Artist:   Little Feat
Song:   "Dixie Chicken"
Album: Dixie Chicken
Label:   Warner Bros. Records
Year:    1973

By the time Little Feat released their third album, anyone who closely followed music in America knew the band was poised right on the brink of breaking through. Word of mouth was heating up, and with three new members in their ranks, Lowell George and company felt golden. How could they miss? Even better, “Dixie Chicken” is the perfect single. Every element feels like it was invented to fit together and create something no one had heard, at least not like this. Richie Hayward’s drums add just enough sense to a New Orleans beat to become addictive, ably aided by Sam Clayton’s congas, while Bill Payne’s piano is part barrelhouse and part Jerry Lee Lewis. George’s slide guitar sounds like a nest of hornets is chasing the other players around the studio, agitating everyone right through the roof. Topping it off is the song itself, an age-old story of things not being quite what they seem on the romantic front, with everyone in on the joke but the hapless husband. George’s voice captures the joy of new love like few have before or since, even when he likely knows what’s ahead: “Well, it’s been a year since she ran away/yes that guitar player sure could play.” Right. After that comes one of the finest punch-line verses in the history of rock & roll, wrapped up in a sing-along that brings smiles 35 years later just like it did the day the album was first released. Very few bands get to concoct something brand new, but Little Feat did. Lowell George didn’t make it to the ‘80s, and really never surpassed this album, but for a few years he showed there are no boundaries for those possessed by the music like he was, which is exactly why we’re still singing along today.