A little bit country, a little bit rock'n'roll (Robert Plant on leaving his comfort zone)

The Guardian UK ^ | Friday May 16, 2008 | Sylvie Simmons

[weegee]

A little bit country, a little bit rock'n'roll Robert Plant would rather spend his 60th birthday singing bluegrass than touring with Led Zeppelin...

Robert Plant is smiling. A big, happy grin, the same one he had earlier, through almost the entirety of his show with Alison Krauss, the 36-year-old American bluegrass singer and fiddle player. "Sorry about that," he says, "but it's just so much fun. It's just the revelations, I think, that's what the smiles are about - like, 'We can do it.' I mean, could you ever imagine, with my supposed background?"

The appearance of the beautiful, understated Plant-Krauss collaborative album Raising Sand coincided with a rare reunion of the band in which Plant made his name, Led Zeppelin. Their charity performance at London's 02 Arena last year, with Jason Bonham sitting in on drums for his late father John, attracted a reported 20m applications for the 18,000 tickets, won accolades from music critics and led to rumours of a full tour - stymied, according to the Sunday Mirror, by Plant turning down a £100m offer to reunite for a full Zeppelin tour in favour of this low-key jaunt with Krauss.

Tonight's show, in the lovely little Tennessee city of Chattanooga, is in an old, cream-coloured brick building, looking like a cross between a town hall and a theatre. There is just one ticket tout outside. Like the rest of the audience, he exudes southern courtesy. Plant says the south seemed the perfect place to perform his reading of the music of rural America before a paying public. "I was just saying last night, halfway through a bottle of Grey Goose, 'I don't know if this is a kind of urban north-east adventure, or whether it really does belong in the Chattanoogas and Roanokes.'"

(more)

[grellis]

I don’t think any other producer, besides Burnett, could have pulled off the Plant/Krause pairing. This cd is definitely sitting atop of my “really need to give it a listen” list.

[GSWarrior]

Excellent CD, but the ticket prices for the tour were unbelievably expensive. How can you charge $600 and up for center section seats?

[537cant be wrong]

this is just great!
i love the show crossroads which unites 2 diverse genra to blend both artists tunes.
it really shows the versatility that some musicians have
for anyone interested check out old and in the way with jerry garcia (a great steel pedal player by the way)
also (which isnt a reach ) john fogerty and the blue ridge rangers.

thanks again weegee for keeping me on your ping list.
Rockin’ Ronnie

[ncdrumr]

But you wouldn't believe her doing the vocals on "When the levee breaks!" I caught that on a concert video on CMT.

I wish they would have put that track on the CD. Do you know if it's available elsewhere?

[MarkL]

But you wouldn't believe her doing the vocals on "When the levee breaks!" I caught that on a concert video on CMT.

I wish they would have put that track on the CD. Do you know if it's available elsewhere?

Your reply made me put on my private investigator's fedora, and by golly, I found 2 different ones, including the one I originally saw...

But first, there's this one on You Tube:

When the Levee Breaks

(BTW, if you look over to the right, there's also a "Battle of Evermore" clip too! But of course, the system I'm on right now has NO AUDIO!!!!!!!)

But here's the real surprise... If you go to CMT's web site, you can see their show! Go here for CMT's Crossroads:

http://www.cmt.com/shows/dyn/cmt_crossroads/127935/episode.jhtml

and select the first item, "See the Show." When you get to the next page, the default is just 2 songs, BUT if you look over to the right, you can select a bunch of different songs, and pretty much see the entire show, including "When the Levee Breaks!" But I still don't have any audio here! RATS!!!!

Mark

[ncdrumr]

Awesome! Thanks!