Jason Bonham

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Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Zep members promote bluegrass projects

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss recorded an appearance on the nationally syndicated public radio program "World Cafe." The singers recalled their meeting and detailed their favorite moments from their collaborative album, Raising Sand, in a segment with host and interviewer David Dye that aired Nov. 22. The appearance is archived online here.

Uncle Earl is scheduled to appear on the show Jan. 15 as part of a U.S. tour so far scheduled for the East Coast and Midwest. Their second album, released March 2007, was produced by John Paul Jones. He plays various instruments on four of the album tracks including in their latest video, and he has appeared onstage with Uncle Earl several times.

The group last week completed a tour of the United Kingdom. Jones attended both the first and last shows with his wife, Mo (Maureen), according to Uncle Earl's official newsletter:

Of all the 2 million people trying to get LED ZEPPELIN tickets right now, the really smart ones came out to see Uncle Earl on the first and last days of our tour. ;-) John Paul Jones & his wife Mo made it out to London & Bristol, which made us feel pretty special.
The same week as the Uncle Earl video featuring Jones makes its debut online, the bluegrass project engulfing Robert Plant is premiering on the Country Music Television network. The Bluegrass Blog reported that the video for "Gone, Gone, Gone" with Plant and Alison Krauss "is set to enter CMT in a medium-heavy rotation, with better than 20 airings weekly."

The Plant-Krauss video, which can be seen online here (and below), is slated to be included in the country channel's countdown program beginning Thursday, Nov. 29, according to a few blogs including Miranda Lambert's.



Clips of a prototype of the "Gone, Gone, Gone" video aired during the duo's "Today" show appearance on Oct. 24 and other televised interviews at the time. The video now online includes previously unaired scenes and represents a vast improvement over the prototype, containing some playful glances exchanged between the two singers.

"I've met my match with the American roots musicians I'm working with at the moment," Plant told the Observer in London, for a piece published Sunday, Nov. 11.

"My love for discovering new things is ceaseless, but I have missed white American roots music entirely," Plant continued. "I thought it was just guys in the hills singing black people's songs, and I was so wrong. This is a mountain song about a woman who goes off the rails, and he tells a tale, and he's got a way of singing that goes deep; you can hear the experience in his voice."

Plant even alluded to the related work of his fellow Led Zeppelin member. "I've been seeing more of John Paul Jones recently, who has been in Nashville, and I've been working with Alison Krauss and T-Bone Burnett, so the doors have been flung wide open," he said.

In an interview alongside Krauss for the December 2007 issue of Mojo magazine, Plant expounded on his earliest and more recent impressions of Nashville.

About the author

Steve "The Lemon" Sauer is a writer and musician based in Boca Raton, Fla., who has dedicated a portion of his life researching the history of rock group Led Zeppelin and monitoring the ongoing careers of the band's surviving members. Although he was barely a year old when Led Zeppelin broke up and it took him until his teen years to appreciate the music, it didn't take long to make up for it.

Steve is currently a contributing writer and consultant for Get the Led Out, a weekly syndicated radio program hosted by Carol Miller and syndicated in 100 U.S. markets including New York and Los Angeles. He also provides content for a Web site associated with the radio show, www.LedZepOnline.com.

In 2007, Steve launched Lemon Squeezings: Led Zeppelin News to cover the lead-up to the band's reunion concert at the end of that year. Since then, he has closely examined every rumor of a followup tour since then, often dispelling or clarifying misinformation perpetrated by the mainstream media. Using his journalistic training, Steve has also uncovered some facts and accounts previously unreported elsewhere.

At age 18, he began publishing On This Day In Led Zeppelin History, a daily newsletter detailing the interactions of members Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Bonham, John Paul Jones, and their manager, Peter Grant. The newsletter is located at www.OnThisDayInLedZeppelinHistory.com.

He enjoys uncovering stories and has employed various methods to communicate those stories to Led Zeppelin's vast fan base, utilizing terrestrial radio and the many facets of the Internet: from Usenet newsgroups to plain e-mail and now Facebook and Twitter. Steve also connects with live audiences when performing as a backup vocalist and keyboard player with various bands, including past onstage appearances with three cover or tribute acts performing the music of Led Zeppelin.

Do you have a news tip to share with Steve? Do you have something you would like him to write about? Would you like to book him for a speaking engagement? He can be contacted by e-mail at Steve at LedZeppelinNews.com.

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