Bill Payne of Little Feat, which plays Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, Florida on Feb. 26, 2025. Credit: Photo by Fletcher Moore

It’s strange enough that keyboardist Bill Payne is the only surviving founding member of Little Feat, but with the 2019 death of Paul Barrere—whose constant guitar licks were the foundation to some of the swampy L.A. outfit’s bluesy tracks for almost half a century—it may be a little hard to imagine anything brand new coming from the folks that remain.

While their eclectic touring life seemed to be the way to carry on (they played albums all the way through in 2023, and came back from COVID-19 with a “requests only” tour), Payne and friends still found some breathing room to create something new last year.

Sam’s Place features a vocal contribution from Bonnie Raitt while longtime conga player Sam Clayton takes on lead vocals for the entirety of the record, appropriately. Though things have changed, the record sounds like no time has passed at all, and was even nominated for a Best Traditional Blues Album Grammy this year (Taj Mahal won).

Before this semi-normal stop local gig, Payne told Creative Loafing Tampa Bay about the best gig he ever saw. Read his full quote below.

I got a chance to hear the Yardbirds at the Rose Gardens in Pismo Beach, August 31st, 1966. My friends and I were excited to hear Jeff Beck play. The small ballroom was packed, the band ambled onstage but there wasn’t any sign of Jeff Beck. We were seriously pissed off, talking amongst ourselves.
They launched into their first song. We stood there in amazement at the guitar player, as he tore into his instrument. He owned the stage that night. It was Jimmy Page. We had never heard him before, but we knew who he was from then on.

Many years later when the idea to put Little Feat back together without Lowell [George] was being discussed, I took that night from 1966 listening to the Yardbirds and Jimmy Page into account. The music of a band could accommodate other musicians, as long as the authenticity wasn’t lost. Jimmy Page had not replaced Jeff Beck: rather, we were rewarded in having discovered Jimmy Page.”—Bill Payne, Little Feat

Tickets to see Little Feat play Clearwater’s Ruth Eckerd Hall on Wednesday, Feb. 26 are still available and start at $38.25.