Dixie Chicken by Little Feat

Dixie Chicken, Little Feat's third album, rolled out on Warner Bros. in January 1973 with Lowell George producing, and it's the record where this Los Angeles band finally found the groove it had been circling. The lineup got an overhaul: Kenny Gradney came in on bass for Roy Estrada, who'd split for Captain Beefheart's Magic Band after Sailin' Shoes, and guitarist Paul Barrere and percussionist Sam Clayton filled out the ranks alongside George, Bill Payne on keys and Richie Hayward on drums.

That six-man crew pulled the whole sound south, down to New Orleans, where the R&B struts, the funk simmers and George's guitar drips like Spanish moss. The title track became their calling card, "Fat Man in the Bathtub" wobbles with swampy good humor, and even the cover, a Neon Park painting, winks at a line from "Roll Um Easy". It's the lineup that held together until the band's 1979 breakup.

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