Plant, Krauss to play at June's Bonnaroo Festival

As a lineup of acts performing at this June's Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Tennessee is being unveiled, it is confirmed that Robert Plant will perform with his current touring partner, Alison Krauss, in a lineup featuring T-Bone Burnett.

While the past months' rumors of a Led Zeppelin appearance at the festival are being quashed, media sources including the Associated Press and the United Kingdom's Telegraph have mistakenly reported Led Zeppelin was reuniting for Bonnaroo. The Chicago Sun-Times and Telegraph ran corrections after their mistaken pronouncements of a Led Zeppelin set at the festival.

Plant and Krauss, who are listed fifth on the bill currently featured on the front page of Bonnaroo's Web site, are scheduled to perform on June 15, the last day of the four-day festival set to take place in Manchester, Tenn.

Headlining acts topping the bill are rock groups Pearl Jam and Metallica and solo performers Jack Johnson and Kanye West. The all-female tribute act Lez Zeppelin is also scheduled to perform at the annual festival, a fact that seems to be the source of some media outlets' confusion.

Last year's lineup included a one-off onstage collaboration that teamed John Paul Jones with Ben Harper and ?uestlove to play a set of Led Zeppelin numbers. Jones also sat in with various bluegrass acts, including the female string band Uncle Earl, on multiple stages.

One member of Uncle Earl, Abigail Washburn, is slated to appear with her side project, the Sparrow Quartet. This musical project features the highly regarded performer Bela Fleck.

In turn, Fleck is listed among performers taking part in a collaborative act billed as the Bluegrass Allstars. In this act, Fleck is to be joined by such performers as Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton. Also listed on the bill is "a very special acoustic performance by Larry Campbell, Jackie Greene, Phil Lesh & Teresa Williams."

Theoretically, the presence of such renowned performers, including Plant and Krauss, could be a draw for Jones, who has not been announced as a performer.

Plant and Krauss are scheduled to embark on a transcontinental tour of the United States, opening April 19 with the first of two shows in Louisville, Ky., and continuing with previously announced dates and also an April 25 performance at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

A leg of their tour is to take place throughout mainland Europe and the United Kingdom, followed by the Bonnaroo Festival and other June and July U.S. shows yet to be announced.

Uncle Earl tours middle America; Plant, Krauss show to air in February

The all-girl string band whose album received the production treatment from John Paul Jones is back on tour in the United States. With a live appearance tomorrow at the World Cafe Live in Philadelphia, Uncle Earl launches a brief tour of the Mid-Atlantic and Midwest in support of the album Waterloo, Tennessee.

Following a slightly more comprehensive U.S. tour that ended last October, the group crossed the Atlantic Ocean in November to play its first-ever concerts in England. The four members -- Abigail Washburn, Kristin Andreassen, KC Groves and Rayna Gellert -- also attended Led Zeppelin's Dec. 10 concert in London as guests of Jones.

Uncle Earl's tour continues this week with Tuesday night in Annapolis, Md.; in Harrisburg, Pa., on Thursday; and in Goshen, Ind., on Saturday. Next week starts off with a three-night concert stand in Green Bay, Wis., on Jan. 20-22, before Uncle Earl heads to Chicago for a Jan. 23 show; Danville, Ind., for a Jan. 24 performance; and finally Hamilton, Ohio, for the closing gig on Jan. 25.

In other Led Zeppelin-related news, last year's only live appearance by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss is now scheduled to be televised on Feb. 11. A press release issued today is the first to identify the premiere broadcast of the singing duo's concert, which took place Oct. 18 in front of a studio audience outside Nashville, Tenn.

Airing on the cable network Country Music Television, episodes of the program "CMT Crossroads" match popular country artists with performers representing another musical genre. Past episodes paired Ray Charles with Travis Tritt, John Fogerty with Keith Urban, Kid Rock with Hank Williams Jr., and Elvis Costello with Lucinda Williams.

It is expected that Plant and Krauss will soon announce the dates of a U.S. tour in support of last October's release, Raising Sand. December saw them announcing an 11-show tour of the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, scheduled to take place over the course of 15 days this May.

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss share the same label, Rounder Records, as Uncle Earl.

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.

John Paul Jones cameos in Uncle Earl music video

John Paul Jones makes a cameo appearance in a new video by old-time string band Uncle Earl. The video, shown below, is for the song "Streak O' Lean, Streak O' Fat," a track from the album Jones produced.



Jones, who made his acting debut in Led Zeppelin's The Song Remains the Same in 1976, stars with confidence in the role of the piano player. It is a part for which he is well suited because he actually did supply piano to the track, released on the album Waterloo, Tennessee, in March.

"The one thing I can say about John Paul is that he might be the one other guy who is in love with the Uncle g'Earls as much as I am," video director Tom Krueger tells LedZeppelinNews.com. "The reason he's smiling so much in the video is cause they were all right over my shoulder dancing just for him."

Jones is also credited with some back-up hollering on the track, which features the lead vocals of Uncle Earl's Abigail Washburn. The lyrics, which she supplied along with Jon Campbell, are sung in Chinese and describe eating braised fatty meat, excessively drinking liquor, and dancing.

Washburn explains the story behind the song's recording in the album's liner notes. "Before we knew what was happening, the g'Earls were sitting in a circle in the recording studio, busting down on the tune with JPJ on piano, and I was yelling lines out in Chinese," she writes.

"Although the reference may seem obscure to some, hongshao rou happens to be known as Mao Zedon's favorite dish from his home province of Hunan," continues Washburn. "Really it's composed of a small streak o' lean meat with a big hunk of fat, and it freaks out the foreigners when it lands on the dinner table."

In the video, Jones gets into his piano playing with his right foot propped up on the piano bench. A downward shot reveals that the Led Zeppelin member was wearing open-toed shoes.

"Oh, and he doesn't normally wear those kind of sandals," said Krueger, "but since we were in a Chinese restaurant we thought it went better and he just sighed and slipped 'em on."

Led Zeppelin hits media circuit

Interviews with the members of Led Zeppelin are popping up everywhere. A chat with Jimmy Page is included in the December issue of Classic Rock magazine hitting newsstands today, and Robert Plant and John Paul Jones are making media appearances tonight.

The magazine cover is made to look like the cover of Led Zeppelin III. The first installment in a two-part interview with Page is just one part of this special collector's edition, much of which is devoted to Led Zeppelin.

In the United Kingdom, Jones appeared on the BBC Radio 2 program hosted by Mark Radcliffe and Stuart Maconie. He discussed the Mothership release and the upcoming Led Zeppelin reunion concert.

The hosts played "Black Dog" and "Trampled Under Foot" from Mothership, as well as "The Last Goodbye" from the album he produced for Uncle Earl. That four-piece old-time string band is currently on tour in England.

Plant will surely face a question or two about Led Zeppelin while guesting on tonight's episode of PBS television's "Charlie Rose." [Update: No Zep-related questions were asked! See TV spot here.] However, the singer is being interviewed alongside Alison Krauss and producer T-Bone Burnett; the three are promoting the recent release of their album, Raising Sand.

This issue of Classic Rock magazine "comes encased in an exclusive wallet that apes the design of the Zep III album," according to the magazine's official Web site. "What’s more, our wallet was designed by none other than the mysterious and enigmatic Zacron – the reclusive artist who actually created the original Zep III sleeve way, way back in 1970!"

The magazine also includes a feature on Zacron and an interview with former Atlantic Records executive Phil Carson, as well as features on the band's March 1969 Supershow appearance and on Page as a producer, or "Rock's Sonic Architect."

Several famous musicians also comment on Led Zeppelin's reunion in the new issue. The magazine carries quotations from "Slash, Roger Daltrey, Ian Anderson, Tony Iommi, Neal Schon, Steven Tyler, Nancy Wilson, Kid Rock, Dave Mustaine, Ace Frehley, Billy Gibbons and many more" including Ritchie Blackmore.

Led Zeppelin will also be the cover story of the Holiday 2007 issue of Guitar World magazine. Also available as a special collector's issue, it will feature two separate covers – one with a blue background and the other with a white background.

The Guitar World covers, each bearing a new photo of Page holding a guitar, promise Page's "most in-depth interview ever" as well as features on "the historic reunion tour," "his new custom Les Paul guitar," and "On the Road with Zep in '73."

Both shots of Page for Guitar World were taken by photographer Ross Halfin.

Uncle Earl, John Paul Jones protegees, enthusiastic in Virginia

Uncle Earl put on a great performance Sunday at the Birchmere in Alexandria, Va., a place they proclaimed as one of their favorite venues in the country. It's a place they attested they wouldn't miss their show, no matter how much trouble they had getting there, as they hilariously described for the audience between songs.

The all-female string band's set list was comprised of songs from the members' side projects and their two collaborative albums, the second of which was produced by John Paul Jones and also includes the Led Zeppelin musician on mandola, bass, piano, Papoose, wobbleboard, and a fair amount of background hollering.

What's really wonderful about this band is their versatility. Each g'Earl is proficient at her instruments -- Rayna Gellert on fiddle, Abigail Washburn on banjo, Kristin Andreassen on guitar, fiddle, harmonica, banjo and ukulele, and KC Groves on mandolin, guitar and mandola -- and each can sing. They trade off lead vocals from song to song, and their other individual talents, including Kristin's dancing and Abigail's keen sense of fashion, are all highlighted eventually. Onstage, they obviously displayed the same "enthusiasm, willingness and fine musicianship" to which Jones alludes in the liner notes to their March release, Waterloo, Tennessee.

At the Birchmere, Uncle Earl was joined onstage by the six-member King Wilkie, which Kristin proclaimed to be the object of her affection. Both groups are signed to Rounder Records. Several members made cameo appearances throughout Uncle Earl's set, and touring addition Laura Cortese played upright bass throughout it all.

One unexpected treat was a cover of the Police's "Canary in a Coalmine" in a nifty arrangement that could have been made by Rolf Harris. Another standout number can be found on Kristin's solo effort, Kiss Me Hello: "Crayola Doesn't Make a Color for Your Eyes." It's a children's song she cowrote and for which she won a songwriting contest earlier in the year. Immediately at the chorus, many audience members let out a noise that signalled either they had just recognized the song ("ahhhhh") or they thought its lyrics and harmonies were absolutely charming and angelic ("awwwww"). The song also benefited from Kristin's playful pattycake with Rayna, four-part harmony from the g'Earls, and a toy piano solo from King Wilkie's Reid Burgess. Uncle Earl's set concluded with an ensemble jam on the g'Earls' arrangement of the traditional "Black-eyed Susie."

After the show, I asked the gorgeous Rayna whether her group has taken a cue from Jones and enlisted Andy Manson in England to make them any acoustic stringed instruments. Rolling her eyes, she said, "I wish!" His equipment is a little pricey for the group, she suggested. One of Jones's instruments, a mandocello, is so large that she calls it the "water buffalo," she said, and it makes her jealous.

Then she really made me jealous. Kristin and Rayna said they have one more show in the United States this road trip and that Uncle Earl will be touring England this November. Their tour dates will end in time for the Led Zeppelin reunion concert in London on the 26th. Any plans to attend? First, Kristin stroked her chin and teased, "We'll see." Separately, Rayna's answer, however, was more direct. Maybe she doesn't have a water buffalo she can call her own, but she confirmed that indeed all of her band would be special guests of John Paul Jones at the Led Zeppelin show. Now who's jealous?

John Paul Jones' busy year

John Paul Jones has had an active year. Having produced the album Waterloo, Tennessee for Uncle Earl, he began the year with several appearances with the group. In London, he appeared on BBC Radio 2's "Bob Harris Country" show alongside Uncle Earl and accompanied them onstage on Jan. 27 at their premiere London performance. Jones and his wife, Mo, allowed them to stay at their home while they were in town. The "g'Earls" were also able to meet all three daughters of Mo and John Paul Jones.

Waterloo, Tennessee was released March 13 while the group was in the middle of a U.S. tour. Jones flew from London to New York to join Uncle Earl onstage on March 14. They caught up again at the end of the following month at the Merlefest bluegrass festival in Wilkesboro, N.C. Throughout the four-day festival held April 26-29, Jones sat in with several acts: Uncle Earl, the Duhks (Video of their "Whole Lotta Love" cover on April 28 can be seen here and here, and audio of the entire set can be purchased here), Donna the Buffalo and the John Cowan Band. Audio of a four-song set he played on April 28 with Uncle Earl's Rayna Gellert can be found online here.

Jones' first billed appearance of the year was in June at the Bonnaroo festival in Manchester, Tenn. There, his name was included as part of the scheduled SuperJam alongside solo star Ben Harper and Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson of the Roots. Jones commented in a videotaped interview a few hours before going onstage for the SuperJam that he had not yet met either performer – much less discussed what material they would play or rehearsed anything. It was truly to be an impromptu jam session. In the meantime, however, Bonnaroo held plenty of other activity for Jones, including two sets on the afternoon of June 15. He sat in with Uncle Earl during their 12:30 p.m. spot and with Gillian Welch during her 3:45 p.m. spot (A 10-minute video can be seen here).
Jones then played Bonnaroo's SuperJam set beginning at midnight. As Uncle Earl explained in a newsletter in July:

Well, the truth is, if we went to festivals like Bonnaroo every weekend, we just might be in danger of trying to be actual rock stars. We saw The Police, and Sting took off his shirt at the end of their set. But even better, we got to see our dear John Paul Jones there in his truly native element, rocking out in a midnight "superjam" with Questlove and Ben Harper. The crowd went wild. John took a full ten minutes to walk across the stage and pick up his bass, and he needed that much time for the applause to chill out enough so the band could play music. It was intense and very humbling. To think we had been playing Cluck Old Hen with the man just hours before!!

A one-minute video capturing the beginning of "Good Times Bad Times" can be seen here, although a much better-sounding clip contains the middle of the song including a fine guitar solo from Harper. Michael Ward joined on bass to allow Jones to play lap steel for "When the Levee Breaks," video of which can be seen here. Ten minutes toward the end of "Dazed and Confused" can be seen here while another source captures it all in parts one and two. Ben Harper was interviewed afterward, commenting that he was "dazed and confused" to find himself playing onstage with Jones.

For good measure, Jones also sat in at Bonnaroo with Gov't Mule the following night for the tail end of a set that ended up heavy on Led Zeppelin numbers. (Videos show their set list as including "Moby Dick" riffs at the end of a drum solo before settling into "Livin' Lovin' Maid (She's Just a Woman)" – which can be seen both here and here – followed by "Since I've Been Loving You" and, finally, "No Quarter" – the beginning of this song is here, and more toward the end is here.)

During the week that overlapped July and August, Jones made no less than three concert appearances with Robyn Hitchcock and his band, which also includes Peter Buck of R.E.M. The first two took place in Italy on Monday, July 30 (footage of this show can be seen here and also here), and Wednesday, Aug. 1. The third was at the Down on the Farm festival in Halden, Norway, where – in addition to the Campfire Stage set with Robyn Hitchcock – Jones also played a set on the Main Stage with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings.

This busy year of jamming continues next week as Jones is set to perform again with Robyn Hitchcock on Sept. 14 at the End of the Road festival in Dorset, England.