In the swampy, largely mediocre quagmire of 70's Southern rock bands, only two can really claim to be musical innovators on a level that still garners critical respect three decades after everything's all said and done: the Allman Brothers Band and Little Feat. Sure, you've got your Lynyrd Skynyrds, your .38 Specials, your Doobie Brothers... but comparing these trailer park neer-do-wells to the Southern-fried Beethovens (Duane Allman) and Mozarts (Lowell George) of the Allmans and Little Feat is like comparing an eight-piece KFC box to a real Dixie feast complete with fried chicken, black-eyed peas and sweet tea. It almost goes without saying that the Allmans and company were one of the 70's most dynamic jam bands, but Little Feat often gets forgotten in the "Sweet Home Alabama" shuffle. Lowell George and his band of merry men in Little Feat recorded a solid decade's worth of nearly perfect music, from the band's formation in '69 until Lowell George's premature death in '79. Dixie Chicken, however, is their ultimate statement: a groovy manifesto of laid-back country funk, slack blues, and good ol' rock 'n' roll. George's newfound love of New Orleans R&B is all over this album, from the swaggering title track to the stanky Allen Toussaint cover, "On Your Way Down". Elsewhere, "Juliette" shimmers with fusion-inspired brilliance, and "Walkin' All Night" is country blues at its loose 'n' juiciest. Dixie Chicken captures the sound of Southern comfort better than even the Allmans ever could have, and it just proves what Southern rock forgot sometime around 1975: you can't commoditize Dixie.
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