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Plant on Fats Domino tribute CD

By Steve Sauer, www.LedZeppelinNews.com

Monday, September 3, 2007

There's a two-disc set coming out on Sept. 25 called Goin' Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino. Of immediate interest to Led Zeppelin fans are the two cover songs recorded by Robert Plant with a couple different groups. One of his songs can be heard online in MP3 format along with two other tracks from the double album:

1. Robert Plant & Soweto Gospel Choir - Valley of Tears: http://six-by-nine.org/muruch/robertplant-valleyoftears.mp3
2. Dr. John - Don't Leave Me This Way: http://six-by-nine.org/muruch/drjohn-dontleavemethisway1.mp3
3. Randy Newman - Blue Monday: http://six-by-nine.org/muruch/randynewman-bluemonday.mp3

Plant's track above was recorded with the Soweto Gospel Choir from South Africa. His other addition to the album, "It Keeps Rainin'," was recorded with the Lil' Band O' Gold, from Lafayette, Louisiana. After they recorded their song, Plant ended up playing with them at Tipitina's in New Orleans. Their 30-minute set, detailed in full both by a New Orleans Times-Picayune blog and Lafayette's hometown Independent Weekly, included both Fats Domino covers Plant had recorded for the album and a few Elvis Presley songs and snippets of Led Zeppelin songs alongside the blues song "Hoochie Coochie Man" made famous by Muddy Waters.

The album also includes the late John Lennon's classic cover of Domino's "Ain't That a Shame" and new recordings from a bunch of the same artists who frequently show up on compilations like the Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute and the Sun Records tribute: Bonnie Raitt (SRV), Eric Clapton (SRV & Sun), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers (Sun), B.B. King (SRV), Sir Elton John (Sun), Sir Paul McCartney (Sun) and Dr. John (SRV). Plant was also on the Sun Records tribute album.

Proceeds from sales of the Fats Domino tribute album will benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, whose goal is "to preserve and restore New Orleans' music culture in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina." A press release says the album "will help raise desperately needed funds specifically earmarked for instruments to be donated to New Orleans' public school children. Monies raised from the sales of Goin' Home will also go toward the rebuilding of Fats Domino's home and to create a community center in the Crescent City's still ravaged Lower 9th Ward."

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Led Zeppelin Reunion


Photo courtesy of Simon Keeping

The surviving members of Led Zeppelin regrouped in 2007, with Jason Bonham on drums, to perform a year-end tribute to Ahmet Ertegun. Their widely praised concert was witnessed in person by fewer than 20,000 people. It is likely never to be repeated, and there are no announced plans to release the concert for home viewing. However, clicking the image above will bring up multi-cam footage of the entire Led Zeppelin performance as it happened on Dec. 10, 2007, at the O2 arena in London.

Many posts on LedZeppelinNews.com have centered on the possibility of a full-scale Led Zeppelin reunion, noting particularly the inaccuracies reported by the popular press.

Page


Jimmy Page stars with fellow guitarists Jack White and The Edge in this guitar documentary, directed by Davis Guggenheim ("An Inconvenient Truth"), which had widespread theatrical showings beginning in August.

LedZeppelinNews.com provided a review of "It Might Get Loud" at that time.

"It Might Get Loud" will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Dec. 22 in the United States. Click here to pre-order on DVD or Blu-Ray. Prior to this, "It Might Get Loud" will be available on iTunes for two weeks beginning Dec. 8.

- What else should I know about "It Might Get Loud"?

- What else is Jimmy Page up to?

Plant


Just prior to the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in 2007, Robert Plant released the album Raising Sand with Alison Krauss. Their partnership has been the subject of much critical and commercial success, including victories at the Grammy awards two years in a row.

A follow-up to that album has been in pre-production, but Krauss's current priorities are new recordings and eventual touring with her signature band, Union Station. Progress on the second Plant/Krauss album is anticipated following the completion of the Union Station tour.

More recently, Plant entered the studio with famed U2 producer Daniel Lanois for some recording sessions, the nature of which has not been disclosed.

Following the breakup of Led Zeppelin, Plant went on to a rewarding career as a solo artist. He released six albums of his own between 1982 and 1993, two collaborative albums with Jimmy Page between 1994 and 1998, and two more solo albums since that time. Yet until Raising Sand, his biggest commercial success came in releasing an EP of classic cover material under the name The Honeydrippers.

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Jones


John Paul Jones is now in one of the hottest and hardest rock bands, Them Crooked Vultures. The frontman, handling lead guitar and vocals, is Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters is on drums. As for Jones, he offers not only bass and keyboard but also mandolin, keytar, lap steel and whatever else is needed.

One album was released in November, and another is forthcoming. A tour of North America completed in November, and the band now heads to Europe in December and Australia in January.

- What's the latest on Them Crooked Vultures, the group featuring John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme?

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Jason Bonham


Jason Bonham, son of the late John "Bonzo" Bonham, does not take lightly the responsibility of carrying on his father's legacy. Having made a head start at drumming while he was a child, Jason is now passing on the same lessons to a third generation of Bonham drummers.

John Bonham's death in 1980 left such an impact on the surviving members of Led Zeppelin that they knew immediately they could not continue as they were. Yet Jason Bonham's familiarity with the band made him a shoe-in to join his father's bandmates on the few occasions reunion concerts have taken place.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Bonham's most successful album release to date, the Platinum-certified disc The Disregard of Timekeeping released by his band, Bonham. To mark the milestone, he recently toured with a new band and played under the banner of "An Evening with Jason Bonham."

In the past, Bonham has also toured and/or recorded with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Foreigner, UFO, Paul Rodgers, Joe Bonamassa, Virginia Wolf, Airrace, Healing Sixes and Motherland. He also acted in the movie Rock Star and appeared on the reality TV show "SuperGroup."

- What's the latest on Jason Bonham?

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