‘Sailin’ Shoes’: How Little Feat Came Back Willin’ To Make A Classic

Little Feat’s self-titled debut album was a promising start but underperformed commercially. According to musician and lyricist Van Dyke Parks, then an A&R executive at the group’s record label, “Warners made no commitment after the first record and refused to finance a second one. Little Feat were, in effect, dropped from the label.” Parks was instrumental in convincing Warners’ bosses to give them another chance, and George and co worked on making their sound less raw and blues-focused, with the intention of creating a more commercial follow-up.

“Lowell’s chops as a writer were starting to blossom”

Producer Ted Templeman was brought in to work on what became Sailin’ Shoes, and he was immediately impressed by the musicianship on display, as he explained in Ben Fong-Torres’ biography, Willin’: The Story Of Little Feat: “These guys were monsters in terms of musicians… I rehearsed them in the sound stages at Warner Bros, and Richie [Hayward] was a killer.”

The songs were a step up from those on the debut, too, as Bill Payne recollected in a 2014 interview with Rhino.com: “You know, I think when you hear that record and listen to the growth of the band between Little Feat and Sailin’ Shoes, there’s so much more maturity in the record. We got a little bit more used to recording. I think Lowell’s chops as a writer – and mine, too, with Richie – were starting to kind of blossom, and… it put us on the map. Not sales-wise, but as a group to be taken seriously.”

“Lowell had been playing with his drum machine at home”

Opening track Easy To Slip was written as a response to Warners’ insistence that the record contain a stand-out single. In other hands, this might have resulted in something contrived, but George pulled a country-rock classic out of the bag, underpinned by a loose groove and graced with soaring harmonies.

“I scribbled various things down and bashed it into shape”

Presumably George felt he had unfinished business with Willin’ – the song reappears on Sailin’ Shoes in lush and anthemic form, and this is the version that’s remembered among the best Little Feat songs. George explained to ZigZag magazine how the song was written: “I remember that I wrote it at Richie’s house, where a guy was talking about the ‘three wicked Ws’, which were weed, whites, and wine, and I went, ‘Oh, that’s it.’ Then Richie’s sister-in-law walked into the room and said, ‘Oh, look at that chair: it’s been warped by the rain,’ and I thought, I’d better start making some notes here. So I scribbled various things down and bashed it into shape, and it all seemed to come together with a tune I’d written the previous day… some music without words that I’d started. The song just happened.” Willin’ became Little Feat’s best-known tune, mostly thanks to Linda Ronstadt’s hit cover version.

Elsewhere, Sailin’ Shoes’ title track is a slow-moving, New Orleans-flavoured delight, A Apolitical Blues shows off George’s wicked wit over a Howlin’ Wolf-inspired backing, and the gorgeous, zydeco-tinged Trouble emphasises his talent for idiosyncratic and absurd lyrics.

Released in May 1972, Sailin’ Shoes might not have been the immediate hit that Little Feat’s label had hoped for, but it has since become regarded as a classic, and its heady gumbo of musical styles pointed the way towards future glories. We have a lot to thank Frank Zappa for.