John Paul Jones on Jools Holland

John Paul Jones performed today on Jools Holland show with Seasick Steve. Led Zeppelin News Page on Facebook has some pictures.





The show will air later tonight on BBC Two.

Patty Griffin - American Kid

Robert Plant's muse, Patty Griffin, released her 7th solo album this week. It is currently streaming on the Wall Street Journal. Plant himself joins Griffin on  three songs, Ohio, Faithful Son and Highway Song.

Ohio is a powerful, slow, droning piece about the underground railroad. Plant sings a prominent harmony vocal under Griffin's.  Griffin featured this song at a London show of the Sensational Space Shifters last July.

Faithful Son is more uptempo, with Plant really offering a few Ah-ahs throughout.

Highway Song is a ballad, with Plant and Griffin singing a harmony vocal throughout.

American Kid is available now on Amazon, iTunes, or wherever you buy music. A vinyl edition of American Kid will be released.

Jason Bonham: Heartless?

It appears when Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience takes to the stage in Florida on June 17, it will be without a key member: Keyboard/lap steel/guitar/mandolin player Stephen LeBlanc has been told the tour can't afford a keyboard player.



Jason's Led Zeppelin Experience (JBLZE)  will be touring in a supporting role for Heart beginning June 17th, and continuing August 30th in Portland. The show will consist of JBLZE opening the show, and then joining Heart onstage for a 30-minute encore set of Led Zeppelin songs as a finale.

The practical effect of what the LeBlanc snub means is that JBLZE will play rockers such as Rock and Roll, Black Dog, The Immigrant Song and Whole Lotta Love to open. Any keyboard songs, such as Kashmir, Since i've Been Loving You and Stairway to Heaven will happen in the encore when Heart's keyboard player, Debbie Shair, will be onstage with the band. Likely any acoustic songs will also happen then, when LeBlanc's mandolin can be filled by guitarist Tony Catania while Heart's Nancy Wilson and Craig Bartock take the guitar parts (speaking of the latter, thinking it through, does anyone else expect a Battle of Evermore/Stairway to Heaven finale?).

It's a sad day for Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience to see LeBlanc, in his own words, "thrown off the bus."

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Update: Elly LeBlanc weighs in:

This is NOT JBLZE without Stephen LeBlanc...it's a reprehensible decision...and after three years of contribution...Jason or whoever made this decision is a fucking idiot... Stephen didn't do anything other than his best to make what is essentially a fucking tribute band, (albeit probably the best Zep tribute band out there, with Stephen in it) better. Yes it does hurt... it always hurts when people are treated unethically and led to believe they are part of the band, particularly after three years of hard work.

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Ramble On Radio Podcast #29

The episode in which I do not freak out because Robert Plant is singing too many Led Zeppelin songs. Plus, Plant is touring America, as is Jason Bonham. Jimmy Page is scouring the archives for unheard Led Zeppelin material, and John Paul Jones is writing his opera.

Review: Neal Preston's Sound and Fury iBook.

Available here, or through iTunes download.

John Paul Jones to Join Seasick Steve on Later... with Jools Holland

Next Tuesday, April 30th, John Paul Jones will join Seasick Steve on Later... with Jools Holland to play songs from the upcoming Seasick Steve album, Hubcap Music.

Meanwhile, Patty Griffin has released a video of her first song from her upcoming album, American Kid.

The song, Ohio, is an historical piece about slaves escaping via the underground railroad. Robert Plant sings a harmony vocal throughout the haunting, evocative song.

Griffin first premiered the song at a Sensational Space Shifters show in London last July.

Update: The latest podcast is now available. Listen or download through iTunes.

Music by Jason Bonham (sort of)

When producers of the new Man of Steel movie, due for release in June, released the latest trailer, Jason Bonham tweeted



Bonham spent two weeks in LA recently. During that two weeks he spent time in the studio laying down tracks for the movie.



According to Tool drummer Danny Carey, 12 drummers were used to create the soundtrack, including Bonham. The soundtrack was written by well known film composer Zimmer, and the movie features Henry Cavill as Superman and Amy Adams as Lois Lane. Russell Crow and Kevin Costner are also in the movie,

Robert Plant North American Tour Confirmed

Robert Plant, with his band the Sensational Space Shifters, has announced a North American tour. The tour begins on June 20th in Dallas and ends on July 27th in Brooklyn. A tour trailer video has also been released.



The Sensational Space Shifters are guitarist Justin Adams, keyboardist John Baggott, African ritti player Juldeh Camara, bassist Billy Fuller, Dave Smith on drums and percussion and Liam Tyson adding more guitar, vocals.

Here's the confirmed dates:

June 20: Dallas, TX - Palladium
June 21: Houston, TX - Bayou Music Center
June 23: Austin, TX - Moody Theater
June 26: Los Angeles, CA - Shrine Auditorium
June 28: Santa Barbara, CA - County Bowl
June 29: Berkeley, CA - Berkeley Greek
July 2: Jacksonville, OR - Britt Festival
July 4: Quincy, CA - High Sierra Festival
July 6: George, WA - Jambase Festival
July 7: Portland, OR - Portland Blues Festival
July 10: Morrison, CO - Red Rocks
July 12: Chicago, IL - Grant Park
July 13: Memphis, TN - Live In The Garden
July 14: Louisville, KY - Forecastle Festival
July 17: New Orleans, LA - Mahalia Jackson Theater
July 19: Atlanta, GA - Verizon Amphitheatre
July 20: Cary, NC - Koka Booth Amphitheatre
July 22: Vienna, VA - Wolftrap
July 24: Uncasville, CT - Mohegan Sun
July 25: Boston, MA - B of A Pavilion
July 27: Brooklyn, NY - Prospect Park