“A lot of times in a theater, you have what we call the groove police,” says Fred Tackett, long-time guitarist of the blues-country-rock Little Feat.
The groove police, as Tackett explains in a recent phone interview, are security folks who tell people they can’t stand up because the people behind them can’t see.
“Little Feat fans like to get up and boogie a lot, so the aisles get kind of crowded,” Tackett laughs.
Hopefully, the groove police won’t put too much of a hold on any boogieing to be had during the band’s performance April 14 at the Lorain Palace Theater.
Northeast Ohio is kind of Little Feat country.
The band has touched down in several area venues across the decades, including Cleveland’s long-gone Front Row Theater and Jacobs Pavilion at Nautica in 1990 (of course, it was just called Nautica Pavillion back then), and they opened for Melissa Etheridge at Blossom Music Center the year before that.
Tackett says this show will be a “combination of everything” — new stuff, hits like “Dixie Chicken,” “Willin,’” and “Spanish Moon,” along with some unexpected deep cuts.
“We just spent a year doing ‘Waiting for Columbus’ live like from the record, playing it in order…” Tackett says.
“So, now we’re feeling like we can get deeper into our old catalog, doing songs, like, ‘Strawberry Flats’ from the very first album … some songs that we’ve never played live.”
The band has a lengthy history, having formed in 1969 as result of Frank Zappa firing original guitarist and vocalist, the late Lowell George from the Mothers of Invention, Zappa insisting George create his own band instead.
Tackett points out that some of the band’s current lineup features newer guys who bring a lot to the table.
“Scott Sharrard can sing all of Lowell’s songs,” Tackett says. “Paul (Barrere) and Billy (Payne) and myself — none of us could really do Lowell’s songs justice.
“Lowell was a unique talent.”
“Scott’s got a real lot of that same unique talent. He can sing all of Lowell’s songs, so we’re able to go back and find songs like ‘Perfect Imperfection,’ ‘Mercenary Territory,’ and Scott can eat ‘em up. It’s great; we haven’t played those songs in a long time.”
On the subject of Lowell George, Tackett says, “He was like our best friend. Lowell lived in my house for years … so yeah, we think about him every day.”
“What would he think about what we’re doing? Knowing Lowell, he’d probably be pretty funny and harsh at the same time,” Tackett laughs.
Though the band started more than a half a century ago, it still picks up newer fans in its travels.
“We just did a fan event in Key West, Florida, during the beginning of spring break,” Tackett says. “Younger jam band fans were hanging out with us. I don’t know if its because we happened to be there and it was something to do, but anyway, we’ll take whatever we can get,” he adds with a laugh.
In 2010, Phish performed Little Feat’s live album “Waiting for Columbus” in Atlantic City, which helped reel in some younger fans.
“We got a lot of people who have never heard of the band until they had done that,” Tackett says. “Now they’re part of our group.”
When asked what’s next for the band, Tackett laughs.
“I don’t know what we haven’t done, but I know there’s a lot we haven’t done,” he says. “We’ll see what happens. We’re gonna keep recording and writing songs.”
He adds that Little Feat is working on a blues extended play EP for Sam Clayton, who plays percussion and sings for the group.
“He’s such an amazing blues singer,” Tackett says about Clayton.
“I mean he’s as good as anybody ever. He hasn’t been featured over these years, and we’re doing about six songs. We’re gonna go to Memphis, doing Sun Studio stuff, and record for a couple days before our summer tour and put down some blues songs.”
Speaking of Memphis’ Sun Studio, Tackett wraps up the interview with a fun fact about his Southern rock ’n’ roll bloodline.
After doing a little digging into his ancestry, Tackett says he discovered he’s distantly related to Elvis Presley.
“We’re vaguely, vaguely — because we’re all hillbillies in Arkansas and Tennessee — we’re all vaguely related to each other, as they say. So I’m vaguely related to Elvis,” he laughs.
Little Feat
When: 8 p.m. April 14.
Where: Lorain Palace Theater, 617 Broadway.
Tickets: $40 to $70, with VIP packages available.
Info: lorainpalace.org or 440-245-2323.
