Willin' (Little Feat song)
Willin' is a song written by Lowell George before he had formed his band, Little Feat. They released it on their 1971 Little Feat album. The band then re-recorded the song at a slower tempo to much greater success on their 1972 Sailin' Shoes album. The song tells a story of a truck driver traveling from Tucson to Tucumcari; Tehachapi to Tonopah and became a trucker anthem.
When Frank Zappa heard George sing a demo of "Willin'" as a Mothers of Invention song, he suggested that the guitarist form a band.Covers
covered this song on their eponymous 1970 album. The song was covered by Linda Ronstadt on her 1974 Heart Like a Wheel album. This version was used in James Cameron's 1989 movie, The Abyss.
The Byrds recorded the song during the sessions for their 1970 album ' and performed the song live throughout that same year. The studio version was included as a bonus track on the reissue of ' and a live version is featured on The Byrds box set. Gene Parsons, who sang the song as a member of The Byrds, recorded his own version on his 1973 solo album Kindling. Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen covered the song in 1975 on Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen
Phish has covered the song live on occasion. Bob Dylan has also been known to perform the song live.
Phil Pritchett covered this song as a duet with Cody Canada on his 2002 album Tougher Than the Rest. Jackson Browne covered this song with the band Lucius for the 2016 Showtime TV Series, Roadies. Gregg Allman covered “Willin’” in his last album, Southern Blood, released in 2017. Mandy Moore covered it in a Season 1 episode of This Is Us in 2016.
