Little Feat Dedicates Heartfelt ‘Shakedown Street’ To Phil Lesh In Charlottesville

When Phil Lesh embarked on his first Phil Lesh & Friends tour in the fall of 1999, the Grateful Dead bassist recruited Little Feat guitarist Paul Barrere and keyboardist Bill Payne to join his band for the first half of the run. Payne and Little Feat paid tribute to their friend on Saturday, the day after Phil Lesh died at age 84, by covering “Shakedown Street” during their concert at the Paramount Theater in Charlottesville, Virginia.

Bill Payne, who was also part of Phil Lesh & Friends’ Summer 2000 lineup, shared memories of the bassist both with the crowd and on social media before the “Shakedown” cover. Another former Phil Lesh & Friends member, Little Feat drummer Tony Leone, handled lead vocals on the title track from the Grateful Dead’s 1978 studio album.

Payne and Leone are joined in Little Feat by bassist Kenny Gradney, multi-instrumentalist Fred Tackett, percussionist Sam Clayton and guitarist Scott Sharrard. Sam Clayton is sitting out the start of the band’s fall tour while recuperating from a medical procedure. Nashville’s Hot Tomato Horns are filling out the lineup this fall.

Bill Payne told the crowd on Saturday he started listening to the Grateful Dead while in high school. The keyboardist said he went up to San Francisco many times to see the band perform in “1966 or 1967” at The Fillmore. Read Payne’s Phil Lesh remembrance shared on Little Feat’s social media channels below:

Little Feat were very fortunate to open for the Grateful Dead quite a few times. In the summer of 2000, I was fortunate to be included on a Phil & Friends tour with Paul Barrere, Robben Ford, and Jon Molo.

In the late 60s, I had been a fan of the Dead while in high school in Santa Maria. I, like many bands of that era, took inspiration from the Dead on the art of jamming. By the time I was in Phil & Friends those many years later, I had forgotten some of the techniques on how to jam. Phil was the perfect person to give me firsthand instruction. The Dead’s music was much more intricate than I remembered, and their catalogue of songs was staggering. His love and commitment to their music was more than evident through his passion and precision to every song.

One thing he made sure I did was to take my left hand out of the bass area on the piano. He had that area covered! I made the adjustments, and we were good after that. Phil was in the process of learning as well as teaching. He was experimental, and yet, expected to hear certain phrases played a certain way. He was as complex a musician as he was a human being. His influence will be felt for a very long time. I count myself lucky to have been in his considerable orbit.

Farewell

“Shakedown Street” was written by Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and lyricist Robert Hunter. The Grateful Dead premiered the song live in August 1978 and played “Shakedown Street” regularly through Garcia’s death.

Little Feat debuted their “Shakedown Street” cover with Neal Francis and Kellen Boersma on October 16, 2023 at Chicago’s Vic Theatre. The version on Saturday was the band’s first one since as per Setlist.FM statistics.

Watch video of Little Feat’s “Shakedown Street” dedicated to Phil Lesh captured by archivist Chris Cafiero: