Last night I found out that Little Feat drummer – Richie Hayward lost his battle with liver cancer. Richie was truly one of the unsung drumming greats of the past 35-40 years. I saw the amazing talent of Richie in the fall of 1994 at the Nebraska State Fair. I wish I could play as well as this man could.
I don’t remember how I first found out about Little Feat. But, it seems like it was an artist I saw a lot of in my teen years as I would constantly peruse the record bins of local record stores, department stores and bookstores looking for more stuff on Rock bands. Yes…I’ve been obsessed with music for a long time. In my years of working music retail, people would ask me, “Have you heard _______?” My response usually (if I hadn’t) was, “No but I’ve heard OF them”. For years, Little Feat was one of those bands for me. I had heard of them. But, I hadn’t really given them a decent listen.
I do know that in my early college years (when I really started to begin my obsession with Led Zeppelin) that I started coming across references to Little Feat. In 1985, Robert Plant employed drummer Richie Hayward to play on his 3rd solo album called Shaken and Stirred. For the longest time, I thought that Phil Collins had played drums on the first single Little by Little only because Phil was ubiquitous in 1985 and he had played on Plant’s 1983 album Principle of Moments. I found out it was a drummer named Richie Hayward who (at the time) was the former drummer for the band Little Feat. I think I had read an interview at the time that Plant talked about how he and Jimmy Page really enjoyed listening to Little Feat music.
Time (and college) went on. I’ve often written about all kinds of different music I discovered in college and while working at Dustys Records while attending college. Once again, I kept seeing the name of the band Little Feat. Modern Drummer magazine did an article on Richie Hayward in 1988 because the band had decided to reform and recorded an album called Let it Roll. I had heard pieces of it. I do recall some of the “older” clientele of Dustys coming in and raving about this album. Also at this time, I was a DJ at the college radio station on the UNK(then KSC) campus. One fellow DJ (and longtime friend) Scooter would play the Let it Roll album on his shift. In the summer of 1988, Van Halen with Singer Sammy Hagar released their album OU812. On the CD version of the album, the last cut was a bluesy song called A Apolitical Blues. Is this a Van Halen song? No, it’s a song by Little Feat. Aha…so now more interest builds.
By 1989, my tastes in music begins to mature. MTV has started a sister station aimed at an older demographic called VH1. At first, it seemed like it was mostly videos by Michael Bolton and Melissa Etheridge. They even had a Sunday morning Jazz program. But, I remember seeing a song called Mighty Rad Gumbo. Hmmm…very jazzy and different from what I had been listening to. I soon came to realize this was the infectious sounds of New Orleans. I’m sure at that time there was a vinyl copy of Little Feat’s Waiting for Columbus somewhere at Dustys. Eric B probably owned it and played it in the store. Somehow, I knew a song called Dixie Chicken. But, it would be a few years later that I would fully realize how cool it was.
Fast forward to 1993, Garth Brooks was the number one selling artist in America… and his fourth studio was released called The Chase. At the store I was working, we used to jokingly call it “the Chase for the Almighty dollar” or “Ropin in the Bucks!” Anyway, the first song on side two of the in-store cassette we would play in the store was Garth’s cover of Dixie Chicken. I would listen to that tape over and over as I would open the store on a daily basis. So, I really began to love the Little Feat cover. Years later, when someone would ask me what I was listening to and I would answer “Little Feat”, I would get looks of bewilderment. I would usually say “Dixie Chicken” figuring they would have heard the song from Garth Brooks. No such luck.
I eventually found a used CD copy of the album Dixie Chicken at the Used CD Warehouse in Omaha. Oh boy, I think I had found one of my new favorite bands. This had the earthy bluesy groove that I was into in the spring of 1994. Wow, this was so good and a great discovery. I soon lapped up as many used copies of Feat CD’s I could find.
Then, in June of 1994, Dusty called me in Omaha and offered me a full time job back in Kearney at the store. It really felt like going home again. Then, the 1994 Nebraska State Fair announced one of the concerts that year was the BB King Blues tour which featured a Muddy Waters tribute band (with former members of Muddy’s band), Dr. John, Little Feat and BB King. I was excited to see a blues legend like BB King. But, it was Little Feat that blew me away. If you’ve ever seen an act at the Bob Devaney center in Lincoln, NE, they usually have a stage in the center of the arena and you can watch all aspects of the band. That night I was mesmerized by the drumming of Mr Richie Hayward.
For every song, every limb on his body kept moving and moving and yet he kept…..grooving. It was amazing to behold. I just remember thinking “this is the best band ever and Hayward is the most awesome drummer ever!” I even drove home from Lincoln to Kearney that night and pulled out my 1988 issue of Modern Drummer to read up on the article with Richie Hayward. It’s funny looking back that I was probably up till 3am in the morning reading this article after seeing him live.
In 1995, Little Feat released their first album with female singer Shaun Murphy called Ain’t Had Enough Fun. I was over the top excited to hear the album simply because a bunch of us from Dustys had seen the lineup at the State Fair and were very impressed with her vocal abilities. Unfortunately, my college friend Scooter was not. He did not like the “chick” singer in Little Feat. But, the album, the band and (of course) Richie Hayward did not disappoint. Modern Drummer magazine even did a feature cover story in the October 1995 issue on Richie Hayward and the new album. The article even featured a sidebar article called “Stars on Richie” where drummers such as the Dixie Dregs’ Rod Morgenstein, Jim Keltner, the Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith and Vinnie Colaiuta all raved about Richie’s playing.
I was so revved up about the article that I wrote a letter(not an email) to the “Readers Platform” at Modern Drummer about the cover story on the great Richie Hayward. I was then surprised when they published my letter in the February 1996 issue.
I think I gushed on a little more in my letter. So, they obviously did a little bit of editing.
The band continued to release more albums that were really good. But, I think I may have overdone it a bit and kind of burnt myself out on Little Feat. But, I was still interested in stuff that Richie recorded. He was on Eric Clapton’s From the Cradle blues album. I think Buddy Guy may have used him on practically all of his studio albums in the 90’s and even more recent albums too. He was also on Johnny Lang’s album Wander the World. In 2008, Little Feat decided to record an all-star album with guest vocalists including Brooks and Dunn, Emmylou Harris, Dave Matthews, Chris Robinson, Jimmy Buffett and Lowell George’s daughter Inora George. My friend (and coworker) Claire quickly ordered the CD and we were soon listening to the album on a daily basis at work and loving it all. 
I had read recently that he was suffering from Liver Cancer and was without insurance. So, the band was having fundraisers to come up with funds to help deal with the medical bills. But, sadly he passed away this past week and the drumming and music world are without another great one.
Thanks Richie! You will be missed!
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