By Brent Thompson

Little Feat has a sound that belies its West Coast roots. With songs like “Dixie Chicken,” “Willin'” and “Oh, Atlanta,” the legendary band has a distinct Southern and swampy sound. Earlier this year, Little Feat released Strike Up the Band (Hot Tomato Records), its 18th studio album. On Tuesday, October 14, the band returns to the Alabama Theatre in a show presented by Coder-R Productions. Recently, we spoke with Little Feat guitarist Fred Tackett by phone.

Southern Stages: Fred, thanks for your time. We are really enjoying Strike Up the Band. How did the album’s material take shape?

Fred Tackett: It’s all pretty much new stuff. We have Scott [Sharrard] and Tony Leone in the band now, so this is the first we’ve had of playing some of the songs that Scott wrote and also a song Tony Wrote. There are a couple of songs I wrote on the record that are brand new. Billy [Payne] had been writing some songs with Robert Hunter of the Grateful Dead, and they were working on those songs when [Hunter] died. So, those are kind of older but the songs that I wrote and Scott and Tony wrote are all brand new.

Southern Stages: Over what time frame was the album recorded?

Tackett: I was just looking at it last night – it was no more than two weeks before the whole thing was done. We were in Nashville, first of all at Blackbird Studio which is a beautiful, very modern studio. Then, we did some overdubbing and vocals at Vance Powell’s home studio. Vance is a great engineer and a great producer. It went real smooth and real quick like the old days [laughs].

Southern Stages: Do songs continue to evolve even after you take them into the studio?

Tackett: They definitely can get tweaked. When we start playing them, someone will come up with an idea and we’ll say, “Yeah, that’s great – screw what we were doing before.” Levon Helm was telling me that when he was in The Band, three or four guys would bring in different arrangements of a song and they would record them all and pick out the one they liked. So, yeah, it’s definitely very fluid in the studio. As a matter of fact, “Too High To Cut My Hair” was one that Scott and I wrote together and I had one idea for a groove and Scott had another for a groove. I was pushing my idea and Scott played his idea and everybody in the band went, “That’s it!” and we did it that way. Everything is up for grabs as we do it.

Southern Stages: With such a large song catalog, how does Little Feat comprise its live setlists these days?

Tackett: Scott Sharrard does it and Paul Barrere did it before he passed because he was singing a lot of them. Scott sings a lot of them and we pace the program to go along with strength of his voice which is always pretty darn good. He’ll say, “I don’t want to do that song right away – I want to wait a little bit until I get my vocals warmed up,” so there are considerations like that. We go through basically what he calls the legacy tunes – “Fat Man in the Bathtub,”  “Let It Roll, “Oh, Atlanta” and of course “Dixie Chicken” and “Willin’.” Now, “Spanish Moon” has become very popular among a lot of the younger kids because they’ve heard Phish and Gov’t Mule do it. We will throw in three or four of the newer songs interspersed among the legacy tunes.

Southern Stages: You mentioned the legacy songs – how do those songs stay fresh to you after you’ve played them hundreds or even thousands of times by this point?

Tackett: We really love these tunes and we are so proud to have this library of great songs. That’s part of the reason Little Feat has manged to last all these years – it’s the catalog. There is a lot of improvising and a lot of soloing and that’s always different, so we don’t feel like, “Oh, we have to do this again.”

Southern Stages: You’ve forged your career in two eras – one based on terrestrial radio, albums and cassettes.  Now, it’s Spotify, satellite radio, Youtube and other outlets as well. How do you feel about the current music industry climate?

Tackett: It’s all about playing live – that’s where you make a living, by touring. It used to be just the opposite. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, it was all about record sales and you toured to amplify your record sales. Right now, it’s all about touring because musicians don’t get paid like they used to get paid. With streaming, the record companies and streaming sites make most of the money and the guys in the band don’t get very much money. The technology is great, so there are both sides and a new band can get lost in the shuffle. We are just lucky that we have 50 to 60 years of playing under our belt and a bunch of people that know us.

Southern Stages: As a guitarist, are you a gear head? Do you continue to search for new equipment or do you tend to stick with what you have?

Tackett: No, I’m the latter. I’ve got this really great Fender amp, two Stratocaster guitars and a mandolin that I’ve been using since the ’80s. We were in the studio and my guitar tech called me from the Fender factory and said, “I’ve got these new guitars – there’s probably a paint mistake or something on them, but one of them is $100 and one is $150. Do you want me to get them for you?” I said, “Hell yeah,” and I haven’t changed anything on them and I’ve been playing them for a bunch of years now and I love them to death. They’re just simple, right off-the-line Stratocasters.

Southern Stages: Over the years, how has your songwriting pattern evolved?

Tackett: It’s usually like studying for your final exams in school. It’s like, “We’ve got to get some songs, guys.” My beautiful wife is always telling me, “You need to be to writing some songs,” but we always kind of wait until the last minute. One of my methods is to collect titles. I’ll get titles and think, “What kind of song would I want this to be? A rocker or a ballad?” and I’ll start working. And sometimes it starts with chord changes and I’ll say, “What kind of words do I want to go over this?”

Southern Stages: Outside of Little Feat, your resume as a session musician is lengthy and distinguished. You’ve worked on recordings by Neil Diamond, Michael McDonald, Dolly Parton, Boz Scaggs and Bob Dylan to name just a few.

Tackett: I was very lucky. I came to Los Angeles at the behest of Jimmy Webb – he’s written hundreds of great songs and he’s probably my favorite songwriter of all time. He got me into meeting Glen Campbell – we are both from Arkansas and we hit it off and became good friends and Glen used me on his records. So, I started getting calls. Lowell George lived next door to my wife and Lowell became a good friend way before Little Feat and he introduced to me people. It was kind of word-of-mouth – that’s how you get popular in the studio. You have to be able to cover everything – you don’t ever know what it’s going to be when they call you for a session. You just show up and be ready for anything. Most of the time, you walk in and the artist could be anybody and you have to be familiar with all kinds of styles.

Code-R Productions presents Little Feat at the Alabama Theatre on Tuesday, October 14. Trey Hensley will open the 8 p.m. show. Advance tickets can be purchased at www.alabamatheatre.com.