In Conversation: Kenny Gradney of Little Feat
In advance of their show April 16th at Memeorial Auditorium, bassist Kenny Gradney, a mainstay of the legendary rock outfit Little Feat since 1972, joined Paul Jorgensen to discuss the band's transition into their "Last Farewell Tour." Gradney shared that while the band is retiring from the rigors of long-haul bus and truck touring, they will continue to perform "one-off" shows and weekend dates. The conversation also touched on their latest studio album, Strike Up the Band, their upcoming debut at the Grand Ole Opry, and Gradney's memories of joining the band during the Dixie Chicken era. Kenny shares a great Paul Barrere golf story, too!
Connect with Little Feat:
Upcoming Performances (within 150 miles of Chattanooga):
- Monday, April 13, 2026: Tennessee Theatre — Knoxville, TN
- Thursday, April 16, 2026: Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium — Chattanooga, TN
Show Notes
- Little Feat
- Strike Up the Band (2025 Album)
- Molly Tuttle
- Larkin Poe
- Grand Ole Opry
- The Ryman Auditorium
- Dixie Chicken (1973 Album)
- Robert Hunter
- The Record Company
- Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Auditorium
Full Transcript (generated with the help of AI and spot edited)
Paul Jorgensen: Joining me in the studio live to tape is Kenny Gradney, who is the bassist extraordinaire for Little Feat. Hello, Kenny.
Kenny Gradney: More like ordinary. Ha ha.
Paul Jorgensen: I love it. Thank you so much for joining me today.
Kenny Gradney: My pleasure.
Paul Jorgensen: Very exciting to have y'all coming to town on your last farewell tour. You're going to be playing at Memorial Auditorium right here in Chattanooga on Tuesday, April the 16th.
Kenny Gradney: Oh yeah.
Paul Jorgensen: Is this going to be your first time through Chattanooga? I'm imagining not.
Kenny Gradney: No, it's not.
Paul Jorgensen: We're very happy to have you back.
Kenny Gradney: Well, thank you.
Paul Jorgensen: Yeah, so tell me a little bit about this tour, if you would.
Kenny Gradney: Well, it's the final tour. I mean, I see there's a lot of people doing their final tour. We're just going to go around and say goodbye to everyone. It's going to last maybe a year and a half, I would think, this year and next year. We're going to still be around. We're just not going to be touring anymore, but we'll be doing, you know, one-offs and things like that. One-offs are when you come in and you do one show, maybe two shows, in different places. But we'll just be working weekends when we work. We won't be with the tour buses and the trucks and all that anymore.
Paul Jorgensen: Ah, that'll be nice. More time at home.
Kenny Gradney: More time at home.
Paul Jorgensen: Well, and hopefully a little bit more time to record as well. I've been loving you guys' new release, Strike Up the Band.
Kenny Gradney: Oh, thank you. Uh-huh.
Paul Jorgensen: Yeah, and I really love that collaboration y'all did with Molly Tuttle and crew.
Kenny Gradney: Yeah, that was a lot of fun. Nice people.
Paul Jorgensen: Well, you've got quite a few—well, at least a couple—of collaborations on that one. Y'all are with Larkin Poe as well on a track?
Kenny Gradney: With who?
Paul Jorgensen: Was it Larkin Poe? Am I remembering that correctly?
Kenny Gradney: You got me. I was just in the back playing the bass, some people were showing up. You know, I'm just the bass player.
Paul Jorgensen: "Just" the bass player? Please! Yeah, so I've been loving that album, and then y'all have been releasing a few singles here and there.
Kenny Gradney: Yes, we have released a few singles from the album. And we're going to go in—when are we going in?—in September, and we're going to do a Christmas song. We're going to do an old blue Christmas song, an old Albert King tune. We've been honored to play the Grand Ole Opry in September. I think that's amazing.
Paul Jorgensen: Yeah, it's a beautiful venue, and it's great that y'all are going to be playing there.
Kenny Gradney: Yeah, we've been playing the Ryman, which is an amazing venue. It's history, a lot of history there. But we're just cruising right now. I've been home for about a month, so I'm a little out of touch with what's going on.
Paul Jorgensen: Well, that's all right. I know it's good, actually.
Kenny Gradney: Well yeah, I was talking with Dennis the other day and he was talking about scheduling this around tee times.
Paul Jorgensen: Oh, my tee time? Yeah, you are.
Kenny Gradney: Excellent, that's the important stuff.
Paul Jorgensen: Well, yeah, it's what keeps me healthy roaming through the hills and chasing the golf ball.
Kenny Gradney: That little white ball, it's amazing how many people chase after it.
Paul Jorgensen: I want to, if I can, I want to share with you a quick little story. When I was in high school, I was in North Central Connecticut, and at a very small high school, but we had our own radio station in there. We had our own FM transmitter, wasn't very high-powered or anything, but my best friend and I had a show that was starting up in 1988. And our academic advisor, a gentleman named Peter Stone, was showing us how all of the equipment worked. And when it came to the tape player, he played Firesign Theatre, but then when it came to the turntable, that was all you guys. So it was "Let It Roll" and Dixie Chicken, I remember him playing specifically. He was a huge fan of you guys.
Kenny Gradney: Ah, good. That's awesome.
Paul Jorgensen: Yeah, and it helped me get into radio, helped to excite me. So I want to say thank you very much.
Kenny Gradney: My pleasure, truly. We've been working the last few years on a couple of records and putting songs together. And Billy's got some stuff that he collaborated with Robert Hunter that he's—I wish he would just do a solo record with all of it, there's so many good tracks that he did with Robert Hunter, who was a great songwriter in his own right.
Paul Jorgensen: We've mostly been doing a lot of recording and touring. But this year we're just kind of—we're touring a little, we probably won't start until summer. There's nowhere to go on the East Coast because it's snowed in. I hear New York is under two feet of snow, the city.
Kenny Gradney: Yeah, that friend I was telling you about, he still lives up in Connecticut, and he had just shy of two feet of snow.
Paul Jorgensen: Unbelievable.
Kenny Gradney: That's one of the reasons why I like living in Chattanooga much better. I don't need to own a snow blower.
Paul Jorgensen: That's why I like living in Los Angeles. I mean, I'm from here, so...
Kenny Gradney: Good to be home. But yeah, I was noticing with y'all's tour schedule, it seems like it's got a nice pace to it, what's posted up on the website so far.
Paul Jorgensen: Good stuff.
Kenny Gradney: If there is a song or a couple of songs in the Little Feat back catalog that you think maybe are unappreciated gems, what would those be?
Paul Jorgensen: Unappreciated gems. I don't know, there's so many unappreciated gems. You know, off the top of my head, that's a good question. I couldn't think of any. "I’m Missin’ You," a Paul Barrere song, that's a great song. There's an unappreciated gem.
Kenny Gradney: Okay, great. I'll probably play that after this interview plays. Yeah, and so, musically, what else is exciting you these days?
Paul Jorgensen: Musically, I've really been liking Bruno Mars. I like his music, his last album was very good, I enjoyed it. Who else? The Record Company, I like those guys.
Kenny Gradney: Oh, I don't think I know them.
Paul Jorgensen: Oh, they're very good, The Record Company. They're very good. I like them.
Kenny Gradney: All right, I'll have to go hunt them down.
Paul Jorgensen: Okay. There's just so many new artists coming up that I haven't really been keeping up with all of them.
Kenny Gradney: Yeah, I've been noticing, especially this past six months, it seems like there is just a deluge of just fantastic newer or new-to-me artists that have put stuff out that I'm just—my record-buying budget is just getting blown out of the water.
Paul Jorgensen: Yeah, I know what you mean. It's hard to keep up. I like all the new young kids coming up, their concepts and the way they hear things, you know? It's very nice. I wish—it's early here, you know, and I haven't been out of bed long, so my mind is moving a little slow.
Kenny Gradney: Well, it's about lunchtime here, and I can't say that my brain's moving much faster, so we're pacing each other.
Paul Jorgensen: I know, I know.
Kenny Gradney: Do you have a particular treasured album in your collection?
Paul Jorgensen: Well, I've always treasured the first record I ever did with Little Feat, which was Dixie Chicken. Because it was my first—it was my introduction to Little Feat, because I had never heard of them. I was playing in Delaney & Bonnie and Little Feat was primarily a new group, and I was very fortunate to find them, or have them find me, either way. And Dixie Chicken has always been kind of a treasure to me, the album, the songs. It was hilarious, the music, when I first heard it. I just couldn't stop laughing at Lowell George's sense of humor in his writing—brilliant writer, and his sense of humor was pretty wild. So yeah, Dixie Chicken would have to be my treasured album.
Kenny Gradney: Do you have anything to say to the citizens of Chattanooga and the Tennessee Valley about your upcoming show?
Paul Jorgensen: Tennessee—I love Tennessee! Ain't no place I'd rather be. We're looking forward to coming out there and entertaining you. And Chattanooga is a wonderful city, I remember it. Trying to think, did I play golf there? Paul and I were going—we were going to try and get into this country club. We walk up to the—we drive up and we get out with our clubs and we open the front door of the pro shop. And as we open the front door, Paul and I, we hear the head pro talking behind the counter, and as we open the door, he says, "I think Paul Barrere is the greatest rock and roll country rock guitar player." And Paul looks at me and I look at him and we smile, and we start laughing. So we walked around in the pro shop while they talked about it, okay? And the band and everything, because we were going to play the next day. So we walk up to the counter when they finish, Paul says, "I was wondering if we could get a tee time here, we're not from the club." And he goes, "What's your name?" He says, "Paul Barrere." And the head pro lost it. He told the guy, "You've got the helm," he grabs his clubs out of his office and he takes us out on the golf course and we played golf with him all day. To me, that was a really cute story, Paul and I. No one would ever believe that happened, but that happened.
Kenny Gradney: Wow, that's a great story!
Paul Jorgensen: Isn't that funny? And the look on his face was like, "Oh, we're going to play."
Kenny Gradney: Haha, yeah.
Paul Jorgensen: You had to be there for the humor of it all. It was brilliant.
Kenny Gradney: It's still a good story, even not being there.
Paul Jorgensen: Thank you. It's a great memory.
Kenny Gradney: I'm going to let you get back to your appointment. Thank you so much for taking a little bit of time out of your day and talking with me, and really looking forward to y'all coming to town.
Paul Jorgensen: Thank you, Paul. I'm looking forward to it, too.
Kenny Gradney: Madison Cunningham, thank you so much and have a great rest of your day.
Paul Jorgensen: You too. Bye.
This transcript and article links were done with the help of AI and spot edited. Email wutc@utc.edu with any corrections.
