One of the songs that stood out to her was a previously recorded duet with Robert Plant. The unnamed tune had been part of the pair's first recording session in Nashville several years ago and will be included on the June album.(UCR)
Griffin and Plant first joined forces in Band of Joy during the group's 2010 incarnation. "We get a lot of energy from each other's singing," the Americana artist told Billboard. "We both have similar places that we come from as singers-a lot of emotion, and sometimes the emotion overrides technique. He inspires me. He goes far and deep." The two eventually became a couple and even shook off marriage speculation after rumors popped up that they had eloped. The relationship fizzled around 2014, but the friendship and musical connection have survived.
The British singers were texting about their favorite sport when the conversation arose. In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Elliott said his band had known Krauss – who’s recorded two albums with Plant – since the ‘90s.
“We’ve always been aware of who she is,” Elliott said. “I was actually texting back and forth with Robert Plant about soccer, of all things, when he asked what I was up to. I said, ‘Making a new record, but don’t tell anybody.’ He said, ‘I want to tell Alison. You know you’re her favorite fuckin’ band, right?’ I went, ‘Yeah, OK, fine.’ (UCR)
He sent both songs to Krauss, who replied with “‘OMG’ ,” he recalled. ‘I can’t pick.’ I just texted her straight back and said, ‘Do you want to do them both?’ She goes, ‘Yeah.’ We let her do anything she wanted and we left everything she did on. We heard it and went, ‘This is gorgeous.’”
“Then our manager Mike [Kobayashi] just happened to be talking to her manager about something completely different, and he said the same thing. He said, ‘We heard she’d probably be up for doing something if you want her.’ We went, ‘Yeah, please.’ And so I texted her and said, ‘OK, so are you up for this?’ She said yes. I said, ‘We wrote two songs. I don’t know which one you’ll like best, but they both have a bit of a country tinge to them. Why don’t you pick?’”
Stevie Nicks, Tool, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, J. Cole, The Chicks, Machine Gun Kelly, and more are on the lineup for the Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival on June 16-19. The music festival takes place on the Bonnaroo Farm in Manchester, TN, located 60 miles southeast of Nashville.
The Led Zeppelin frontman will be performing on Friday, June 17, with acclaimed country-bluegrass artist Alison Krauss, with whom he recorded the 2021 duets album Raise the Roof — a follow-up to their Grammy-winning 2007 collaboration Raising Sand.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss celebrated the release of Raise the Roof Friday by performing a pair of songs from their new album on The Late Show and then on Saturday’s CBS Mornings.
The two artists release their second duets album, ‘Raise The Roof’ 14 years after their first joint album 'Raising Sand’ was released to critical acclaim.
And the Led Zeppelin rocker has revealed he was too busy being a "rock 'n' roll cliche", to know about "strict melodies" and proper harmonising, and so he jumped at the chance to become a student when fiddle and harmony expert, Alison, coached him on how best to compliment her vocal.
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss 2022 Tour (Tickets are available here)
Jun 01 – Canandaigua, NY – CMAC
Jun 03 – Saratoga Springs, NY – Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Jun 04 – Forest Hills, NY – Forest Hills Stadium
Jun 06 – Clarkston, MI – DTE Energy Music Theatre
Jun 07 – Chicago, IL – Jay Pritzker Pavilion
Jun 09 – Indianapolis, IN – TCU Amphitheater at White River State Park
Jun 11 – Columbia, MD – Merriweather Post Pavilion
Jun 12 – Philadelphia, PA – TD Pavilion @ The Mann
Jun 14 – Cary, NC – Koka Booth Amphitheatre
Jun 16 – Atlanta, GA – Cadence Bank Amphitheatre at Chastain Park
Jun 26 – London, UK – BST Hyde Park
Jul 01 – Hamar, NO – Tjuvholmen Arena
Jul 02 – Bergen, NO – Bergenhus Fortress
Jul 05 – Rättvik, SE – Dalhalla
Jul 14 – Lucca, IT – Lucca Summer Festival – Piazza Napoleone
Jul 16 – Stuttgart, DE – JazzOpen Stuttgart 2022
Jul 18 – Sopot, PL – Opera Lesna
Jul 20 – Berlin, DE – Zitadelle
Speaking to the new issue of Uncut magazine, Robert said: "As an English singer, I usually reach for the normal pop/rock stuff that I might have done with Zep on 'Thank You' or 'Little Drops Of Rain'.
"But Alison comes from a different world.
"She is always at pains to tell me that while was flying my kite in the back of a van she was seven years into fiddle competitions.
"She never went to prom because she was in the corner harmonising when I was already becoming a rock 'n' roll cliche at a very early age.
"She coaches me and gives me alternatives to bolster her vocal.
"She hears the way you can embellish a melody.
"I was learning all that Chitlin' Circuit phrasing in the mid-60s, so I never knew about strict melodies.
"I was very happy to put myself into the position of being a student to see if I could do it."
The 'Stairway to Heaven' hitmaker recently referred to their unique material as “dark and spacey”.
He said: “The wonderful thing about it is that it’s nameless, and it has its own personality. You could say it’s kind of a little bit retro-sounding. It’s almost an archival study of pretty far-out spacey music. I think you could call it dark and spacey.”
“just two people looking for some clues that may not have presented themselves naturally in the past”. (R.P.) Excerpt from Irishtime, to read the full interview click here
“We’re just following on with the tradition that we started to create about 15 years ago,” he adds. “Once we found the time and had finished with the other stuff we had committed to, we could then see what we had to offer and how much trawling we needed to do to come up with the right songs. We sent each other beautiful songs, old and new. We would just throw ideas around and decide on what we would hit first, second, third and fourth, and so on. We were looking for something charming and evocative and challenging, and we made space for that.”
“It was very easy and obvious when we were looking for material,” says Krauss. “There was never any argument among the three of us – that is, me, Robert and T-Bone Burnett, the producer, the ringmaster – as to what did or did not work. There was no rallying for any one song because when we brought them to the table, we didn’t know who was going to sing any specific one. It was a gut-level instinct for each of us – you know, when it’s right, it’s right. No confusion, I would say.”
“We just get on really well, even if I have to wait for her to get ready all of the time.” Krauss cracks up at this. “We have our own worlds,” he resumes, “and there are no egos involved. What we have here is a special treat. I know that some duos have problems, but with the way the world has changed since we began this second album, it has taken tenacity and endurance. The different swerves we had to take just to hang on to get to this part of it have been significant.”
“When we went back into the studio for this album,” says Krauss, “it was like no time had passed. It felt very comfortable and the best you could hope for. That’s inspiring, and if you stay inspired your work has real validity, it doesn’t get old, and it really represents a place in time to you.”
Also, in a recent interview Plant SLAMS modern rock and roll as 'boring.
'It's so dull': Legendary Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant SLAMS modern rock and roll as 'boring' and remains tight-lipped about the band's debauchery - By Stephen Bisset For Daily Mail Australia
