Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere passed away today at age 71(10/26/19) from liver disease after recently announcing he would not be taken part in the band’s current fall tour. Barrere came into the band on their third release, Dixie Chicken in 1973, alongside new bass player Kenny Gradney and percussionist Sam Clayton. Barrer along with founding keyboardist Billy Payne, Gradney, Clayton and the late Richie Hayward (died 2010), Little Feat carried on strong to the present, as the band was in the midst of their 50th-anniversary tour.
The band mentioned today on their Facebook page..
It is with great sorrow that Little Feat must announce the passing of our brother guitarist, Paul Barrere, this morning at UCLA Hospital. We ask for your kindest thoughts and best wishes to go out especially to his widow Pam and children Gabriel, Genevieve, and Gillian, and to all the fans who were his extended family.
Paul auditioned for Little Feat as a bassist when it was first being put together—in his words, “as a bassist I make an excellent guitarist”—and three years later joined the band in his proper role on guitar. Forty-seven years later, he was forced to miss the current tour, which will end tomorrow, due to side effects from his ongoing treatment for liver disease.
He promised to follow his doctor’s orders, get back in shape, and rock on the beach at the band’s annual gathering in Jamaica in January 2020. “Until then,” he wrote, “keep your sailin’ shoes close by…if I have my way, you’re going to need them!”
As the song he sang so many times put it, he was always “Willin’,” but it was not meant to be. Paul, sail on to the next place in your journey with our abiding love for a life always dedicated to the muse and the music. We are grateful for the time we have shared.
Yours in music,
Little Feat: Bill Payne, Sam Clayton, Fred Tackett, Kenny Gradney, and Gabe Ford.
Barrere’s best-known contributions to Little Feat included “Skin It Back”, and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” from the album Feats Don’t Fail Me Now, “All That You Dream” from The Last Record Album, “Time Loves a Hero” from Time Loves a Hero, and “Down on the Farm” from Down on the Farm. Barrere’s west coast meets southern boogie rock stylesteered playing was versatile and did session work with h Taj Mahal, Jack Bruce, Chicken Legs, Blues Busters, Valerie Carter, Helen Watson, Chico Hamilton, Robert Palmer, Eikichi Yazawa, and Carly Simon and toured as a member of Phil Lesh and Friends in 2000.
Glide’s Leslie Michele Derrough spoke with Barrere just this last January – revisit the insightful interview here..
One Response
R.I.P. Paul.