It’s ain’t simple to fill the footwear of guitar legends like Lowell George and Paul Barrere, however that’s Scott Sharrard’s mission with Little Feat. A member since 2019, Sharrard is a fiery slide and lead man who beforehand labored with the Gregg Allman Band. Right this moment, he might be heard together with co-guitarist Fred Tackett on the Feat’s newest, Sam’s Place, delivering an all-blues set. He supplied the low-down on Little Feat’s sixth decade of music.

Who have been your slide influences, rising up?
Lowell George, Paul Barrere, Warren Haynes, Duane Allman, and Bonnie Raitt have been my first slide heroes. I went to highschool in Milwaukee within the early ’90s and grew up below the tutelage of native heroes like Stokes, Harvey Scales, and Willie Higgins, in addition to native masters like Hubert Sumlin and Luther Allison. These cats all turned me on to Robert Nighthawk and Earl Hooker once I was a teen, which modified my life.

Inform us in regards to the session for “Lengthy Distance Name” with Bonnie Raitt.
Bonnie is among the sweetest folks I’ve ever met on this circus we name rock and roll. She got here to listen to us in San Francisco and we had a ball. She instructed Sam (Clayton, Feat’s conga participant/vocalist) sing Howling Wolf’s “You’ll Be Mine.” We arrange in a circle with no isolation and reduce this back-porch reside at Sam Philips’ studio. When Bonnie heard it, she liked it and wished in on vocals. Her monitor was added later and, my God, did she add the particular sauce.

Which guitars did you utilize?
Primarily an previous Fano SP-6, the Novo Serus T Customized for open G, my ’80s Stratocaster for open A, a Heritage H-137, and the guitar I exploit most, a Gibson CS-336. All of the pickups are Lollars, and I actually love the MagSlide for bottleneck. My buddy, Stax sax grasp Artwork Edmaiston, additionally introduced over his buddy’s historical metal guitar for me to make use of on “Lengthy Distance Name.” It used to belong to a Delta-blues cat named Blind Chuckie and had bullet holes within the face. It was apparently shot up in a juke joint one night time, and that’s what blinded him.

Lowell famously used an MXR Dyna Comp compressor. What’s your compression device for slide?
“Unity achieve” compression is the signature Feat slide tone. Initially, Lowell found it within the studio and he’d plug into two UA1176 compressors then set one to stun, the opposite low. You get infinite maintain and fats beefy huge notes that method. An excellent invention, one among Lowell’s many presents to us all. My buddy Mike despatched me his Analogman Bi-Comp pedal and it’s two compressors in a single – you may activate them independently with footswitches. It sounds unimaginable and I’ve found alternative ways of utilizing the 2 compressors to get distinctive tones.

Which amps did you utilize?
Two Rock amplifiers have change into my go-to, and their Traditional Reverb is a pleasure. It’s obtained that Dumble factor all day lengthy, nice for Feat music. I additionally nonetheless journey and report with my good ol’ 1966 Vibrolux Reverb and sometimes have them operating in parallel.

Speak about your tunings and damping.
The previous white Strat is tuned to open A. It’s obtained the Stratoblaster mid-boost and massive Lollar Chicago metal pickup within the bridge – that’s my “Lowell sound.” As for damping the strings, half the sport with slide is to maintain it from screeching. That’s a full-time job and it’s a must to mute with each fingers always. When you crank the amp and add the unity-gain compression, you’ve actually gotta watch it as a result of there’s nowhere to cover.

What about pedals?
I’ve change into dedicated to a digital spring reverb that really sounds higher than the true factor. For that, it’s my Strymon Flint, which additionally has killer vibrato. My producing companion, Charlie Martinez, made me a customized overdrive field modeled after an previous Klon circuit and has an non-obligatory MXR mid-boost inbuilt. Lastly, I’ve the Strymon Lex rotary-speaker field and an Analog Man-modded Part 90 for that Paul Barrere funk sound.

Little Feat has at all times had a swampy vibe. How did a Los Angeles-based band get that dose of Louisiana?
You might argue that every one nice American music was born within the South and exported to the coasts and past. Each musician on the planet owes their debt to the music of New Orleans. That stated, Little Feat is funky, and I don’t imply slick funky; I’m speaking about legit funk that we as musicians acknowledge as being simply nasty. What the band provides on prime might be in comparison with something from Thelonious Monk to Hunter S. Thompson. I suppose that’s what rock and roll is – an actual bitches brew. Lengthy might it reign.

This text initially appeared in VG’s August 2024 concern. All copyrights are by the creator and Classic Guitar journal. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.