U2 producer sneaks Robert Plant into L.A. studio for recording session

Robert Plant's presence in the Los Angeles area two months ago was apparently for more than just some sightseeing.

LedZeppelinNews.com has learned that the former Led Zeppelin frontman was also pulled into a recording session by famed producer Daniel Lanois, whose credits include some "unforgettable" U2 albums, a solo career and a current band project making waves in that area, Black Dub.

Update: Engineer Mark Howard has posted four photos of the recording sessions on MySpace, plus one of them all hanging out. Also pictured is Daryl Johnson, bassist for Black Dub.

Around early October, Plant and Lanois recorded some demos with Black Dub's lead vocalist, Trixie Whitley. At 22, she is a singer-songwriter who plays piano and drums. She has lived in New York and Belgium and has followings in both places.

Best of all, Whitley's Facebook page now confirms Plant as one of the musicians with whom she has worked, along with Vernon Reid, Me'Shell N'Degeocello and her late father, "Big Sky Country" singer Chris Whitley.



A session drummer involved in the recording says he isn't sure what plans Lanois and Plant may have in store. "I honestly don't have too much to say other than we're making some demos," Steven Nistor tells LedZeppelinNews.com.

Nistor is often the go-to guy for whatever drumming needs Lanois has. Among other things, he can be seen backing Lanois during an April 2008 appearance on "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson."

Robert Plant revisits Fate of Nations era with guitarist Francis Dunnery

Led Zeppelin fans have criticized Robert Plant for his willingness to sing Led Zeppelin songs during his concert appearances, particularly when new and foreign-sounding arrangements are applied. (Check out the comments section from this post two months ago or this one from only a few weeks ago for two examples.)

We'll see what the reaction is to this.

Last week, Plant dipped into his past but not Led Zeppelin's. He did this by sitting in with Francis Dunnery, who was one of Plant's guitarists on his 1993 solo album, Fate of Nations, and his subsequent tour.

Here's Dunnery, in a LedZeppelinNews.com interview conducted this year, on his work with Plant in the '90s:


Dunnery has been on a U.K. tour supporting his new 2-CD set, There’s a Whole New World Out There, which looks back on his own career by remaking several of the hits with which he's been affiliated -- one of those being Plant's own "Calling to You."

Most other songs on Dunnery's album are re-recordings of tracks he originally performed with his '80s band, It Bites. That band, incidentally, now exists in reunited form albeit without Dunnery, who was its original singer and lead guitarist, having replaced him with a fan.

Dunnery evidently has no problem performing those songs. As for his fans? They dig it! In Australia and New Zealand, for instance, Dunnery will be going on a house concert tour, and two of the shows are already sold out.

Back to my original point: Dunnery's onstage guest on Friday night the final show of his tour, at the Walls Restaurant in Oswestry, was Plant. They ran through a straightforward rendition of "Calling to You," as seen below.



Plant was all smiles as he heard Dunnery's band start up the song, especially when Brett Kull came in with a second guitar harmony that was on the original.

He commanded the first verse on his own, sounding just like he did 16 years ago, when that album was released. But when he missed the cue to enter for the second verse, everybody else who had a microphone stepped in and unfortunately started drowning out Plant.

At other times, it was clear Plant was looking to others for some help with the vocal cues -- and perhaps even the lyrics -- to a song whose arrangement really hadn't changed much. It was evident Plant was a little out of practice on the song, even though it was something he performed with the Strange Sensation as recently as in 2007.

As the song went on and there were no more cues to miss, Plant comfortably began adding vocals wherever possible including throughout instrumental sections.

Keyboardist Tom Brislin soloed, creating a synthesized approximation of Nigel Kennedy's violin on the original and "progging it up" a bit. The sound must have reminded Plant immediately of somebody like Keith Emerson or Patrick Moraz because he immediately misquoted a Yes lyric from "Roundabout," offering, "Mountains come out of the sea and just stand there."

Then, to Dunnery's apparent delight, Plant launched into an impromptu monologue on progressive rock artists he's known professionally, telling a joke about where one Jethro Tull drummer once shoved Ian Anderson's flute. Hmmmm.

On top of Dunnery's echoing guitar effect, Plant ended up vamping on a "When the Levee Breaks" reference, shortened to adapt to a 5/4 time signature: "Mean old levee taught me to weep, mean old levee taught me to weep ..." It sounded great!

So, let me ask all the Led Zeppelin fans out there who think Plant isn't allowed to sing Led Zeppelin songs anymore since he doesn't want to reunite Led Zeppelin a few questions, just to determine the guidelines of acceptability:

• Is Plant allowed to vamp on a Led Zeppelin lyric while he performs one of his solo songs?
• Is this particular lyric -- "mean old levee taught me to weep ..." -- OK for Plant to sing today since it was in a song by Memphis Minnie long before Plant appropriated it for a Led Zeppelin album?
• Is Plant not even allowed to sing a song from his own solo career anymore, since he obviously isn't in any hurry to reform his solo band lineups with Robbie Blunt, Phil Johnstone or Skin Tyson?
• Is it OK for Plant to team up onstage with Francis Dunnery, a guy who's performing songs from his former band at a time his former band replaced him because they wanted to reunite sooner than Dunnery was available?
• Are these questions more than a little bothersome? If so, then why insist on reverting to the crazy idea that Robert Plant must reunite Led Zeppelin out of a debt to any of the other surviving members?
  

Oh no, not again; music media really do want to predict a Led Zeppelin reunion eight months out

It was almost inevitable someone was going to read into Robert Plant's decidedly ambiguous and playful remarks on Monday and interpret them as a concrete indication that he was arranging a Led Zeppelin reunion concert.

And that chump was whoever at Contactmusic.com Ltd. dreamed up the laughably naïve headline, "LED ZEPPELIN - LED ZEPPELIN SET FOR GLASTONBURY 2010?"

Come on, give me a break!

The opening paragraph contains more like that:

"LED ZEPPELIN fans' dreams of seeing the rock supergroup back onstage together have been given a boost by confirmation frontman ROBERT PLANT is considering a slot at next year's (10) Glastonbury festival in England."

From there, however, the article transitions into a much more realistic assessment of the state of affairs. The second paragraph juxtaposes Led Zeppelin reunion rumors of a year ago with a statement that "the singer has since rejected all offers to hit the road with his old pals."

The third paragraph proves to be a little off the mark. It states:

"Last year (08), the rocker continually dismissed reports he'd be rejoining the band for a full reunion, prompting Page and Jones to consider touring without him. But those plans failed to materialise."

The statement here about what Plant did or didn't say "continually" throughout the whole of 2008 is a little misleading.

Plant may have been clear in some interviews about how much he disliked the idea of a lengthy Led Zeppelin reunion tour, but those comments did not necessarily reflect his opinions of a show here and there. It wasn't until nearly 10 months into the calendar year, as his touring commitments with Alison Krauss were winding down, that Plant produced his ultimate statement that he would not be going on tour with Led Zeppelin and not recording with them either.

That was his final word on the subject, he told us -- at least for the next two years.

So, by Plant's own words, sure, he could be making other plans for the end of 2010 that do involve Led Zeppelin. Could it somehow be that's exactly what he wants to lead the world to believe?

Or is that simply the action of a man who knows what effect his words will have? Did he want Contactmusic and others to jump at the opportunity to force his name back in the headlines at a time when all the Led Zeppelin-related news is coming from the supposedly "quiet one" and his "loud music"?

Surely, Plant's Glastonbury story got more mileage than did the context of Q magazine's Outstanding Contribution to Music award, which placed the microphones in front of his face in the first place. Maybe it was part of Plant's design to be a thunderthief to John Paul Jones on the day Them Crooked Vultures was releasing "New Fang" to radio stations and announcing further U.S. tour dates in light of a heavily anticipated album.

Plant's award didn't hold a candle to his summer trip to Buckingham Palace, where he received the rank of Commander of the British Empire at a Buckingham Palace. Everybody in England ran stories about that!

At least outside the royal residence, Plant had the dignity to mock reporters who dared ask him about the possibility of a Led Zeppelin reunion. "Sometimes I go a bit deaf in either ear, especially when people are talking nonsense," he was quoted as saying when the microphones were shoved in his face that time.

Right there, he said "nonsense."

Plant, facetiously as ever, did joke Monday about the idea of booking himself a solo spot on the Glastonbury stage. He said: "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm good at card tricks."

OK, so apparently, Plant has forgotten it is common practice for a solo artist to assemble a band for outings. What's that thing Plant's always insisting he is, over and above the singer in Led Zeppelin? Oh yeah, that's right, a solo artist. That's what.

Until he switches it up again.

Let's speculate just for a moment that Plant was meeting with Glastonbury's Michael Eavis about booking a Led Zeppelin appearance at the festival, which is set to conclude on June 27, 2010.

Go on and stick with me, baby.

If this were the case and Led Zeppelin was appearing, we would have been tipped off to the appearance eight months and a day before the festival's headlining act took to the stage.

That's just about how long Plant waited last year after the Led Zeppelin reunion at the O2 arena to announce he wasn't going to take part in any activity with that band again.

That's exactly what he's doing again!

If this really were the beginnings of a Led Zeppelin reunion, every indication is there would be no indication.

The people involved are the same people who kept their rehearsals and gig planning in mid 2007 a secret until it could be officially announced later in the year. They also kept word of last year's secret rehearsals that didn't involve Plant hidden from the mainstream media for the better part of a year. And the supergroup starring Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme was also the world's best kept secret for about as many months until it all started to unfold delicately, piece by considered piece.

There's no way word of a Led Zeppelin reunion would have leaked so callously this early on. Plant, in an attempt to cast the media spotlight on himself, merely played the ambiguity card to let people believe what they want to believe.

Plant is a magician for sure. Maybe he's not the kind that specializes in card tricks, but he really has a magical effect on some in the media and some of his fans.

But the only trick up his sleeve is the one that gets us to pay attention to artists like Buddy Miller.

Michael Moretti is a Led Zeppelin fan who contributes to the Internet discussion group For Badgeholders Only with a regularity that barely surpasses Jimmy Page's album output of the past 10 years.

When Moretti wrote this weekend, he referenced some of the songs Plant has covered and diverse artists he's named in interviews as influential and enjoyable to him. Moretti writes:

"... BECAUSE of Robert Plant, I pause to take notice of something like 'Darkness Darkness' by the Youngbloods, or 'Morning Dew,' or Transglobal Underground, or Moby Grape, or ... and the list goes on and on. This is something that the 'Led Zeppelin ripped off old blues artists and never gave them credit' crowd doesn't get.

"The legalities of royalties and songwriting credits aside, [it] seems to me that the members of Led Zeppelin have never tried to hide their influences, but in fact went out of their way to call attention to and pay homage to their influences, which has given me a greater appreciation for a whole universe of music that I otherwise might never have taken the time to listen to with open ears and an open mind.

"And while I have to say I don't regularly pop in Robert Johnson when I'm out cruising the freeway and aren't likely to anytime soon, I have a great appreciation for Robert Johnson and the art form his musical statements represent."

That, hands down, was the FBO post of the month.

Award-winning Plant eyes 2010 festival appearance -- with whom? Led Zeppelin reunion rumors to abound

Robert Plant, in picking up Q Magazine's Outstanding Contribution to Music award at a ceremony held today in London, joins the likes of past award recipients David Gilmour, Smokey Robinson and Paul Weller.

Onstage, when accepting the award, Plant thanked his fellow members of Led Zeppelin, among other artists including Elvis Presley and Alison Krauss. Plant said that without them, he would not be receiving this award today.

But the big news of the day regarding Plant is not his win at the Q Awards. It's what the singer told reporters when asked to comment on a rumor that he has been in talks with the organizer of one of England's largest outdoor summer music festivals.

And also how he said it, including what details he left out.

Plant confirmed to BBC 6 Music, "I've just been talking to Michael [Eavis]. There's place for me there [in the 2010 lineup], but I have no idea who with."

Tickets to the Glastonbury Festival, to be held June 23-27, are already sold out. Next year's event marks the 40th anniversary of the original Glastonbury festival.

Glastonbury has been a popular destination for Led Zeppelin reunion rumors in the past few years. In light of the band's one show together in December 2007, one rumor held that Led Zeppelin would appear at Glastonbury in June 2008. Plant ended up playing that year with Krauss in support of their album, Raising Sand.

Plant also appeared at the Glastonbury festival in 2002 with his band, the Strange Sensation, in support of his album Dreamland.

Surely, the new comments from Plant on Glastonbury will fuel a new spat of Led Zeppelin reunion rumors in some corners of the world.

The BBC reports:

The rock icon said he is open to the idea of playing next year: "There is a chance, yeah, but I don't know with who."

When it was suggested to him that he could do it by himself, he joked: "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm good at card tricks."

Let the speculation begin!

Sound team for Plant/Krauss tour wins award; Plant sits out as Rounder label honored

Congratulations go out to the people responsible for the sound on last year's Raising Sand tour by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss.

The sound team picked up the Outstanding Creative Achievement award for Tour Sound Production, presented by the Mix Foundation for Excellence in Audio at its 25th annual TEC Awards ceremony, held in New York on Saturday, Oct. 10.

LedZeppelinNews.com caught up with Plant's longtime sound engineer, Roy Williams, on tour last year.

Last October, T Bone Burnett won a TEC award for his production of Raising Sand, the Plant/Krauss album, and both singers were on hand to speak poetically in tribute to him. The situation one year later is different as a stalled project for a second Plant/Krauss album is in limbo, with Burnett's continued participation in it even in doubt and, now, Plant's relationship with the Rounder Records label possibly strained.

Hours ago, Krauss performed with her band, Union Station, at a Nashvile reception honoring Rounder's 40th anniversary. As The Tennessean recently reported), Rounder has been her label for almost a quarter of a century.

Nicole Keiper of The Tennessean reports in her Oct. 7 profile on Krauss that she and Plant "are in pre-production for a second set, Krauss says, but don't yet have a release timeframe."

So, not much has changed in the album's status -- or at least Krauss's terminology -- since she and Plant were in a studio together in January and Krauss insisted at the time that they were in "pre-production" for their Raising Sand follow-up.

Plant, who was spotted in California the past two weeks in a row, did not attend the Rounder reception.

By Friday night, he was back in England to attend a concert in Bristol by Egyptian percussionist Hossam Ramzy, who played on Unledded with Plant and Jimmy Page -- credit goes to Annie Hollinshead for the info about Plant's whereabouts on Oct. 9.

Isn't it odd for such a top-selling artist not to attend his own label's anniversary gala? It makes one question what the truth really is regarding their current work for Rounder.

Zeppelin members seek to improve medical treatments, research

Thirty-six hours remain in an online auction including items pertaining to Led Zeppelin. Bidding on the 12 Zeppelin-themed items ends at 10 p.m. Eastern on Thursday.

The auction, which was announced by the group's official Web site on Sept. 9, already stands to raise at least $3,555 ($3,747.68 CDN) for the Zeppelin-themed items alone.

Accounting for more than half of that figure is the most prized item, an official hardcover program from the band's 2007 reunion concert that is signed on the cover by Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones. Bidding on this item passed the $2,000 mark yesterday.

Surprisingly, only one bid has been placed for a three-inch projector reel containing three minutes of 8 mm footage shot at Led Zeppelin's concert at the Swing Auditorium in San Bernardino, Calif., on June 22, 1972. The high bid is currently a paltry $75.

Some stills from this silent color reel are shown here, and below the silent footage has been synchronized to an audio recording of the same performance.

Among the other auction items also available are live still photographs of the band, autographed fanzines and a book.

Proceeds are to benefit the Mount Sinai Hospital, Joseph and Wolf Lebovic Health Complex, located in Toronto: "Mount Sinai Hospital is an internationally recognized, 472-bed acute care academic health sciences centre affiliated with the University of Toronto. It is known for excellence in the provision of compassionate patient care, innovative education, and leading-edge research."

Check out the auction here.

In other Zeppelin-related healthcare news, Robert Plant was mentioned by Sky News in an article yesterday as one of several celebrities advocating for the availability of a cancer treatment called photodynamic therapy. The procedure uses a laser light to starve cancer cells of oxygen, thereby killing them as the body replaces the cells by generating non-cancerous cells.

Roger Daltrey is another musician whose name is touted in the article as supporting a charity simply called Killing Cancer, which champions photodynamic therapy, or PDT. The article quotes Plant as saying:

"It really is an injustice that this form of treatment is not available to everyone in the UK. I have friends currently receiving PDT, but only because we pushed to get it."

Currently, the use of PDT internationally is limited in scope to only certain kinds of cancers, namely esophageal cancer, non-small cell lung cancer, and pre-cancerous esophageal lesions. Research in PDT is currently aimed at expanding its use to treat cancers beyond these and eventually use the therapy to treat throat cancer, brain tumors, breast cancer, and other conditions including Staph infections.

Robert Plant performs second gig with Buddy Miller in San Francisco; circumstances may hint toward Plant's next project

Robert Plant was spotted by a photographer at a mall in Malibu, Calif., for this photo printed by British tabloid The Sun on Sept. 29. Yet four hundred miles from Malibu, Plant made his third and fourth onstage performances all year long in a single weekend. Both times, he played with Nashville session musician Buddy Miller over the weekend in San Francisco, including at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival yesterday.

The San Francisco Chronicle on Sept. 27 highlighted a complete lineup of performers who were scheduled to appear over three days at the free concert at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Almost prophetically, Robert Plant's name did appear in the middle of it all, though not as a scheduled performer.

Update: Footage from the show

He was mentioned only as someone with whom Miller, the expert sideman, has recently played. Other names touted in this capacity were John Fogerty, Alison Krauss and Emmylou Harris. Interestingly, though, the authors called Miller "a magnet for guests on his set."

During Miller's 11:45 a.m. set on the Towers of Gold stage, Plant was one of two special guests who appeared. He was brought in "to unleash his leather lung wail on the Hank Snow standard 'I'm Movin' On,'" according to Aidan Vaziri in the San Francisco Chronicle. There's also a remark attributed to Plant in the article: "This is like going to school for me."

As for Miller's other onstage guest during his festival set, Vaziri reports that Emmylou Harris, who later concluded the night with her own set, joined Miller in singing his "Wide River to Cross." Although Miller's tour dates don't reflect it on his own Web site, he'll be accompanying Harris on tour all this month, opening for her.

Plant had also performed in San Francisco on Friday night at a charity show where Miller performed as part of the backing band for Boz Scaggs. Twitter user Stax provided some information about this earlier appearance: "Plant sang several songs with Buddy's band and later sat in with Boz Scaggs and the Blue Velvet Band (with James Cotton). Plant was visibly excited to be sharing the stage with Cotton, singing Jimmy Reed's 'Baby what you want me to do.' To answer your question, yes, one of the songs Plant played with Buddy was 'What You Gonna Do, Leroy.'"

Last year, while Plant and Krauss began their world tour in support of their album Raising Sand, Miller was the capable guitarist at stage right for every show. He did not perform on their album, but Plant did appear on the disc released this March by Buddy and Julie Miller, Written in Chalk.

A year ago, Plant issued a statement saying he would not tour for two years and would not partake in any recording sessions with Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones or Jason Bonham. At the time, Led Zeppelin reunion rumors were widely reported in the press, even with one account claiming Plant had agreed to participate in a Zep reunion tour.

Progress on a follow-up album has been the subject of some confusion in recent months. In an interview published in the Sunday Express this August, Krauss was so unsure of how to describe their album because it evidently hadn't yet been recorded and the personnel hadn't yet been nailed down for sure. The Sunday Express's Charlotte Heathcote reported that Plant and Krauss hadn't "even decided whether they should ask influential producer T-Bone Burnett, who gave Raising Sand its stripped-back sound, back on board."

The only date currently on Krauss's official tour schedule is Oct. 12, when she and her band, Union Station, are to perform during the Rounder Records 40th Anniversary Celebration at the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville. There is no official word on whether Plant will be in Nashville to attend Rounder's celebration.

(Coincidentally, John Paul Jones is scheduled to appear in Nashville exactly one week earlier; he and Them Crooked Vultures are booked for a show at the War Memorial, the band's first show outside of Austin for this tour. From Nashville, the band heads directly to Columbus, Ohio, for a show the following night.)

Over the summer, Krauss and Union Station were recording a new album. A Rounder spokesperson confirmed to LedZeppelinNews.com in June that Krauss was planning to tour with Union Station in 2010.

Robert Plant to join Buddy Miller onstage in San Francisco tonight; John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham also gigging in U.S. this evening

Boz Scaggs is hosting the second of two charity gigs in San Francisco tonight, and word was released only hours in advance that Robert Plant would be making an appearance.

Plant will be sitting in on a song with Buddy Miller, a Nashville native and recent recipient of multiple Americana awards. Miller was part of the touring band that accompanied Plant and Alison Krauss worldwide last year.

Plant really seems to have caught the Buddy Miller bug. Last July, they recorded a track together backstage at one of their gigs. It appeared this March on Buddy's latest album with his wife, Julie Miller. But before that, on Sept. 18, 2008, Plant and Buddy Miller played their song together in front of an audience during their first onstage appearance without Krauss.

The only other times Plant has graced a stage this year were on April 25 at a Womad concert in Abu Dhabi and on Sept. 11 at a charity concert in London, both times with Justin Adams, formerly Plant's guitarist in the Strange Sensation, and Adams's latest touring companion, Gambian musician Juldeh Camara.

Buddy Miller has been doing a lot of things too. The poor guy, who had a heart attack last year, is said to be pulling long hours working every week and suffering from the affliction of not knowing how to say no to people.

But judging from the vacant touring schedule currently shown at www.buddyandjulie.com, he hasn't had anything scheduled since July. This may mean Miller's date book is wide open if Plant suggests they do something a little more permanent together than just tonight's one song at the charity gig.

The other possibility is that Miller simply hasn't gotten his scheduled gigs up on that site and he really is booked. For instance, in addition to assisting Boz Scaggs this week, he's booked to appear at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival tomorrow. There, just as tonight and last night, Miller's part of Boz Scaggs & the Blue Velvet Band, which also features blues harmonica player James Cotton among others. They play at the Rooster Stage at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, and the festival is a free three-day concert at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Who knows if Plant may show up there too!

Plant's impromptu appearance in San Francisco tonight could not have come on a more interesting night, which is also seeing Jason Bonham at the Mirage in Las Vegas with Slash and Friends, plus John Paul Jones playing twice in one day at the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas: first with Sara Watkins (as confirmed by LedZeppelinNews.com in advance of the set) and second with Them Crooked Vultures. I have been following all three of these events on Twitter tonight.

Robert Plant-affiliated record label wins award

Congratulations to Kevyn Gammond and the record label he founded, Mighty Atom Smasher, on receiving an award last night in London. The Kidderminster College-based M.A.S. Records, of which Robert Plant is a patron, has brought home the Access to Music award as presented by Rockschool. The record label was set up to support young acts in the local area.

Gammond was often known under the name Carlisle Egypt during his career as a guitarist, particularly during the days he and Plant were bandmates, first as members of the Band of Joy, which also featured John Bonham, prior to the formation of Led Zeppelin. Prior to his founding of the record label, the Kidderminster College lecturer again teamed up with Plant in 1999 and 2000 for a covers act that played a limited run of low-key concerts under the name Priory of Brion.

Buddy Miller, John Fogerty honored at Americana Music Awards

A CD that Robert Plant appears on was named Album of the Year at the 2009 Americana Music Awards ceremony last night.

Multi-instrumentalist and singer Buddy Miller won the Artist of the Year category, while he and his wife Julie Miller picked up Duo/Group of the Year, the category Plant and Alison Krauss claimed a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Buddy and Julie Miller album Written in Chalk received last night's top honor in the Americana Music Association's annual awards ceremony held last night at the Sommet Center in Nashville.

Plant duets with Buddy Miller on one track on that album, "What You Gonna Do Leroy." Also playing lap steel on the track is Gurf Morlix, who was awarded Instrumentalist of the Year.

It was the first time since 2006 that somebody other than Buddy Miller won in that category.

It was another one of Miller's duets on Written in Chalk, with Patty Griffin on the song called "Chalk," that took home Song of the Year. The song was written by Julie Miller.

The Americana Music Association also presented a lifetime achievement award to American rocker John Fogerty. The former Creedence Clearwater Revival singer was on hand to receive the award, one day after performing a surprise set at Nashville's Mercy Lounge.

Miller is among the musicians on Fogerty's latest solo offering, The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again. It is the follow-up to a disc of his in 1972.

Plant was not known to be in attendance last night, although it is possible he will rear his head in Nashville again next month as his current record label, Rounder, prepares an evening celebration in honor of the label's 40th anniversary.

Krauss is scheduled to perform with her band, Union Station, at an Oct. 12 event, to be held at the Grand Ole Opry House. The show is to be filmed for an upcoming PBS television special.

As for a second album with Plant and Krauss, it has previously been reported that progress in pre-production this January was sidetracked prior to their Grammy sweep in February.

While Plant was spotted in Nashville midway through the year, a source familiar with behind-the-scenes operations indicated to LedZeppelinNews.com midway through the year that, on one hand, Krauss had "declared a moratorium on all work for 12-18 months with Robert because she wants to do an album and extended tour with Union Station." On the other hand, the source said, Plant was left "frustrated" as he "wants to finish the thing off and be done with it."

The last time Krauss is known to have publicly addressed any further collaboration with Plant came this July, when she commented to the U.K. Telegraph that their second album would "be different, as if we hadn't made the first." The writer of that article said Plant and Krauss had only "listening meetings about potential material" pertaining to their next musical project together.

Robert Plant's O2 Rockwell set consists of two reworked Led Zeppelin numbers

No "unique collaborations" of note by Robert Plant onstage at the O2 arena in London tonight, but his solo set at the Rockwell charity gig was comprised of a pair of Led Zeppelin songs.

Twitter users said Plant's awesome set brought the house down with African-style renditions of the classics "Black Dog" and "Whole Lotta Love."

Between the two was another song, a similarly reworked version of the blues tune "Funny in My Mind (I Believe I'm Fixin' to Die)" Plant included on his 2002 album Dreamland. For this version, the singer pulled out a harmonica and took a solo between verses.

Onstage with Plant for his set was Justin Adams, a member of the Strange Sensation lineup that contributed to Dreamland and its 2005 followup, Mighty ReArranger.

Among the musicians with them onstage was Juldeh Camara, a Gambian instrumentalist and vocalist who released an album called Soul Science with Adams this May.

Camara and Adams have been touring far reaches of the world this year in support of their disc, and in April their headlining set at the WOMAD music festival in Abu Dhabi was boosted by a special guest appearance from Plant.

Singer Beverley Knight wrote on Twitter during the O2 Rockwell show, "Robert Plant is a total legend! My GOD, awesome. Xxxxxx." Afterward, she had her photo taken backstage with Plant, as seen at right. This prompted her to comment, "OMG! Me and the (wolves) legend Robert Plant!!!!"

Among entries from the LedZeppelinNews Twitter feed during the concert:

• RT @MikeSouthon Robert Plant doing a folk/african version of 'Black Dog'
• RT @MikeSouthon Robert Plant doing 'Whole Lotta Love, with his cracking folk/african band. bliss!
• RT @RyanQuadri Robert Plant's on!!! F***ing cool!!! Two Led Zeppelin classics including 'Whole Lotta Love' playing now!
• RT @andylopata Sanity restored thanks to Mr Plant and a whole lotta love!
• RT @paul_hide What a whole lotta love, Robert Plant brings the house down. Rockwell O2
• RT @pauldoussay ROBERT PLANT JUST PERFORMED WHOLE LOTTA LOVE :-D

Update: And now the first YouTube videos arrive!

Trying to predict the unpredictable

After one of my pen pals asked me what songs I thought Robert Plant would perform at the O2 arena charity gig on Friday, I gave it some thought and came up with some guesses.

For one thing, I bet there is tremendous pressure for Robert Plant to perform Led Zeppelin songs. I can imagine the other performers wanting to sing them as duets with him, particularly with this recent trend of talent show sex symbols Leona Lewis and Adam Lambert remaking "Whole Lotta Love." It's time for Plant to reclaim the song -- and perhaps lend a little of it to elder sex symbol Tom Jones.

Plant has a history of granting people's wishes when it comes to dueting on Zeppelin material. The precedent was set on Led Zeppelin's untitled fourth album when he shared vocal duties with Sandy Denny. While they didn't know it at the time, the song was tailor-made for Plant's future vocal collaboration with Alison Krauss, and Plant's also kept the song in the Fairport Convention family by performing it at last year's Cropredy Festival with another young talent, Kristina Donahue.

We could look also to Plant's studio remake of "Down by the Seaside" with Tori Amos, or his onstage run-through of "Fool in the Rain" with Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam, or those live versions of songs like "Hey Hey What Can I Do," "Black Country Woman" and "When the Levee Breaks" also with Krauss. Perhaps an arrangement of "Fool in the Rain" with Plant sharing the vocal duties with Joss Stone wouldn't be entirely out of question.

There are plenty of examples of Plant sharing the spotlight with the likes of vocalists Ian Hunter, Kevin Scott MacMichael, Buddy Miller, Juldeh Camara and Scott Matthews. But with all of those cases, it wasn't on Zeppelin material. We shouldn't overlook the possibility of Plant dipping into his own catalog of solo material -- like "In the Mood," "29 Palms" and "Win My Train Fare Home," all solo tunes he attempted on the road as duets in recent months. But substantial evidence suggests Plant would try out some cover songs; he's certainly done that once or twice before.

So, instead of "Whole Lotta Love," Plant's sharing of the stage with Tom Jones could well result in a duet version of "Kiss" by Prince, for instance. I could also see him helping Lulu tackle "Morning Dew," a Bonnie Dobson song both singers have released as a single.

Consider that Plant is one who has often nodded to his lyrical influences by reverting to the original in concert. With Led Zeppelin, he sang "How Many More Times," whereas with the Honeydrippers he sang "How Many More Years" by Howlin' Wolf; with Led Zeppelin, he sang "Communication Breakdown," whereas last year saw Plant crooning Eddie Cochran's "Nervous Breakdown."

So, Plant's about due to acknowledge "Never," the bluesy number by Moby Grape with some lyrical sentiments he ended up echoing in "Since I've Been Loving You" on Led Zeppelin III. He has long expressed his reverence for Moby Grape's music, and he's covered a lot of their songs live and in the studio, but never "Never." Will he someday? Never say never! Watch for Plant and Joss Stone might to settle in on a soulful rendition of it tomorrow.

But, that all being said, these "Leducated" guesses are based on what's characteristic about Plant. As we know, he's also often an unpredictable guy. This is, after all, the dude who turned up on harmonica on Primal Scream's studio take of "The Lord is My Shotgun" only because he offhandedly told one band member, while they were out having a drink, that he would show up and do it the next day. Not to be disingenuous, but who would have taken Plant at his word?

So, my final answer is Plant will sing "Let's Have a Party" with the Hot Rats and "Stairway to Heaven" with Razorlight.

Zep members benefit charity front

News today from Led Zeppelin headquarters as all three surviving members have donated an assortment of band memorabilia to a charity auction benefiting Toronto's Mount Sinai Hospital.

Jimmy Page, John Paul Jones and Robert Plant have joined other people close to the band in donating an array of books, photographs, and even two autographed Electric Magic fanzines, to be auctioned off for the hospital's benefit.

Of the items related to Led Zeppelin, the highest valued one is a concert program from the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert, held in December 2007 at the O2 arena. (The event, of course, became more famous for its headlining act, the reunited Led Zeppelin with Jason Bonham on drums in place of his father.) Now bearing autographs by Page, Plant and Jones, this hardcover concert program, shown at right, carries an estimated value determined to be approximately $500.

The auction also includes:

• live still photographs of the band in concert in 1973, 1975 and 1977;
• an 8 mm film reel of footage shot from the front row of a Led Zeppelin concert in 1972;
• a photo of John Paul Jones playing the bass at the Knebworth festival in 1979, autographed by the man himself; and
• a rare promotional 12-page promotional book published by Atlantic Records in 1997, which highlighted the upcoming release of the Led Zeppelin album BBC Sessions.

In addition:

• Jason Bonham has autographed an issue of the fanzine Electric Magic from 1991 with his image on the cover; that's being auctioned.
• Page has done the same to another 1991 edition of Electric Magic bearing his image on the cover.
• Sam Rapallo, the author of those Electric Magic fanzines, has also signed a copy of his book, "Led Zeppelin: The Montreux Concerts," along with coauthor Gilles Chateau; that's being auctioned.
• There's also a rare photo collection by Mick Bonham, brother of the late Led Zeppelin drummer, titled "Bonham by Bonham," which was released posthumously in a limited and numbered set.
• Finally, there is a Robert Plant/Alison Krauss Raising Sand CD that is autographed on the cover by Plant.
  

Bidding for the Led Zeppelin-related items closes on Oct. 8 at 10 p.m. Eastern.

The announcement of these auction items comes 48 hours before Plant, who recently turned 61, is to take the stage at the O2 arena for the first time since the Led Zeppelin reunion. He's billed to appear at the star-studded Rockwell fundraiser.

The Rockwell lineup -- which also includes Tom Jones, Lulu, David Gray, Razorlight and Joss Stone, among others -- promises "unique collaborations." However, from an announcement of the full line-up, it does not appear Plant will be pairing up with any other acts on the bill. That doesn't mean he won't surprise us!

Proceeds from this concert on Friday are to benefit Nordoff-Robbins, a U.K. charity that uses music therapy techniques as a means to improve the quality of life for people living with various illnesses and conditions.

Alison Krauss says her second album with Robert Plant is to 'be different, as if we hadn't made the first'

It's been half a year since Alison Krauss and Robert Plant are known to have made any progress on a follow-up album to their successful and Grammy-winning Raising Sand album.

The female half of that collaboration is now busy with some of her own projects apart from Plant. Over the past few days, she's been recording a new album with her band Union Station, and she appeared with that group and Brad Paisley at the White House last night as President Obama saluted country music. She also has a new collection coming out for the British market, The Essential Alison Krauss.

Aside from all of this, she is also now talking once again about her upcoming work with Plant. In what is so far the most telling statement made of their sophomore album, Krauss tells the Telegraph, "It'll be different, as if we hadn't made the first."

"I love being in the world of the unknown," she also says.

Paul Sexton writes that the two have had "listening meetings about potential material."

In January, two weeks before picking up an onslaught of awards at the Grammys, they made their presence in a Nashville studio known in an interview on British radio, during which Krauss said they were "in pre-production."

Nile Rodgers reflects on Tony Thompson guest spot at Live Aid

Today's the 24th anniversary of Live Aid, and Nile Rodgers has just shared with me a short reflection on the lineup his late former bandmate in Chic, Tony Thompson, started that day.

As we know, Thompson sat in with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and John Paul Jones. As we also know, they had little time for rehearsals before the show, and Page in fact amped up his guitar for the prime time set without even having it tuned first. Not to mention, the four were joined on a second drum set by Phil Collins and also by Paul Martinez, who was Plant's bass player at the time.

Take out those extra superfluous people, and you have yourself a fourpiece lineup that may have very well been the next coming of Led Zeppelin the following year. Rolling Stone broke the story in 1986 that Page, Plant and Jones were rehearsing with Thompson. The former Led Zeppelin members, with their past experiences, viewed it as a bad omen and too much like events of the dark past when Thompson was injured in a car crash during their rehearsal stage, and the lineup retired before anything came off the ground.

Just the fact that they attempted anything like this in 1986 shows there must have been some magic present among the four of them. Guitarist Nile Rodgers was already close to the Zeppelin boys, having been a part of the production team behind The Honeydrippers EP with Plant and that also included Page. Now with ample time to reflect over the nearly two-and-a-half decades that have elapsed since Live Aid, Rodgers spoke to me today, offering the following words about the brief chance Led Zeppelin had to fly again with his close friend and colleague, Tony Thompson, on drums.

Rodgers says:

To see Tony Thompson playing at Live Aid with one of my favorite groups of all time, Led Zeppelin, was a dream come true. I know he had to struggle through the gig because of the near fatal accident he had suffered, but like the troopers all CHIC alumni are, he hit the skins as hard as his body could deliver. It brought tears to my eyes. I love and miss him. How great is music? Who'd believe some unknown black guys from NYC could wind up being life long friends with arguably the greatest Rock band ever (in my humble opinion).

I'm a permanent member of the Honeydrippers with Robert Plant, and we speak on a semi regular basis. I respect Jimmy, John Paul Jones (the unsung hero of the band), and Little Jason Bonham stepped up to deliver the goods at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute in London after his death. Tony Thompson was one of the greatest drummers ever, and that night was history.

Robert Plant speaks upon presentation of British rank

Robert Plant was mellowing by the time he told Buckingham Palace he would accept the presentation of a British rank. A report by the Press Association today opens, "Robert Plant has admitted he's less rock'n'roll these days." Yeesh!

In March 2005, the singer declined a royal invitation to meet the Queen at a reception honoring famous British musicians. His former bandmate, Jimmy Page, was there, along with Brian May of Queen and Eric Clapton of, well, almost everything. The reception's hilarious news angle at the time presented itself when the Queen kept insisting on asking questions like, "And how long have you been playing guitar, Mr. Clapton?"

Plant told New York DJ Carol Miller that he skipped out on the reception to watch a football match.

But he hasn't completely lost his edge over the past few years, despite today showing up at Buckingham Palace and being photographed with the ornament that officially makes him a Commander of the British Empire, or CBE. He insisted to reporters that this didn't make him part of "the establishment." The Telegraph reported him saying, "The diversity of people who have moved through here this morning prove there is no real establishment here."

Plant still got off at least one jab at Prince Charles, referring to their first meeting, in which Charles ogled Plant's then-wife Maureen and commented to the singer, "Remarkable voice. Do you gargle with port?"

Reporters also took the occasion to seize upon Plant for comments about whether he would sing again for Led Zeppelin. (You have to ask that every time you see him or else you might miss that complete 360 he makes every decade or so.)

Apparently, Plant's initial response to the question centered either on his own physical condition or a backhanded jab at others: "Sometimes I go a bit deaf in either ear, especially when people are talking nonsense."

He added that he and his former bandmates still get along: "If we can remember each other's phone number at this time in life it's a miracle. We're still good friends, we both enjoy a rather dark sense of humour that comes I think from being from rather the wrong side of the tracks for all those wild years."

Both the Press Association and the Telegraph were keen on reporting one offhand remark Plant made. The Press Association article reported that "he and former Zeppelin band-mate Jimmy Page - who has an OBE - would not be fighting over rank."

Let the record show that the British Empire rank Plant received today is higher than the one awarded to Page on Dec. 14, 2005.

Robert Plant in and out of Nashville

Robert Plant was in Nashville briefly over the weekend, sources have confirmed. One LedZeppelinNews.com reader tipped me off to the singer's whereabouts on Saturday. Plant witnessed the banjo-plucking debut of comedian Steve Martin on the stage of the Grand Ole Opry. The informant said he was in and out of town rather quickly.

That account has been bolstered now by WKRN MusicCityTV's report on Plant's Friday night whereabouts -- wearing bright red shoes while dancing with Alison Krauss at a Presbyterian church -- and his quick exit from town Monday morning.

In January, Plant and Krauss were in pre-production for a second album together, although plans to complete the project have been sidetracked for the time being. In July, Krauss will be recording a new album with Union Station, a spokesperson for her record label, Rounder Records, confirmed today. The spokesperson added there are no plans for Union Station to tour this year, which means a tour in 2010 in support of the album would be likely.

On one hand, that could leave time for Krauss to work with Plant and finish work on their sophomore release; however, my source indicates that "Alison has declared a moratorium on all work for 12-18 months with Robert because she wants to do an album and extended tour with Union Station." In the meantime, the source says, this situation has left Plant "frustrated" because he "wants to finish the thing off and be done with it."

As for what this portends for Led Zeppelin fans hoping to see the surviving members reunited once again, perhaps there is still yet hope. One observer has theorized, "By the time [Alison] works [Robert] over, he will crawl back to Jimmy Page." True, you can almost always predict how Page would react if Plant suddenly said he was in favor of some further Led Zeppelin activity.

Finally, portions of a Levon Helm concert from last September, which saw Plant and Krauss perform as special guests onstage at the Ryman Audiotorium in Nashville, are set to air June 14 on Nashville Public Television.

In L.A. for Jimmy Page's movie? Why not pick up John Bonham's gong too!

As of this morning, tickets are currently on sale for films associated with the Los Angeles Film Festival, including for two theater presentations of "It Might Get Loud," starring Jimmy Page along with Jack White and The Edge.

It's only $12 a pop to see the three guitarists rock out "In My Time of Dying" together on the big screen, so you'll have some money left to burn, right?

OK, I'm broke too. But still.

Why not pick up some authentic John Bonham percussion just a traffic jam away?

Bonzo's gong will be up for auction on Sunday, June 14, just in time for the L.A. festival's premiere of "It Might Get Loud" on the 19th.

Yep, it's John Bonham's original gong, as seen in concert. It was made by made by Paiste, but instead of featuring the drum company's logo, it instead depicts a pair of Chinese letters.

James Cartledge reports in the Birminghm Mail that the gong was contributed to the auction by none other than the drummer's younger sister, singer and Atco recording artist Deborah Bonham.

The auction house says the gong's final price will range between $80,000 and $120,000.

Now I know I can't afford it!

That is, not so soon after I just dropped $30,000 for Jimmy Page's stage-used 1971 200-watt Orange MATAMP.

Just kidding, I wasn't the winning buyer on the eBay auction. The buyer's identity was withheld.

Anyway, Bonham's gong is one lot in the Entertainment Memorabilia auction. Advance viewings are being held June 12 and 13, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., at the Bonhams and Butterfields Offices at 7601 W. Sunset Blvd., Los Angeles.

If you're nearby, you ought to check it out.

Oh, and here's something else to look at if you happen to find yourself in the L.A. area with a craving for anything connected to Led Zeppelin.

And I do mean anything.

The photographer behind some candid shots of Robert Plant sporting a Speedo in 1978 is showing that series of photos, and many others, in Los Angeles right now.

Nicholas White of the L.A. Times reports that California-based paparazzo Brad Elterman has an ongoing exhibit of his unauthorized shots of Michael Jackson, Phil Spector, Duran Duran, Joan Jett and more, right on through July 23 in Venice, Calif.

But the ones Elterman took of Robert Plant in 1978 take the cake. The Times article explains:

Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was playing a game of soccer, wearing a blue Speedo. In the pictures, Plant is angrily pointing his finger toward the camera, shouting.

According to Elterman, after he took the pictures, Plant approached the teen, took his business card and told him that he would never take a picture of the rock star again.

"For a couple days I was scared," Elterman says. "[I heard] that a few days [later] he kind of laughed it off. But I wanted to make this picture. That's the risk you have to make. If you didn't, it would be gone."

So, there's lots to see out west, if you're so endowed.

Endowed? I meant inclined.

Robert Plant spotted in crowd watching Scott Matthews

Robert Plant was spotted among Scott Matthews fans who turned up to see the singer-songwriter's sold-out tour opener, at the Glee Club in Birmingham, England, on May 19.

Matthews, who opened for Plant and Alison Krauss last year on their tour of Europe, dropped his latest album, Elsewhere, in the U.K. on Monday, with a single called "Fractured." The album has a U.S. release date of June 2.

As mentioned here months ago, Plant guests on one album track, "12 Harps," which bears a resemblance to the Simon and Garfunkel take on "Scarborough Fair."

Plant did not sit in at the Birmingham concert, which Rita Maman of the Express and Star reports was a gesture "allowing the singer songwriter to enjoy his deserved place in the spotlight alone."

Midlands entertainment reporter Dave Freak, however, couldn't resist typing up a lot about Plant's guest vocal on the album. He writes:

... album highlight "12 Harps," featuring a guest appearance by Robert Plant, is a drifting slice of gentle psychedelic British folk-rock.

"We sent Robert the track as he was rehearsing in Texas. He got back and said he was really up for it, and two months later we got him into the studio. It really worked, singing together in the same room. We sat in the studio, jamming, and that made me more relaxed, it was like karaoke," Matthews laughs.

"We got the song together in two hours. We kept one of the early takes, to get that spontaneous thing. I think it’ll be a track that'll appeal to a lot of people. It’s very much in the Led Zep mold. I still shake my head when I hear it. How did I pull that off?"

It's a subtle performance from Plant, currently in the throes of a creative renaissance since 2005’s Mighty ReArranger, 2007’s lauded Raising Sand, with Alison Krauss, and Led Zeppelin’s all too brief reunion.

"One thing that struck me about Robert's voice is how natural it is. He doesn't explore the high register anymore, I was interested in the baritone of it, that Johnny Cash resonance. I worked with that softer element of my voice too, and the two tones work together, that's why the song is so good," Matthews says.

The Led Zepper was an early fan of the songwriter after [producer Gavin] Monaghan invited Plant to his studio to hear a few tracks. The singer was so impressed with Matthews that he insisted he open the European leg of his Raising Sand tour with Krauss.

"I started shaking when he asked me, personally," Matthews recalls of an impromptu phone call. "Me? Supporting my idol? He's such a down to earth guy, which speaks volumes about him personally. He makes you feel welcome. And he's one of the best singers around – no-one is better than him. When you hear Led Zep I, II and III, the raw energy in his voice is frightening."

Elsewhere is the second new disc this year to feature guest vocals from Robert Plant. He also sings with Buddy Miller on one track gracing the album Written in Chalk by Buddy and his wife Judy Miller.

Robert Plant's Womad finale

See http://www.thenational.ae/article/20090426/NATIONAL/704259836/1001 for a report on Robert Plant's gig last night in Abu Dhabi with Justin Adams and Juldeh Camara.

This morning, I think I heard Robert Plant's name on the Speed network's coverage of the Formula 1 race in Bahrain. I know the announcer said Eric Clapton was there, but I think he said Robert Plant was too. Their fellow countryman won the race.