bonnie Raitt suggested the Howlin’ Wolf tune “You Will Be Mine.” Scott suggested “Why People Like That,” a Bobby Charles tune. Sam chose the Willy Dixon-penned “Don’t Go No Further,” a deep Muddy track. And they included a live version of “Got My Mojo Working.”

Scott had recorded in Memphis, and they eventually found their way to the second Phillips (the first was Sun Studios, where Elvis began his career) studio there, complete with Jerry Lee Lewis’s piano, which Bill noted “practically played itself.” FEAT’s a rock band, but as Scott observed, at the end “the blues is home,” and they basically recorded it live in the studio, in the tradition. Their playing is at an all-time high, and Bill thought their musical conversation was “flawless.”

Sam was a happy vocalist. His own “Milk Man,” a song about his nephew, has lyrics from his wife, Joni. The duet with Bonnie on “Long Distance Call,” he humbly admitted, was classic. “We go good together, man.” “Last Night” was done in memory of Sam’s very good friend, the late Ed Bradley of Sixty Minutes. And “Why People Like That” was particularly satisfying. “I just like the way the slide sounds and everything. I knew Scott is a great slide player too, plus he is a great lead guitarist. And I know we would put our touch to it, the Little Feat touch. So we just sort of did it. Scott just adds a lot to it and he answers to what I’m singing.”

SAM’S PLACE scratches a deep itch. Sam added, “I’m very happy because I was never expecting anything like that. I mean, I have wanted to, but I just wasn’t expecting it to come to fruition. It was a long wait, but it’s satisfying.”

The members of Little Feat emerged from the pandemic with their sense of humor, chops, and collective joy in playing intact on their 2024 album Sam’s Place. Over the past three years, they’ve focused tours on their epic live album Waiting for Columbus and re-issues of some of their classic albums (Sailin’ Shoes, Dixie Chicken, and Waiting for Columbus). Audience response has been rapturous. The band builds on a deep, over 50-year history. Little Feat used a combination of elite musicianship and brilliant, idiosyncratic songwriting to create a repertoire that transcends all boundaries. California rock, funk, folk, jazz, country and rockabilly mixed with New Orleans swamp boogie led to a powerful sound that has kept the audience dancing for decades. Their groove – in songs like “Dixie Chicken,” “Spanish Moon,” “Fat Man in the Bathtub,” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” is a continuous thread of excellence that embraces the qualities of exploration that make up Little Feat, its music, while honoring their brothers that began this journey decades ago: Lowell George, Richie Hayward, and Paul Barrere. Their legacy is honest and durable with no end in sight. It has always been about the songs and musicianship.

Scott Sharrard, lead guitar, vocals
Tony Leone, drums, vocals
Bill Payne, keyboards, vocals
Fred Tackett, guitar, vocals
Kenny Gradney, bass
Sam Clayton, percussion, vocals

Little Feat
The long-running funky Southern boogie act Little Feat have been making slick, genre-defying music since their debut out of Southern California in 1969. Melding rock, blues, R&B, and country, Little Feat drew inspiration from Southern-fried blues rock -- and yet they originated from Los Angeles with songwriter and guitarist Lowell George at the helm.

Naming themselves "Feat" in tribute to the Beatles, Little Feat at first consisted of Lowell George and Bill Payne, who played in Frank Zappa's Mothers Of Invention. They teamed up with former Mothers of Invention bassist Roy Estrada and drummer Richie Hayward (The Factory, Fraternity Of Man). Zappa famously helped Little Feat get signed to Warner Bros. Records, and the band released their self-titled debut album in 1971. A sophomore album, Sailin' Shoes, followed in 1972.

That same year, Little Feat brought in a new bassist, Kenny Gradney. The band also added a second guitarist, Paul Barrere, and drummer Sam Clayton. Adopting a New Orleans funk sound, Little Feat released Dixie Chicken in 1973 and Feats Don't Fail Me Now (a tribute to the Fats Waller song) in 1974.

Little Feat went on to release 1975's jazz-fusion album The Last Record Album and 1977's Time Loves A Hero. In 1978, they released the double-live album Waiting For Columbus, followed by 1979's Down On The Farm. Around this time, George embarked on a short-lived solo career, releasing the album Thanks, I'll Eat It Here. George died of a heart attack in 1979, and Little Feat would disband until 1988 when Payne, Barrere, Hayward, Gradney, and Clayton re-formed the group, adding vocalist/guitarist Craig Fuller and guitarist Fred Tackett.

Back together again, the newly re-formed Little Feat released Let It Roll in 1988 -- the album eventually went gold. Three more reunion albums followed: Representing The Mambo (1989), Shake Me Up (1991), and Ain't Had Enough Fun (1995). Ain't Had Enough Fun featured singer Shaun Murphy, who stayed on for 1998's Under The Radar and 2000's Chinese Work Songs.

Little Feat released a handful of compilations and live recordings over the next few years, including 2002's Ripe Tomatos Volume One, 2006's The Best of Little Feat, and 2011's 40 Feat: The Hot Tomato Anthology 1971-2011. In 2003, Little Feat released Kickin' It At The Barn, their first album for their own indie label, Hot Tomato Records. Rocky Mountain Jam arrived in 2007, and Join The Band followed in 2008 on Proper Records.

In 2010, Little Feat founding member Richie Hayward passed away. Little Feat continued touring with Gabe Ford on percussion. Little Feat released a new album in 2012. In October 2019, a few years after a liver cancer diagnosis, Barrere passed away. He'd written some of the band's best-known songs, including "All That You Dream," "Time Loves a Hero" and "Old Folks Boogie."

Scott Sharrard, who had filled in for Barrere during Little Feat's 50th Anniversary tour, was brought on as a full-time band member.

This album contains no booklet.