It’s ain’t easy to fill the shoes of guitar legends like Lowell George and Paul Barrere, but that’s Scott Sharrard’s mission with Little Feat. A member since 2019, Sharrard is a fiery slide and lead man who previously worked with the Gregg Allman Band. Today, he can be heard along with co-guitarist Fred Tackett on the Feat’s latest, Sam’s Place, delivering an all-blues set. He offered the low-down on Little Feat’s sixth decade of music.
Who were your slide influences, growing up?
Lowell George, Paul Barrere, Warren Haynes, Duane Allman, and Bonnie Raitt were my first slide heroes. I went to high school in Milwaukee in the early ’90s and grew up under the tutelage of local heroes like Stokes, Harvey Scales, and Willie Higgins, as well as local masters like Hubert Sumlin and Luther Allison. Those cats all turned me on to Robert Nighthawk and Earl Hooker when I was a teenager, which changed my life.
Tell us about the session for “Long Distance Call” with Bonnie Raitt.
Bonnie is one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met in this circus we call rock and roll. She came to hear us in San Francisco and we had a ball. She suggested Sam (Clayton, Feat’s conga player/vocalist) sing Howling Wolf’s “You’ll Be Mine.” We set up in a circle with no isolation and cut this back-porch live at Sam Philips’ studio. When Bonnie heard it, she loved it and wanted in on vocals. Her track was added later and, my God, did she add the special sauce.
Which guitars did you use?
Primarily an old Fano SP-6, the Novo Serus T Custom for open G, my ’80s Stratocaster for open A, a Heritage H-137, and the guitar I use most, a Gibson CS-336. All the pickups are Lollars, and I really love the MagSlide for bottleneck. My friend, Stax sax master Art Edmaiston, also brought over his friend’s ancient steel guitar for me to use on “Long Distance Call.” It used to belong to a Delta-blues cat named Blind Chuckie and had bullet holes in the face. It was apparently shot up in a juke joint one night, and that’s what blinded him.
Lowell famously used an MXR Dyna Comp compressor. What’s your compression tool for slide?
“Unity gain” compression is the signature Feat slide tone. Originally, Lowell discovered it in the studio and he’d plug into two UA1176 compressors then set one to stun, the other low. You get infinite sustain and fat beefy wide notes that way. A brilliant invention, one of Lowell’s many gifts to us all. My buddy Mike sent me his Analogman Bi-Comp pedal and it’s two compressors in one – you can activate them independently with footswitches. It sounds incredible and I’ve discovered different ways of using the two compressors to get unique tones.
Which amps did you use?
Two Rock amplifiers have become my go-to, and their Classic Reverb is a joy. It’s got that Dumble thing all day long, great for Feat music. I also still travel and record with my good ol’ 1966 Vibrolux Reverb and often have them running in parallel.
Talk about your tunings and damping.
The old white Strat is tuned to open A. It’s got the Stratoblaster mid-boost and big Lollar Chicago steel pickup in the bridge – that’s my “Lowell sound.” As for damping the strings, half the game with slide is to keep it from screeching. That’s a full-time job and you have to mute with both hands at all times. Once you crank the amp and add the unity-gain compression, you’ve really gotta watch it because there’s nowhere to hide.
What about pedals?
I’ve become devoted to a digital spring reverb that actually sounds better than the real thing. For that, it’s my Strymon Flint, which also has killer vibrato. My producing partner, Charlie Martinez, made me a custom overdrive box modeled after an old Klon circuit and has an optional MXR mid-boost built in. Finally, I have the Strymon Lex rotary-speaker box and an Analog Man-modded Phase 90 for that Paul Barrere funk sound.
Little Feat has always had a swampy vibe. How did a Los Angeles-based band get that dose of Louisiana?
You could argue that all great American music was born in the South and exported to the coasts and beyond. Every musician on the planet owes their debt to the music of New Orleans. That said, Little Feat is funky, and I don’t mean slick funky; I’m talking about legit funk that we as musicians recognize as being just nasty. What the band adds on top could be compared to anything from Thelonious Monk to Hunter S. Thompson. I suppose that’s what rock and roll is – a real bitches brew. Long may it reign.
This article originally appeared in VG’s August 2024 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
