Bill Payne co-founded Little Feat back in 1969 with the late singer-guitarist Lowell George. Over half a century later, he’s the band’s last original member, leading its newest incarnation on a tour to audiences around the Northeast this month.
“They should be prepared to look at the keyboard player and see the amount of terror, thrill, and joy on his face. It could be a combination of all three. I am not as prepared for this tour as the other guys,” laughed Payne. “I’ll be blunt about it. But I'm going to be ready when I get there.”
A legendary session musician and accompanist in his own right, pianist Payne spoke to WAMC from the road at the tail end of a tour with the Doobie Brothers.
“I don't take anything for granted," said Payne. "I've literally going up there, and I'll just say, yeah, I think I can remember the changes for the song. If I need lyrics, I'll look at my iPad for some lyrics. But that's going to make it a lot more interesting and fun for people too, because there's this hyper-kinetic thing that happens when you’re put in that spot.”
Little Feat – with a sound influenced by jazz, country, R&B, and psychedelic rock – is a band’s band.
Outspoken fans include Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, who once declared them his favorite American band, the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir, who often plays Little Feat song “Easy To Slip” in his solo performances, and Vermont natives Phish, who covered Little Feat’s 1978 live album “Waiting For Columbus” in its entirety at a 2010 Halloween show.
“My gratitude towards Phish and to Bob is unending," said Payne. "I mean, it's a thing that Lowell and I used to talk about when we first started the band in 1969. We didn't figure on being a household name, but we were very hopeful that we would be more of a name that resonated within the musical community- The notion that our material would be influenced by people like [Bob] Dylan and maybe we'd have a vague if not more of an imprint on Dylan, on Elton John, or the Rolling Stones or whoever. The influences going back and forth were really what we were discussing and it's still in play to this day.”
If Little Feat is a band’s band, Payne is a musician’s musician, appearing as a sideman on countless albums and in many bands.
In 1999 and 2000, he was a member of Phil Lesh and Friends, playing the keys with the former Grateful Dead bassist.
“Phil had these signals that he would give you – like, a circular motion means to let it play out in an ethereal way, let's say," explained Payne. "And here's a count that's going to get hit, boom, boom, boom. You’re going to hit three shots here. Miles Davis used to do the same thing. Frank Zappa did the same thing. We all have our little shortcuts on how to communicate on stage.”
Payne appears on blues legend B.B. King’s 1997 album “Deuces Wild.”
“It was an amazing evening. Last song I that played with him was, Willie Nelson was there, and we did ‘The Nightlife,’ which is Willie’s song, obviously," said the keyboardist. "And at the end of the session, B.B. looked over, he says, ‘Man, I'm afraid for a session like this for a long time.’ And he added that, ‘I wish I could play those chords that you're playing.’ And I said man, you’re the icing on the cake. It was just such a wonderful compliment.”
He played on singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson’s final proper studio album, 1980’s “Flash Harry,” alongside Ringo Starr.
“It was an honor to play on that album," said Payne. "You know, obviously we didn't know it was going to be his last one. So it wouldn’t have made any difference in the sense of how we played. We just- The approach generally is, whatever session I'm playing on, which is probably why I played on so many – you have to deliver, and the sense of how quickly you come up with things, how sensitive you are to the material, to the artist’s needs, to what you can contribute. It's formulaic, but it's not. It's really about having a conversation – not unlike like what we're doing.”
Payne says the secret to keeping both his playing and the Little Feat songbook alive throughout the decades is all about remaining open minded and in search of new ideas.
“If you're learning scales, how do you want to implement those scales?" explained Payne. "That's what John Coltrane would study, the art of scales. All the- the Phrygian, all the modes that go with playing scales, and he would practice those, and the practice is over when you hit the stage. What is it you're prepared to speak and talk about? You've looked in the dictionary, you've looked up words, antecedents to things. So what do you want to say?”
Audiences will be able to hear what Payne and Little Feat have to say throughout the WAMC listening area this week.
They perform at The Egg in Albany Tuesday night, and will appear in Northampton, Massachusetts on Wednesday and in Burlington, Vermont on Saturday.
