Robert Plant could say yes to a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, spend a few months singing great songs to adoring throngs and then spend the rest of his life counting his money.
His sold-out Wednesday night show at the Mobile Saenger Theatre made it crystal clear why he’s stuck to a different path, even after a one-off 2007 concert that showed the three surviving members of the band can still bring the old fire to the stage. (more…)
There might be no better image to represent the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll than that of Robert Plant, flailing away full-throttle at the helm of Led Zeppelin. With his tousled blond locks, bare chest, and wailing, upper-register vocals, Plant was the quintessential frontman of the quintessential hard rock band. Led Zep was the group that ushered in the era of arena-ready heavy metal and equally blustery blues, proving that power chords and volume don’t necessarily negate variety, versatility, and solid song craft.
Still, it’s a credit to Plant’s perseverance that his trajectory didn’t crumble with Zeppelin’s demise. In fact, his career blossomed again when he began recording solo. Over the past 30 years, Plant has delved into a dazzling array of styles and sentiments, from modern rock and rockabilly to exotic Eastern motifs and the far reaches of the American heartland. (more…)
Robert Plant is about to turn 62, but apparently, getting older doesn’t mean playing it safe. After 2007’s one-off Led Zeppelin charity gig prompted concert promoters to stack piles of cash at Plant’s door, he rejected the overtures to continue touring his Americana project Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. After collecting no small amount of critical acclaim for that endeavor, Plant has now blown it all up again, emerging with a new brand of weirder, louder roots rock in his current project, Band Of Joy. (more…)
Robert Plant took all sorts of detours on his way from dancing like Legolas to looking like Gandalf. There was that unfortunate haircut during Live Aid, that time he looked like a burrito on the cover of Musician magazine and naming a record “Now and Zen.”
But he seems to have hit a sweet spot these past few years. “Raising Sand,” his collaboration with Alison Krauss, was a weird miracle of rootsy swagger and classy rock lilt; the tour that followed produced some of his strongest, heaviest music in a very long time. (more…)
Robert Plant is a master of the musical bait and switch, but an exceptionally gracious one. Plant is no dummy. He has to know that the commercial radio stations in Houston (and, let’s be fair, most everywhere else) that run ads and give away plenty of tickets for his concerts would sooner add Lady Gaga to their playlists than touch anything from 2007’s Raising Sand or his forthcoming Band of Joy album.
DALLAS — Robert Plant’s sojourn down America’s back roads has done him a world of good. For one thing, it’s allowed the rock ‘n’ roll lothario to reinvent himself as a sharp-eared curator of the vast American roots repertoire. By casting aside expectations for a Led Zeppelin reunion, Plant has paved the way for himself to grow as an artist rather than stagnate as a jukebox sellout. (more…)
What does a living legend do to follow a multi-Grammy Award winning album (Raising Sand) and successful world tour with Bluegrass thrush Alison Krauss? How about revive an over 40-year-old band name from the Midlands of England, start out fresh with an almost completely new set of Americana/Country musicians, and tour the U.S. before the new album is even in the stores? Robert Plant can’t be accused of playing it safe. (more…)
It was tough to find anything but joy at the Meyerson on Friday night. But it could be done, as Robert Plant and his latest squad of crack players, the Band of Joy, juiced up the symphony hall with tart, swollen, Americana-flavored chewables in front of a near-capacity collective of appreciative, if occasionally flabbergasted, patrons.
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Robert Plant has backed his reluctance to turn Led Zeppelin’s O2 stadium show into a full-blown tour, preferring instead to focus on solo projects in the vein of his Grammy-winning Raising Sand.
“It’s really like, What’s new?” Plant says in an interview in MOJO magazine, on sale next week. “We did it once. That was really the best Led Zeppelin gig since 1975. But of course it wasn’t Led Zeppelin. Let’s not forget that.”
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When Robert Plant was 17, he did a cover of the Rascals’ bluesy “You Better Run” with a band called the Tennessee Teens. “If you blinked, you missed it,” Plant said.
But more than 40 years later, Plant’s affection for American music, and Tennessee, has only grown deeper. The former Led Zeppelin frontman’s new outfit, the Band of Joy, includes co-conspirators picked up in his new stateside base of operations, Nashville. They include influential guitarist-producer Buddy Miller (Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris), singer Patty Griffin, multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott (Steve Earle), drummer Marco Giovino and bassist Byron House (Dixie Chicks). (more…)
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