Legendary American rock and roll band Little Feat are still very much a force to be reckoned with some 56 years since they first formed back in 1969 – and their current lineup still features founding member Bill Payne on keyboards, alongside the classic line up of Fred Tackett on guitars and vocals, Kenny Gradney on bass and Sam Clayton on percussion and vocals.
Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer and arranger Scott Sharrard now fronts the band since 2019, on guitar and lead vocals. He was also lead guitarist and bandleader to the late Gregg Allman.
Prior to his stint with Allman, he released three albums with The Chesterfields before embarking on a series of solo efforts. Scott filled in for the late founder member Paul Barrere during Little Feat’s 50th Anniversary tour.
Scott had big, big, big shoes to fill following the late and great Lowell George and Paul Barrere as ace slide players and lead singers, but he settled in fast and has helped revitalise this great band, especially on their latest album “Strike Up The Band”, due for release on 9th May 2025 via Hot Tomato records.
Scott penned “Midnight Flight”, the band’s latest single which features on the new LP. The track features a blistering solo from Scott who says: “I wrote this song in the winter of 2020, shortly after joining Little Feat. Looking back on it, I feel like this song blends the sonic palate of Freddie King’s albums with Leon Russell and the sound we all love so much, which we heard on Little Feat’s ‘comeback’ album, ‘Let It Roll.’ It’s got that boogie feel that gets people up.”
“Midnight Flight” has a trademark Little Feat syncopated groove, earworm horn melody, and a Scott Sharrard blistering guitar solo.
Together with producer Vance Powell (Phish, Chris Stapleton, Jack White), and collaborators including Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr and Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, they created their new album, “Strike Up The Band”. Songs like “4 Days Of Heaven, 3 Days Of Work,” “Shipwrecks,” “Midnight Flight,” and “Bluegrass Pines (feat. Molly Tuttle, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams)” are as dexterous, considered, and creative as any song in the Little Feat canon to date.
Little Feat blend genres from rock, blues and country with an emphasis on groove, and have boasted some of the most skilled musicians of all time; a band who are architects of the Americana sound. They built a cult following in the late 60s and 70s for their pioneering gumbo of New Orleans rhythm-and-blues, country, hard-rock, funk and jazz. Celebrated as a key influence by icons from Bonnie Raitt to The Rolling Stones, and more recently current stars like The 1975’s Matt Healy.
Their classic songs like “Dixie Chicken,” “Spanish Moon,” “Willin’ “, “Fat Man in the Bathtub,” and “Rock and Roll Doctor” are legends in the rock and roll songbook. They have
released a total of 16 studio albums and 10 live albums to date. Their iconic live album, “Waiting For Columbus” is one of the most revered live records of all-time – recorded during seven shows at London’s famed and long-gone Rainbow Theatre in August 1977.
The lead single “Too High To Cut My Hair”, taken from the new album is a trademark Little Sound of a funk-fuelled jam, written by Fred Tacket and featuring Sam Clayton’s classic low C growl. Band leader Bill Payne says of the song: “Fred Tackett shines all over this record, as he always does, but in particular in his writing. ‘Too High To Cut My Hair’ is based on a true story where he and his wife Patricia were in a hotel room in New Orleans. Fred had asked for a trim, but decided that she was too high to cut his hair. And then he thought, ‘oh my god, what a title!’
“People love the humour in our records, a cherished entree to those when they find it. So I’m happy this song displays that humour, and in full. It’s also got the classic Sam Clayton doing his, three octaves below middle C voice in there. ‘Too High To Cut My Hair!’ Everyone that has heard it has said, ‘That’s a Little Feat song’, and I know what they mean!”
“Strike Up The Band” began in the winter of 2019 when Scott was subbing for Paul Barrere, and he passed away on the day of that first show on the tour,” Scott explains. “Continuing through the pandemic shut down – and a lot of practicing and song writing during that time – to our return to the road in 2021. Then on to our recording field trip to Memphis that resulted in the Grammy-nominated blues album of classic blues covers, ‘Sam’s Place’.
“That one gave us all the chance to tighten up as a band and re-visit the Rosetta Stone of rock and roll, The Blues. We have paid a lot of dues to get here, and all roads have led us to this new album. In the end, Little Feat is a sound and a feeling, you know it when you hear it. We humbly offer you ‘Strike Up The Band’, Little Feat’s new album of 13 original songs. Turn it up and let it roll.”
“Strike Up The Band” Tracklist:
1. 4 Days of Heaven 3 Days of Work
2. Bayou Mama
3. Shipwrecks
4. Midnight Flight
5. Too High To Cut My Hair
6. When Hearts Fall
7. Strike Up The Band (feat. Larkin Poe)
8. Bluegrass Pines (feat. Molly Tuttle, Larry Campbell & Teresa Williams)
9. Disappearing Ink
10. Love and Life (Never Fear)
11. Dance a Little
12. Running Out of Time with the Blues
13. New Orleans Cries When She Sings
Scott’s “Track Record”
1. First song you recall hearing as a child?
It was either off the car radio or witnessing a jam session in my living room. There was so much music from the beginning, it’s very hard to remember. But I’m going to go with The Doobie Brothers, “Black Water”.
2. First single you owned?
Michael Jackson: “Thriller”.
3. First LP/album you owned?
Technically the audio vinyl of The Hobbit, but Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” shortly after.
4. First CD you owned?
The Led Zeppelin box set (‘Crop Circles’ photo cover). It changed my life. I was 13.
5. Last music you bought and in what format (CD/vinyl/digital download)?
Vintage vinyl records for sure. I still raid the crates in some great stores. Recently I found an Arif Mardin-composed and arranged session of music set to Khalili Gibrans’ “The Prophet”. For vinyl I usually go for classic jazz, classical piano music and old soul records. The fidelity and warmth on those recordings can’t be beaten.
6. Which album would you be happy to receive as a gift?
Anything by Miles Davis or Quincy Jones; they are the all-time best.
7. Favourite album? (Choose more than one if need be…)
Miles Davis: “Kind Of Blue”. It is an impossible question, but that record changed every genre of American music forever. I could talk about it all day, but I’d rather go listen to it again. It always has new revelations to share.
8. Best record ever made (can be single/album/EP – and choose more than one if need be)?
Yikes, does anyone actually ever give you just one? Miles Davis “Kind Of Blue” is on there. Jimi Hendrix: “Electric Ladyland”, Led Zeppelin: “Physical Graffiti”, Chuck Berry: “Berry Is On Top”, and I would be totally out of line if I don’t include Little Feat: “Waiting For Columbus”, and The Allman Brothers: “Live At Fillmore East”.
When I was in high school the top two new albums were Jeff Buckley: “Grace” and Chris Whitley: “Living With The Law”. Also, every Los Lobos album from the 1990s, especially “Colossal Head”, and that Latin Playboys record…
9. Guilty secret (or anything unusual or perhaps unexpected) in your music collection?
Nothing guilty, because I only listen to good music! I don’t care about genres at all. I’m obsessed with Glenn Gould; there is a Columbia Records collection of his work that is a desert island set for me. His touch and feel are beyond; he was a magician on the piano. But If I picked one, its “The Goldberg Variations.” You can’t lose with Bach.
10. What does music mean to you and how does it make you feel?
Music is my religion, it’s also my job and I do love it, especially making records and writing songs. But if you take it too seriously, it just kind of…disappears. The best thing I ever did for my music was have a family. They have given me more meaning and love in life than I could ever ask for from any vocation. That can make your music soar, when you really have something to sing and fight for.
11. Which song or album is a guaranteed mood booster?
The Gap Band. All of it. It heals me. I dare you to put on “Outstanding” or “Yearning for your Love”, and not suddenly feel like you want to live forever. Charlie Wilson is still out there killing it. Long may he reign.
12. Which song or album would be the soundtrack to a film about your life?
I guess in a career of any kind you have the man and the myth. I’ll leave this one up to the director, as I still haven’t come close to finishing my work or getting that sound in my head that says all I want to say. But my favourite song of all time is, “Please Send Me Someone To Love” by Percy Mayfield – that one kind of sums it all up.
13. Your favourite driving track – or music to exercise to?
I mostly listen to audiobooks and podcasts these days when I drive or work out, because I’m always listening to music at home with the family or when I’m cooking. That would usually be New Orleans WWOZ 24-7, best radio on the planet- I find so much music that way. But if I’m driving and I want to really cruise, I’ve got an ongoing block party-style mix that I default to. The Gap Band, Prince, Larry Graham…feel good music.
14. Best song or album for a romantic moment?
Well, Otis Redding or Sam Cooke are gonna get the job done every time. That’s just love and perfection to the max, but there’s also Miles Davis again. The trick with Miles is you don’t want to put on a mix where the “Bitches Brew” live shit comes blaring out. Its definitely a “Sketches Of Spain” or “Someday My Prince Will Come” situation. You need some of the tracks with the mute for sure. [A mute is the device inserted into the bell of the trumpet to alter the instrument’s sound or tone and make it softer…]
15. Which song was played for the “First Dance” at your wedding (if you are married) or which song would you choose if you did get married?
Otis Redding: “I’ll Let Nothing Separate Us” – a gorgeous deep cut. We hired a DJ who only played classic vinyl.
16. Your choice of song to sing at karaoke?
If I can get a duet partner it’s “Under Pressure” by Queen and I’m completely drunk, so I’m only taking the Bowie parts and I need someone to do Freddie. Second choice is anything by Huey Lewis…or The Gap Band.
17. Which song takes you back to your childhood – and to which specific memory/memories?
Anything by Chuck Berry, Jimmy Reed or Bob Dylan. Those were the artists on my favourite songs that my dad would play in the living room on his old Martin or Guild guitar. The smell of microwaved fish sticks also might be wafting through the air, and I’m probably playing with a ‘Millennium Falcon’ Star Wars toy.
18. Favourite band (or bands)?
Little Feat, The Allman Brothers, Los Lobos, The Band, NRBQ, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd…and there were these two British bands called the Beatles and the Rolling Stones without whom none of these others would probably exist.
19. Favourite singer (or singers)?
So many. Of course Gregg Allman and Lowell George. I was raised on Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Prince, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye, Muddy Waters, Freddie King. I mean, those are the cats. Gospel music is also so important to me as a vocalist. Especially that old quartet music: the Swan Silvertones, The Pilgrim Travelers, The Soul Stirrers…
20. Which song would you like played at your funeral?
Percy Mayfield’s “Please Send Me Someone To Love”, as sung by Ray Charles, backed up by “Flamenco Sketches” from Miles Davis: “Kind Of Blue.” I won’t complain if Satie or Debussy gets in there as well, or some Glenn Gould playing Bach. But if you let me programme the music for the funeral, no one will ever have time for lunch!
Photo credits:
Current lineup – green wall background: By Fletcher Moore
Current lineup – at bar: By Fletcher Moore
Scott Sharrard x 2 by Ali Hasbach
[All images PR/Management-supplied]
