RIP Richie Hayward

[journeybear]

Richie Hayward, drummer for Little Feat since their beginning nearly forty years ago, died today after a year-long battle with liver cancer. Little Feat are among the favorite bands of a good amount of members, and their songs, notably Willin' and Dixie Chicken, get played a lot around campfires and at jams. Richie's light yet highly syncopated drumming style was an integral part of the band's sound, and he was highly regarded by other drummers - a drummer's drummer. The list of musicians he has played and recorded with reads like a Who's Who of rock's elite. His previous stint in Fraternity Of Man, whose minor hit "Don't Bogart That Joint" was included in Easy Rider, led to the song becoming a concert standard for Little Feat. He also appeared, with Lowell George, in an episode of F Troop, while they were members of the band, The Factory. Richie Hayward was 64.

[Steve Ostrander]

That's a shame. My sympathy to the family and friends of Richie Hayward.

Little Feat is one of my favorite bands, and Richie was a fantastic drummer. I saw Feat two times back in the 70s, before Lowell George died. They played an awesome show, and they were, and still are tremendous musicians.

[journeybear]

I never saw the whole band. Had a chance once, when they opened for The Kinks in Milwaukee, I think it was 1973. I didn't know they were the opener - it was just billed as The Kinks, so I said "Kinks, Schminks" - or I'd have been there. I saw Lowell George on his solo tour, and then he was gone. I've seen Little Feat a few times, chatted with some of them a bit - real nice, down to earth, approachable guys.

I thought of some MC. Fred Tackett, who used to be an adjunct member of the band, and contributed a song ("Fool Yourself") to the "Dixie Chicken" album, has been a full member of the band for ten years or more - and he plays mandolin. Now I'm pretty sure there is no mandolin on any Lowell-era Little Feat records, but there may be some since.

[journeybear]

Little Feat's facebook page says "A Tribute to Richie will begin here at 11:00 pm pst tonight..." http://www.955klos.com/article.asp?id=625820 - there's a link to the stream. (I'm sure they mean PDT, and that means now.) I don't know what form this will take. Right now they are playing Pink Floyd - "Shine On You Crazy Diamond," some fairly flabby live version. This had better get better soon or I'm going to think better of it ... But now you know ...

[John Soper]

Great Player, Great Band... RIP

[Jan Ellefsen]

So sad -my favourite drummer with my favourite rock band for so many years. No other band has influenced my rhythmic sense the way they did. I can hear their influence in every recording I’ve heard of myself

[Tosh Marshall]

So very sad, one of my favourite drummers and I was fortunate to catch them live at Hammersmith during the Let It Roll tour. Fantastic feel and wonderful band, I love Skin It Back from Feats Don't Fail Me Now and Time Loves A Hero is my fave Little Feat album.

[journeybear]

Check out this article about the floating studio in Baltimore Harbor where "Feats Dont Fail Me Now" was recorded (and other things). Crazy stuff. If I'm reading it right, the album saved both the band and the studio - who knew? A real thrill to learn of a connection between one of my favorite bands of the 60s (Lovin' Spoonful) and one of my favorite bands of the 70s (Little Feat).

[Spruce]

Little Feat is one of my favorite bands, and Richie was a fantastic drummer.

....and a great singer who hit all those high ones...

Faaaaat Maaaaan.....!

RIP Richie...

[journeybear]

I didn't know that. I've always thought of Lowell, Billy, and Paul as being the main singers, but I see here he had a mike too. Even at 9:30 in the morning ...

Hmmm ... not displaying for some reason. Maybe someone who understands code can correct this; embedding is not disabled. Here's the link, 1975 appearance on the Old Grey Whistle Test.

[Dan Hoover]

very sad,saw little feat once, allman brothers opened for them,great show...allway's loved the feat..

[Tosh Marshall]

Journeybear, that was a great article in the Baltimore magazine, many thanks for posting and happy birthday!

[Perry Babasin]

Big fan of Little Feat, back in the Lowell George day to the present. Very sad...

[Eric F.]

The last time I had a "favorite band," it was Little Feat. I was lucky enough to see them several times in the Lowell George era, and was at Lowell's last show the night he died. I'm sad to hear about Richie Hayward. I've got "Waiting for Columbus" on right now and dang, it's still great after all these years.

[journeybear]

Allman Brothers opening for Little Feat ... wow! Would have thought it would be the other way around.

"Waiting for Columbus" was a watershed, their real foray into stardom. I sometimes wonder, though, if that extended version of "Dixie Chicken" backfired on them, in that after that they were expected to stretch out on it every time. Well, there are worse things, I reckon.

That radio show ended up being pretty good, and hour and a half of Feat, mostly what you would expect, and not really featuring Richie that much. Of course, his style was pretty subtle, more that of a team player than a superstar, so he didn't stand out too often. Still, I would have loved to have heard "Cold, Cold, Cold" - the start of that is minimalist but spooky, perfect for the mood. That's really the way he was pretty often - doing a lot with a little.

[journeybear]

So, while searching for one thing, I found something else. So often how it goes. According to this book, The Rough Guide To Rock by Peter Buckley, page 602, Little Feat broke up in 1973 and reformed in 1974. According to the author, this was due to disappointing sales for Dixie Chicken. First I've heard of this. Looking at tour dates for 1973, there was hardly any down time other than few weeks here and there - a bit too busy to have broken up. There is a three month gap in 1974 ... Anyone here heard about this?

[Steve Ostrander]

Interesting story about Blue Seas. Never heard that one before.

My buddy and I play "Willin' at all our shows. I think I might have to add "Dixie Chicken."

[journeybear]

That book said The Byrds covered "Willin'." I'd like to hear that. Those two and "Sailin' Shoes" are the only Little Feat songs I'm willing to chance ruining. This last I slow down a bit and recast it as a country blues. Pretty cool.

Yup - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aGhoTsI8qA - outtake from Untitled sessions in 1970, released in 1990. My guess why it was left off the album is it's not very Byrds-like, as if they liked the song but couldn't make it their own.



Having recently been informed of the correct procedure for embedding videos, I'm going to update my contributions to this thread so far. I prefer including these in the thread rather than making interested parties seek them at youtube. It just flows better.

From an appearance on Old Grey Whistle Test, 1/17/75. 9:30 AM -



Richie and Lowell when they were in The Factory, playing the anachronistic band The Bedbugs on "F Troop," Season 2, Episode 23: That's Show Biz, 2/9/67

[Dan Hoover]

Allman Brothers opening for Little Feat ... wow! Would have thought it would be the other way around.

yup,i think it was one of those tours that they would swap back/forth..feat open up one night,allmans the next...don't think many bands do that kind of thing anymore? i know i was surprised too..i remember dickey betts coming out jamming w/them a little..i also remember the interplay between ritchie and sam clayton during "fatman"..long and funky..
off topic,happy be-lated b-day JB..and waaayyy off topic thank's for that BB screen saver..that..is just the cat's meow..

[journeybear]

OMG It is good to be facebook friends with Little Feat. Woke up this morning to an offer of a free download of a concert from Boston 10/31/75, in honor of Richie Hayward. Whatever the reason, my gratitude. Here is the link: http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=563 - you have to go track by track. Disc one today, disc two tomorrow. Enjoy!

[journeybear]

The second set is up, earlier than promised - same link: http://bigozine2.com/roio/?p=563

[journeybear]

Boy, I tell you, this is really the stuff. Thanks to all involved in putting this out there. There are a couple of gaps between songs, but overall, a real serious effort was made to provide the best overall quality for your listening and dancing pleasure. I would like to point out, for those who don't know, Little Feat has a very open policy regarding live taping, even providing a board feed for tapers at shows, so they are cool with this. As if them putting a notification on facebook wasn't proof enough.

[journeybear]

This is what I get for staying connected to Little Feat via facebook: Rock and Roll Hall of FEAT

[journeybear]

This just in - Free download of Midnight Special TV first aired in the US, June 10, 1977: Little Feat with Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Jesse Winchester, and a song from Neil Young (not included). I've seen the "Dixie Chicken" from this, with the two lovely ladies singing backup. Now the (nearly) entire broadcast is available. As the site says, excellent pre-broadcast soundboard. Not sure how long this is available ...


http://bigozine2.com/archive/ARrarit...ARvalfeat.html