Paul Barrere, guitarist of the band Little Feat, has passed away at 71. Rolling Stone’s Daniel Kreps reports on Barrere’s talented life, writing:
Barrere joined the Lowell George-led Little Feat prior the recording of the band’s breakthrough 1973 album Dixie Chicken; on the LP, Barrere co-wrote the song “Walkin’ All Night,” which the Rolling Stone review at the time called “the album’s purest rock & roll song.”
The guitarist also contributed “Skin It Back” and helped co-write the title track for the 1974 album Feats Don’t Fail Me Now. Barrere’s Little Feat songwriting credits also include “Time Loves a Hero,” “All That You Dream” and “Down on the Farm.” Following George’s death in 1979 and the band’s eight-year hiatus, Barrere took on the role of Little Feat’s de facto songwriter up through the band’s most recent studio album, 2012’s Rooster Rag.
“As the song he sang so many times put it, he was always ‘Willin’,’ but it was not meant to be,” added Little Feat, which now includes founding member and keyboardist Bill Payne and longtime bassist Kenny Gradney, who like Barrere joined Little Feat during Dixie Chicken.
Read more here.
Listen below to Little Feat’s “Walkin’ All Night” and “Time Loves a Hero” which Barrere co-wrote.
