By Scott McLennan

 At Indian Ranch, Little Feat balances nostalgia and renewal in a high-caliber stop on its “Last Farewell Tour.”

Billy Payne of Little Feat at Indian Ranch. Photo: Scott McLennan

Little Feat’s The Last Record Album was not what it claimed, as several more records followed that 1975 release right up to last year’s Strike Up the Band (Arts Fuse review). But there’s a good chance that once Little Feat wraps up “The Last Farewell Tour,” which began earlier this year, this legendary ensemble really may be retiring 57 years after its founding.

That said, when Little Feat brought “The Last Farewell Tour” to Indian Ranch in Webster on Sunday  to open that venerable venue’s summer concert season, nothing suggested that these guys are running out of gas. Veteran Feat members Billy Payne, 77, Kenny Gradney, 76, and Sam Clayton and Fred Tackett, both 80, were fierce and playful as they worked through a career-spanning set alongside newer additions Scott Sharrard and Tony Leone, who are a generation removed from the others.

The Sunday matinee show, which the Ranch is known for, was a single 1-hour-and-45-minute set that presented all the good parts of the Little Feat story.  Little Feat first found its footing in the 1970s, peaking with the live album Waiting for Columbus, which was the perfect showcase for Feat’s peerless musical chops and devil-may-care attitude as the band went about blending influences and singing songs that sounded like tales from a new American mythology.

Little Feat found itself on shaky ground early on when guitarist and singer Lowell George died in 1979. But, in the late ’80s, the surviving members regrouped with some new additions, including still-present guitarist Tackett. The group went on to enjoy a revival thanks to the popularity of the albums Let It Roll and Representing the Mambo.

In the 2000s, Little Feat began to sputter for a bit, especially after the deaths of founding drummer Richie Hayward and longtime guitarist Paul Barrere. But, before calling it a day, the band drew new inspiration working with guitarist Sharrard and drummer Leone who were instrumental in shaping Strike Up the Band and its predecessor Sam’s Place, an album of blues classics sung by percussionist Sam Clayton.

Fred Tackett and Scott Sharrard of Little Feat at Indian Ranch. Photo: Scott McLennan

Little Feat started the Indian Ranch concert in the middle of its story with the rousing boogie of “Let It Roll.”  The driving groove – anchored by Gradney’s impeccable bass playing – generated good vibes about cruising down life’s highway, which then gave way to deeper jams and solos. And that ability – to combine the viscerally pleasant and the cleverly provocative into cohesive songs – is what defines Little Feat.

And it’s not just about balancing dualities. Keyboard master Payne’s “Oh, Atlanta” brought the show back to the first classic era of Little Feat; it is a multi-faceted song, wrapping wistful poetry in longing and lust, the package augmented with probing slide guitar, piano lines that shift from aggressive to playful, and smooth, undulating rhythm work.

Before moving on to its newest material, Little Feat did a little catalog diving, retrieving the New Orleans-flavored hit “Hate to Lose Your Lovin’” and the greasy George-era rocker “Rock and Roll Doctor.” Sharrard and Tackett masterfully worked through those songs, making space for six-string tangles and blistering solos.

“Time Loves a Hero” conjures up a sweet melancholy: the song has become a tribute to Feat’s fallen members, with Payne on Sunday adding Grateful Dead compatriot Bob Weir to the list of those being remembered.

Feat celebrated its modern era with Sharrard’s propulsive “Midnight Flight,” Tackett’s wry “Too High to Cut My Hair” and the Clayton-sung cover of Little Walter’s “Mellow Down Easy.”

The focus swung back to classic Feat with Sharrard summoning up the emotional resonance of “Willin’,” both vocally and with his peformance on acoustic guitar. The band tacked onto the song the beloved “Don’t Bogart that Joint” outro for good measure.

Little Feat paired the ominous “Spanish Moon” with the sultry “Skin it Back,” a Barrere song ably sung by drummer Leone and accentuated by an explosive Sharrard solo.

The drummer also sang the deep cut “That’s Her, She’s Mine” from the mid-chapter album Representing the Mambo.

Then came the homestretch of big numbers: “Fatman in the Bathtub,” “Dixie Chicken,” “Tripe Face Boogie,” and “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now.”

Sam Clayton of Little Feat at Indian Ranch. Photo: Scott McLennan

Now, anyone who has seen Little Feat at any point in the last 20 years knows that “Dixie Chicken” has become something of a rock opera in concert, stuffed with multiple solos, jams, and a distinctly theatrical delivery of the lines about an ill-fated romance. So it was rather nice to hear “Dixie Chicken” pared down on Sunday to its core elements, while “Fat Man” and “Tripe Face” were handed more over-the-top performances.

Tackett and Sharrard egged each other on to new heights as “Fat Man” ascended to rock ’n’ roll bliss, and the unhinged-to-begin-with “Tripe Face” got even weirder, as Payne kept his bandmates on their toes with a succession of wilder contours he wove into the song.

Without breaking for an encore, Little Feat powered straight into the happy-rambler anthem “Feats Don’t Fail Me Now” to end the show.

As long as “The Last Farewell Tour” can keep delivering performances of such high caliber, a long goodbye is certainly welcome.

Scott McLennan covered music for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette from 1993 to 2008. He then contributed music reviews and features to The Boston Globe, Providence Journal, Portland Press Herald, and WGBH, as well as to The Arts Fuse. He also operated the NE Metal blog to provide in-depth coverage of the region’s heavy metal scene.