A simply beautiful song. I remember Dixie Chicken and a few others while growing up, but they were not played a lot on the radio. I did have some friends who had the albums that is how I found this band.
Guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne formed Little Feat in 1969. Lowell George was a member of Frank Zappa’s Mothers of Invention. Bass player of the Mothers Roy Estrada joined along with drummer Richie Hayward.
The band never broke out in huge commercial success but other musicians loved this band. One of them was Jimmy Page who named Little Feat his favorite American band in 1975. Lowell George stepped up as a producer in the studio for this album and he wrote this song as well.
After their debut nearly cost them their record contract because of low sales, Little Feat had to fight their way through to a second album (Sailin’). They nearly fell apart before they could make their third. Bassist Roy Estrada quit joining Captain Beefheart during the second album. They replaced him with bassist Kenny Gradney and added percussionist Sam Clayton and guitarist Paul Barrere.
When that was going on Lowell George almost left the band to join John Sebastian and Phil Everly. George decided to continue with Little Feat. All that struggle paid off on Jan. 25, 1973, with the end result, Dixie Chicken. The album peaked at only #205 but went Gold. They never sold a lot of records but they remained rock’s more consistently acclaimed act.
Lowell George: “We had one get-together which was really nice. Real great three-part harmony, with John on the bottom, Phil on the top and me in the middle. But it could never have come to fruition, not in a million years. … I don’t think that Phil Everly and I could share a stage. I mean, I’m 20 pounds overweight and he’s 20 pounds, er, over the hill.”
Roll Um Easy
Oh I am just a vagabondA drifter on the runAnd eloquent profanityIt rolls right off my tongueAnd I have dined in palacesDrunk wine with Kings and QueensBut darlin’, oh darlin’You’re the best thing I’ve ever seenWon’t you roll me easyOh slow and easyTake my independenceWith no apprehension, no tensionYou walki’ talkin’ dream paradiseSweet pair a’ diceWell I been across this countryFrom Denver to the oceanAnd I never met girls who could sing so sweetLike the angels that live in HoustonSingin’ “Roll me easy, so slow and easy…Play that Concertina, I’ll be your temptress…”And baby I’m defenselessSingin’ harmonyIn unisonSweet harmonyGotta hoist your flag and I’ll beat your drum
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I don’t really know any Little Feat songs and I thought that they might have played at Woodstock or Festival Express, but I didn’t see any mention of them. Thanks for sharing this today, Max.
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Little Feat are yet another great group my former bandmate and longtime music buddy from Germany brought on my radar screen. While I had known the name for many years, it was only about five years ago that based on his recommendation I listened to their fantastic live album “Waiting for Columbus”. It’s a great intro to Little Feat’s first five studio albums I can highly recommend!
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They were loved by other musicians at the time…and yea a great live band. They influenced many that came after them.
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I used this as my theme song when I quit my job to ride my bike across the country. https://halffastcyclingclub.wordpress.com/2022/06/21/i-am-just-a-vagabond-a-drifter-on-the-run/
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That is really cool. Like I said in the comment…I would like to try a long trip like that one day.
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Din’t know them or the song at all. Fabulous musicanship.
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Yea they were a band other musicians loved but not the masses.
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Brand new to me! Sounds quite good first run through. Little Feat are another of those bands where I’ve heard their name for decades but don’t know their music. Maybe once every two years I hear something and learn ‘that’s Little Feat’ and I go ‘oh! that’s what they are’ to myself. Same goes for Uriah Heep, although a rather different band.
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Yea the songs that I guess are more popular are Dixie Chicken and Sailin’. They did have a lot of good stuff.
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That’s a great song, I haven’t listen to them in some while. Another example of great talent does always make for commercial success.
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Yeah, this is one of those songs that is redolent of that Lowell George style.’ Roll ‘Um Easy indeed! ‘Dixie Chicken’ is another, as is ‘Willin”.
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A guy I used to play in Church band with met Lowell George in an airport once. Apparently he wasn’t making very healthy dietary choices.
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Wow…that is cool that he met him. Yea that and his drug usage didn’t help.
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LF just get better with age. Always good musical background on your takes.
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I am a Lowell George fan. I am a Little Feat fan. I think the Sailin’ Shoes album and the Dixie Chicken album are two of the finest pieces of rock and roll ever recorded. I mourned when Lowell died.
Roll “Em Easy is atypical for the band. It is beautiful, but not the norm for them. Of course, there is no norm for Little Feat except eclectic excellence.
I was reading the Nick Lowe biography a few weeks ago and there was a quote by Elvis Costello where is said something was excellent. He used the term “73 Little Feat,” which I interpret as Costello acknowledging just how incredible this sextet was.
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Yes I am a big Lowell George fan as well. He was one of the best guitar players in the 70s….I’m publishing Roll ’em tomorrow.
I would have never pegged him as a Little Feat fan…ever. That honestly surprises me.
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