The Last Days of Lowell George
The Little Feat frontman died too young on June 29, 1979; listen to his final shows
It was on this day, 40 years ago, it was a lethal combination of cocaine and pizza that was said to cause the heart attack that killed Lowell George.
He was only 34 years old, his career full of promise as the Little Feat frontman was embarking upon a solo career with an excellent debut LP in Thanks I’ll Eat It Here, kicking off a tour on June 15th and would play dates for much of the month until he was found dead after going into cardiac arrest in his Arlington, Virginia, hotel room at the Twin Bridges Marriott.
According to an interview in the book The Little Feat Saga, Little Feat bassist Fred Tackett, who also played on Thanks I’ll Eat It Here, indeed claims George’s massive caloric intake was also a major catalyst for his passing as well.
“We were driving down the New Jersey Turnpike in this bus and we stopped at this pizza joint off the highway,” Tackett explains. “Everybody in the band shared a cheese pizza but Lowell bought a large pizza with everything on it, carried it to the back of the bus, and he ate the entire pizza by himself. He died two or three days later. So, when people ask me, ‘What really killed Lowell?’ I say, ‘It was a pizza on the New Jersey Turnpike.'”
Its bittersweet to consider how a Lowell solo career would have panned out in the 1980s following the success of Thanks and that indelible Boz Scaggs/Gerry Rafferty vibe it imbues.
The album is a creamy blend of jazz, country, folk, mariachi band music and Little Feat funk, backed up by an s e studio band featuring Bonnie Raitt on guitar, Nicky Hopkins on keys and the mighty Jim Keltner on drums. The soulful sweetness of songs like “What Do You Want The Girl To Do,” “I Can’t Stand The Rain,” and the lovely ballad “20 Million Things To Do” focused on the brilliance of Lowell the songwriter more than anything else he’d done since “Willin’.” It was a sophistication that promised a more viable side of Lowell George that could have very well seen the former Frank Zappa protege serve as a foil to the success of such Reagan-era American rockers as Bruce Hornsby, Tom Petty and John Mellencamp.
Lucky for us his incredibly talented daughter Inara, as one half of The Bird & The Bee with award-winning producer Greg Kurstin, keeps the kinetics of the George Family genius alive and well in 2019 as they prepare the release of their next LP, a collection of radically reimagined songs by Van Halen. A band, mind you, who once shared a producer (Ted Templeton) and engineer (Peggy McCreary) between them in the 70s.
Amazingly, a good amount of the handful of shows he played before his death are available on YouTube, sourced from Little Feat’s elite SEAL team of bootleggers, a following arguably on par with the Dead and the Allmans. And as we acknowledge this sad anniversary, let’s dig into some of these final shows from George’s last two weeks that will surely showcase why Bonnie Raitt called her old friend the “Thelonious Monk of Rock & Roll.”
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Que lastima this clearly talented vocalist and musician passed way too young.
Lowell’s appealing voice sounds very much like a youthful Van Morrison .
Had he lived longer, I remain convinced that George’s contribution to music would have b launched him to global superstar status.
What are you talking about,
I Saw Little Feat Open for Led Zeppelin, they Sold Out Shows for 3 years all over the world,
I think they achieved Global Stardom!!!
I had the pleasure to see Lowell and Feat half a dozen times from 1974 to ‘78. Was never disappointed, and the music will be with me until I’m gone. Salute.
No doubt about that, saw the latest lineup in July doing the Waiting For Columbus album…two thousand 40-70 years olds stood for two hours and relived the sound and please of FEAT.
Hi, I was at the Lisner show. It was bitter sweet. He was excited about his new young band and the crowd kept screamin Feat. You could tell it was bothering him. If you knew Feat and DC you would understand. The same hall they recorded Waiting For Columbus In. Sad stuff. The man had it all – bad ass slide and a voice of honey. Thanks so much for posting this – I have chills listening to it.
Lowell George easily the most under appreciated and influential of rock’s golden age creative force. China White (pick a version) just seems to have set his early death in stone.
Every time I revisit his dozens of jewels his relative anonymity chafes anew. Thanks for sharing these melancholy reminders.
I was at the Bottom Line show. Probably one of the best shows I ever saw there. He was and awesome slide guitar player. I remember he wore the white overalls and was very fat. Too much food and too much coke is dangerous for the heavyset just ask John Belushi or John Candy. Still a shame he was such an excellent musician with and without Little Feat.
I have been a fan of Little Feat since I was 13 1/2 years old and Lowell was actually very multitalented, as he was not just a guitarist, singer and songwriter, but he was also a record producer and he could also play harmonica, sitar, saxophone, oboe, shakuhachi, banjo, dobro, mandolin, dulcimer, flute, clarinet and percussion.
I first saw Lowell’s name in the liner notes to James Taylor’s album “Gorilla”, where he was credited with playing electric guitar and singing backup vocals on “Angry Blues”.
We can only speculate on what he might’ve done had he lived – would he have returned to Little Feat in 1988 when they reformed or would they have disbanded for good?
I have seen photographs of him in the last years of his life and there is one particular photo of him taken the day before he died, where the sight of him is just so sad, because he looked very tired, bloated and overweight and the next thing you know, he died of a heart attack, brought on by a cocaine overdose. Sadly, he paid the price as a result of his recklessly overindulgent lifestyle, brought on by binge eating, heavy drinking, taking drugs and smoking – I know that he smoked, because I have seen him a photo of him onstage with a cigarette in his mouth.
His death was a complete waste of talent and even Frank Zappa described him in 1984 as a guy who should never have taken drugs.
Look at what never have taken drugs did for Zappa.
Precisely.
Thanks for this memorial. George was a massive talent. His absence from the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame definitely undercuts its validity. But, Kenny Gradney was the bassist of Little Feat, following the original Roy Estrada (another ill-fated veteran of the Mothers). Fred has been a guitarist and vocalist (and trumpet player) with the band and has been a regular member for decades. (I will be seeing the fellows in Seattle in a month.) Anyway, this story is and will likely remain a primary search result for folks wanting to learn about Lowell, and that’s the credit for the record. (Kenny did not play on “Eat it Here.” Fred did. And there were several bassists (Dennis Belfield, Chuck Rainey, Paul Stallworth and J.D. Souther according to Wickedpedia). And giving credit where it’s doo – “What do you Want” is an Allen Toussaint tune, “Can’t Stand” is by Ann Peebles, who originated it, and two gents. “20 Million” is an original, and is one more example of LG’s prowess. Thanks again.
FYI – I have photos of Lowell taken at his last show at Boston’s Paradise Theater
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Damn, I miss that guy so much. He has been my number one influence musically and his soulful style permeates every song and note I play. Kudos to Paul, Kenny, Billy for carrying on the spirit of his music with Little Feat. I haven’t missed a show in No. California by them, ever. Pay my last few buck for front row seats every time. I can’t think of a better way to spend my money or spend my time than a Little Feat show. Lowell and co have become such a huge part of my life of music that I can still shed tears for his untimely passing. Knowing and speaking to his inner circle I can tell you how he died. Speedball. A toxic mixture of cocaine and heroin injection that hit his heart and he dropped like a wet rag. What a fucking waste and a warning to all who suffer from the disease of addiction, get help before you take it as far as Lowell did. Screw those Colombian and Afghani drug lords who took one of our best American musician way too early. Just imagine what he would be doing now. Think Derek Trucks in about 30 years but with a voice like sweet cream on ripe strawberries. Thanks for these shows, I will cherish them. Peace
-Tod
Not much to say that hasn’t already been said. Lowell was great. I grew up in the D.C. area, where he and Feat were super popular. I, personally, saw him at his last performance. Blew me away, to read of his death the next day, in the Washington Post.
They were headed my way to Atlanta when I “…heard the news, help wanted but not enough.” Times really did get tough. The early 70’s shows at Lisner were magic during my acid taking days with Bonnie Emmy Lou and a third local gal whose name nobody can tell me (I did know it and she was a big local talent) would stroll out on stage with their tambourines for the back up vocals to Dixie Chicken for the early and late show. I grew up in Northern VA. Pick up Sofa Blues if you don’t have it, it was a bootleg CD I bought in NY at Bleeker St Records 20 years ago but it’s more available now, Bonnie Raitt on a radio broadcast with “special guest”. I saw the re-formed first show on the Queen Mary floating on the Mississippi during Jazz Fest in NO. Bonnie Raitt was there and introduced the new line up, actually the new lead singer guitarist but I couldn’t connect. Wow I thought we were going to sink, that boat was in bad shape and was retired soon after, I had too much tequila to even tread water. I remain a massive Billy Payne fan, saw him solo in Atlanta great retrospective and stories mostly doing his own newer creations on the keyboards. Also saw Fred Tackett in Durham about 4 years ago and he and his locally supplied band did several wonderful LF songs. He is a great rhythm guitarist. Lowell’s solo album didn’t get much critical acclaim but I loved it from the first listen. Just got a 1A/1A pressing of Dixie Chicken from the estate of a good good friend that was at most all of the shows I went to back then. No concert going buddies left. Is there an app for that?
Forgot to mention that my Dad took us to that Twin Bridges Marriott for Thanksgiving dinner about 12 years earlier because my mom couldn’t cook that year. The fanciest white tablecloth restaurant my 14 year old eyes had ever seen. They had balls of real butter sitting on a bed of ice cubes!
I just went out to the Twin Bridges site a few hours ago to honor Lowell on the anniversary of his death. We Arlingtonians have built a beautiful park on the site of the former Twin Bridges Marriott, but sadly, there isn’t a plaque to honor him there. I will lobby our County Board to erect something in the future. I was the only one out there at the hour I went, but I hope to see others there on future 6/29’s.
I’m a little too young to have ever seen Lowell live, but I saw the Tackett/Barrere/Payne era of the band many times.
I had the good fortune of seeing Lowell with Feat at Shea’s Buffalo, (opening band was Pablo Cruise.) His slide guitar playing was something to have seen/heard live. What an unreal talent.
Everything that is considered “best of” of Lowell George is all performed LIVE. L I v e!
What an honest legacy. Silky cat.
Fifteen minutes before his final Lisner show I did an impulsive u-turn thinking, “Fuck it, I have to go!” It was one of the absolute best last minute decisions of my life to attend the last show of Lowell’s life. At the time, I thought he looked just awful, fat, greasy, sweaty as hell, and by the end of the night “drunk and dirty don’t you know” which worried the bloody hell out of me for him. But as the above recording of the night attests, he sounded absolutely friggin’ great and still musically at the absolute top of his game. My heartbreak has lasted through the all the intervening years but I can’t say I found it a big surprise. He just looked so damnably tired drunk and unhealthy by the end of that remarkable concert.