We were the last aboard the coaster bus back to Ballina after the Saturday night Little Feat performance at Bluesfest back in 2001, and, consequently, there weren't too many seats left. There was, however, a space beside a mandolin case and another beside noted session player and all-round good bloke Fred Tackett, who obligingly joined his mandolin so Hughesy and 'Er Indoors could sit together.
Nice bloke, Fred. He was sighted the next afternoon talking home maintenance issues with percussionist Sam Clayton beside the barbeque outside the unit where we were staying, which hardly equates to anything that remotely resembles rock'n'roll excess, though such may be an element in a distant past.
On the other hand, one suspects you don't build up a track record like the listing below, listed from the Member Discography page at the Little Feat website (here) if you're unreliable.
Originally from Arkansas, Fred's association with the Feat stems from a friendship with co-founder Lowell George and a songwriting and acoustic guitar credit for Fool Yourself on the band's third album, Dixie Chicken.
He contributed to Time Loves a Hero and Down on the Farm, as well as Lowell's solo project Thanks, I'll Eat It Here, which made him a logical candidate for extra guitar duties when the band got back together in 1988. Craig Fuller looked after the extra vocal bit until he left in 1993, but Fred has remained aboard for the duration, contributing the recording venue for 2003's Kickin' It at the Barn and working up an acoustic duo act with fellow guitarist Paul Barrere.
Interesting. File under: All-Round Good Blokes
Discography: Solo; Paul and Fred; Little Feat sessions As Little Feat group member
Little Feat compilations: Studio work (A - B) Studio Work (C) Studio Work (D - G)
In the music library:
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