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Rooster Rag

Rooster Rag
Studio album by Little Feat
Released 26 June 2012
Genre Southern rock
Length 57:56
Little Feat chronology
Join the Band
(2008)
Rooster Rag
(2012)
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars

Rooster Rag is the fifteenth album of original material by American rock band Little Feat released in June 2012. It marks their first original album since 2003's Kickin' It at the Barn and the recording debut with the group of new drummer Gabe Ford who replaced Richie Hayward. Four of the songs were written by former Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter in collaboration with keyboard player Bill Payne now the only musician to have played with every line-up of the group. Surprisingly, Paul Barrere the group's main writer/singer has only been credited with writing on one track, although his usual co-author Fred Tackett has contributed four songs, all of which have appeared on his solo albums, but not all of which he sings lead on.

The song "Candy Man Blues" by Mississippi John Hurt has been performed by the band live for some years and appeared on their 2005 collection Barnstormin' Live.

The order of tracks was confirmed on Little Feat's website on June 10, 2012

Reviewing the album for American Songwriter, Hal Harowtz said:

Swampy rhythms? Check. Nasty, cutting slide guitar? Present. A funky combination of blues, country and rock and roll? Oh yeah. Quirky idiosyncratic songwriting? Well, three out of four ain’t bad. ... With keyboardist Billy Payne as the lone remaining original member, Feat stomp and strum their way through a pretty good batch of new tunes that capture the band’s distinctive musical gumbo but aren’t exactly classics on the order of Lowell George’s timeless songs that remain the backbone of the group’s raison d’être. Still, with help from Grateful Dead lyricist Robert Hunter, they’re solid enough and the veteran band sounds fresh, inspired and revived if not exactly young and hungry on their first studio album of original material in twelve years and after losing irreplaceable founding drummer Ritchie Heyward. Considering their time in the cult trenches, that’s plenty impressive.


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