Robert Plant celebrated the passion of rockabilly fans in England and recalled the ones who spent nights “taking the piss” out of him. In the final episode of his Digging Deep podcast series, he revealed he had a stack of unheard rockabilly songs. (UCR)
Plant told host Matt Everitt that he used to attend a club in Kentish Town that was the center of the genre’s activity in London for years. “I used to go up there with my son-in-law, Charlie Jones, and we both have long hair,” he said. “Various rockabilly artists would play and the whole scene was absolutely incredible.”
He recalled, “If I went to the toilet, the bathroom … all of the rockabilly guys would just be putting their combs through their Brylcreem, pushing the quiffs back and bringing them forward, taking the piss out of me and Charlie.” He added that, when he left, he’d walk down the center of the street “along the white line in case they jumped me on the way out!”
Plant returned to the area recently and visited a nearby venue. "I saw the guy in there, and I related the story of the purest rockabilly thing, the hair thing and all that," he recalled. "He said, 'Well, don’t worry, son – you’ll be all right now. None of them have got any hair!'"
He reflected on the “purity and allegiance” of rockabilly fans - “I think it’s brilliant” - while he and Everitt discussed the hairstyles, fingertip jackets and other aspects of the genre’s fashion.
