Little Feat are coming to The Paramount in Huntington Saturday October 25th, 2025. We recently caught up with keyboardist from the band Bill Payne to talk about the show and more. Last time Bill and I had spoken was in 2021 when he was about to hit the road with the current line up of Little Feat. In fact, at that point, the version of the band as we know it today had not all played together yet. Now that they have had the chance to play together for the last few years, I asked how it was going. Bill said great. He was happy to mention that they had a Grammy nomination for their album “Sam’s Place” that came out in 2024. Bill also mentioned being happy with their latest album “Strike Up The Band” which came out back in May.
Bill ran through all the current members of the band and shared “It’s been absolutely terrific. In four years, a lot can happen with anybody and anything and this thing just keeps getting tighter and tighter. It’s pretty amazing.”
When Bill and I had spoken in 2021 they were doing the “Little Feat By Request” tour. Bill said it had been nice to have the fans weigh in on what they played at the shows because they would “Throw songs at you that maybe you wouldn’t have on your list.” However, this time around the show has a more specific structure.
About this point in our conversation Bill announced that he is writing a book called “Carnival Ghosts.” Bill attributed his “Scatteredness” to all the notebooks he currently has in front of him. The books contain “Nonstop notes for what I’m writing. It’s my life, so it covers everything from Bryan Adams to Rod Stewart to Jimmy Page and all those folks. Of course, his story includes Little Feat and all the members past and present.
Bill also got into how important radio has been to Little Feat and how it continues to be to this day. Bill even expressed his desire to be a DJ on the radio. He is happy doing what he is doing, touring. He relayed how for his book he has six columns forty or fifty people deep of just people he has recorded with. He has toured with some of them as well. Some of the names, “Bob Seger, James Taylor, Stevie Nicks, Bonnie Raitt, Emmylou Harris etcetera.” A friend told Bill that nobody cares who he played with. I made sure to very directly tell him that I for one am certainly interested. That brought us into a discussion about the family tree of the music industry. The lists of who he played with made him jokingly think “I’m either really good or I can’t hold a job.”
Then Bill spoke about something I had not anticipated, a Little Feat farewell tour coming next year. The only comforting thing about it is that he also said the tour “Will take two to three years to unwind.”
Bill said something and I loved the sound of it, “The ultimate story is when we get on stage and play.” With a farewell tour part of our discussion, I had to ask if there is the possibility of a new album to go with that tour. Bill’s response was “I dearly want one.” Bill spoke about wanting to work with Vance Powell, who he praised as a great engineer and producer. He also touched on songwriters he has tunes he’s completed with including Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke and Robert Hunter who is well known for his work with The Grateful Dead.
As we were wrapping up our conversation, Bill did mention the desire to do a solo album. I asked if even though Little Feat were going to do a farewell tour, would they still record? Bill did say “That’s always a possibility.” Then he brought up the idea of doing a residency somewhere. “I love playing. We’re looking forward to playing at The Paramount.” “The smiles on stage are real.” “I play for those that show up, which includes me.”
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