"Little Feat" Premium Unisex T-Shirt

Frank Zappa Fired Him. He Took the Song with Him. What Happened Next Was One of the Most Distinctive Catalogs in American Rock.

Lowell George formed Little Feat in 1969 after being let go from the Mothers of Invention — Zappa reportedly felt "Willin'" was too explicitly drug-referential to record. George took the song with him. "Willin'" — a truck driver's ode to weed, whites, and wine, written with a melodic delicacy that completely contradicts its subject matter — became one of the defining documents of the band. Linda Ronstadt later covered it and had a hit with it. George wrote it.

Little Feat was a Los Angeles band, not a Southern one. Funk and R&B were as central to their sound as rock, and the genre labels that got attached to them — Southern rock, country rock — never quite fit. What the band actually was: a rhythm section built around drummer Richie Hayward and keyboardist Bill Payne that could swing between time signatures and feels with fluency most rock bands couldn't approach, with George's open-tuned slide guitar and songwriting sitting on top of it. Dixie Chicken (1973) and Feats Don't Fail Me (1974) were their commercial peak, and neither sold particularly well at the time.

They were a musician's band. Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris, and Jackson Browne all spoke about them in terms normally reserved for influences. The Grateful Dead orbit paid close attention. Other professional musicians understood what Little Feat was doing in a way that the broader public took years to catch up to. Waiting for Columbus (1978) — the live double album recorded in London and Washington D.C. — is where everything comes together, and it's widely considered one of the great live rock records regardless of genre.

Lowell George died in June 1979, at 34, of a heart attack brought on in part by years of drug use, while on a solo tour promoting his first solo album Thanks I'll Eat It Here. He had finished mixing it three weeks earlier. The band dissolved, reconvened in 1988 without him, and has continued since. The decade from 1969 to 1979 is the story.

Also in the collection: See our full Classic Rock collection.

Premium Quality

• Bella + Canvas 3001 — Premium unisex tee, true to size
• Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton — Exceptionally soft from the first wear
• Classic unisex fit — Relaxed, versatile, works for everyone
• Tear-away label — Clean comfort, all day

Made to Order

For environmental and quality reasons, this tee is made specifically for you after you order. Please allow approximately one week for production. Tracking information will be sent as soon as it ships.