Little Feat’s homage to the blues, Sam’s Place, is a natural companion piece to their collaborative venture of 2008, Join The Band. On that record, the band proffered a cross-section of material from its lengthy canon, on which it was joined by the likes of Bob Seger, Emmylou Harris, and Dave Matthews, among many others.
Instead of a litany of guests, this latest effort features percussionist Sam Clayton as lead vocalist on what is mostly vintage material by the iconic likes of Muddy Waters and Little Walter (Jacobs). There is a single original by Feats members here, though, and, appropriately enough, it is the opening track: “Milkman” was composed by Clayton with guitarists Fred Tacket and Scott Sharrard and came to rousing life adorned with some hearty horns by trumpeter Marc Franklin and saxophonist Art Edmiston.
The latter fretboarder, a close creative compatriot of the late Gregg Allman’s in the last days of that Brother’s life, initiated a process of stabilization within Little Feat when he joined around 2019. Followed closely by the enlistment of drummer Tony Leone (from The Chris Robinson Brotherhood in its later days), the current lineup has forged a chemistry that rendered the time ripe for this somewhat left-field project, notably recorded in Memphis at Sam’s Phillips Studio, co-produced by the band itself and engineer Charles A. Martinez.
If Clayton’s guttural voice sounds familiar on “Got My Mojo Working,” the sole live cut of the nine total, it’s because his deep, lusty tones have adorned more than a few Little Feat cuts over the years (not just “Fat Man in the Bathtub”). And the female singing is just as easy to identify on McKinley Morganfield’s “Long Distance Call” too: it’s none other than Bonnie Raitt, whose history with the group dates back to 1973’s watershed album Dixie Chicken.
Still, the vocals are hardly the only distinction here. On “You’ll Be Mine,” Sharrard’s near-reckless slide avoids collision with charter member and band co-founder Bill Payne’s piano and thus closely complements its jumpy tempo. The aforementioned modern blueswoman sounds right at home within an arrangement featuring Sharrard on a resonator guitar, the antique flavor of which matches that of harmonica from Michael ‘Bull’ LoBue.
Rhythm-centric as The Feats have been since expanding to a sextet some half-century ago, it only stands to reason this ensemble would shuffle its way through “Don’t Go No Further” with so much confidence and panache. But with the sure-handed Leone in tandem with Clayton–as well as bassist Kenny Gradney, who joined Little Feat at the same time as the latter– this configuration calls to mind their heyday with the late Lowell George still in tow.
That’s especially true in “Can’t Be Satisfied.” When Payne again tosses off some randy barrelhouse figures, his work on the ivories fits right in with more bottleneck from Sharrard and a wail of harmonica from LoBue. And given how the attention to detail in the arrangements mirrors the nuances of emotion in Little Feat’s songs of yore like “The Fan,” Bobby Charles’ “Why People Like That” is an ideal inclusion: this tune by the man who composed hits for Fats Domino is a set of sanguine observations on human nature, the healthy detachment therein bolstered through the saucy strut of the ensemble.
To be sure, those moments on Sam’s Place that sound like vintage Little Feat are fleeting. But there’s no denying how this unit’s bond retains an authentic feel for numbers like those of the inimitable blues poet Willie Dixon; the rough and tumble likes of “Mellow Down Easy” is just one more instance where everyone in the collective sounds overjoyed to be involved.
