Rock
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Sir Elton John, who recently performed at Dodger Stadium for the final U.S. show of his Farewell Yellow Brick Road trek, is now within striking distance of the Billboard Boxscore record for highest-grossing tour. He says it’s his last. Billboard has charted the Rocket Man’s ascent and journey through the pop culture firmament since his first Hot 100 top 10, “Your Song,” to his latest, “Hold Me Closer” with Britney Spears.It’s a Little Bit Funny…
Before “Border Song” crossed over to the Hot 100, Billboard took in John’s career-making U.S. debut at the Los Angeles Troubadour for the Sept. 5, 1970, issue and remarked on his “Southern Comfort style” vocals. By the Nov. 28 issue, “Your Song” was climbing the Hot 100, but Billboard wasn’t fully on board. “Elton John faces a major decision in his short career. Does he abandon his valid musical skills in favor of being a ‘stage freak?’ ” sniped one writer, who sniffed at “cheap, silly” antics like “banging the keyboard with his boot.” We hope you don’t mind that we put this down in words, Sir Elton.
Bennie and the Jet Set
By the time the rocker appeared at the Hollywood Bowl in 1973 with “a torrent of homing pigeons” and “none other than Linda Lovelace of Deep Throat fame,” the Oct. 6 issue was more supportive of his “unusually flamboyant” and “high-energy piano-vocal stylings.” In the next issue, an MCA Records executive reported that the double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was enjoying the label’s “biggest initial orders to date.”
Captain Fantastic
By 1976, John was omnipresent. “’Pinball Wizard’ by Elton John I can play once an hour, and half an hour later get four or five phone requests for it,” marveled a Philadelphia DJ in the June 12 issue. In the Aug. 7 issue, a survey of radio listeners who regularly bought records revealed John was “a clear favorite with 27.8% of the respondents.” In the July 31 Billboard, his name was used as shorthand for rock n’ roll itself: “Steve Ford, son of President Ford, is showing up at more rock shows than Elton John these days.”
Still Standing — And Thriving
By the mid-1990s, John had been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and won an Academy Award. And as reported in the Oct. 11, 1997, issue, John’s tribute to Diana, Princess of Wales, “Candle in the Wind 1997,” “blew away the previous record for largest SoundScan week” by selling “nearly 3.5 million singles its first week.” The following year, he was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.
Can You Feel the Love Tonight?
In 1992, John started a pioneering HIV/ AIDS nonprofit. Sharing the Oct. 24, 2015, Billboard cover with his friend Lady Gaga, John wrote, “I believe with all my heart that in my lifetime I will have seen the very first day, and also the very last day, of the AIDS epidemic.” Gaga was inspired. “When I’m with him,” she told Billboard, “I just want to be a part of his genius plan to save the world.”
This story originally appeared in the Dec. 17, 2022, issue of Billboard.
Terry Hall, the charismatic lead vocalist of British ska revivalists The Specials has died at 63. The band announced Hall’s passing on Monday (Dec. 19), revealing that the singer passed after an undisclosed “brief illness.”
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing, following a brief illness, of Terry, our beautiful friend, brother and one of the most brilliant singers, songwriters and lyricists this country has ever produced,” the band said in a statement.
“Terry was a wonderful husband and father and one of the kindest, funniest, and most genuine of souls. His music and his performances encapsulated the very essence of life… the joy, the pain, the humour, the fight for justice, but mostly the love. He will be deeply missed by all who knew and loved him and leaves behind the gift of his remarkable music and profound humanity.”
One of the leading lights of the late ’70s British ska revival, the Specials (originally billed as Special AKA) formed in Coventry, England in 1977, with Hall replacing original singer Tim Strickland in the group notable for its multi-racial makeup. Coinciding with the burgeoning Rock Against Racism movement in the UK at the time, the band made a statement in their rude boy two-tone suits and porkpie hats and blasted out of the gate on their Elvis Costello-produced self-titled debut on their 2 Tone label, which featured their signature cover of Dandy Livingstone’s 1967 single “A Message To You Rudy.”
Terence Edward Hall was born on March 19, 1959 in Coventry and began his singing career in local punk bands as a teenager before joining the Specials and splitting vocal duties with the excitable Neville Staple.
On such pointedly political songs as “Concrete Jungle,” “Ghost Town and “Rat Race,” the band mixed Caribbean sway, ska horns, loungey grooves and Jamaican rhythms to form a uniquely uplifting, danceable sound while delivering sharp social critiques about the late 1970s political, racial and economic struggles in the UK. Go-Gos guitarist Jane Wiedlin — who sang backing vocals on the Specials’ 1980 album More Specials — paid tribute to her friend in a touching tweet.
“Gutted to hear of the passing of #terryhall. He was a lovely, sensitive, talented and unique person,” he wrote. “Our extremely brief romance resulted in the song ‘Our Lips Are Sealed,’ which will forever tie us together in music history. Terrible news to hear this.”
The group scored a string of UK top 10 singles in their short initial run (1979-1981), before Hall and co-vocalist Staple and guitarist Lynval Golding split to form the more pop-oriented group Fun Boy Three. Hall then formed the group the Coclourfield in 1984, releasing two albums with that project before pivoting to release an album with his trio featuring actress Blair Booth and jeweler Anouchka Grose: Terry, Blair & Anouchka. He also recorded an album of electro pop songs with Eurythmics co-founder Dave Stewart as Vegas in 1992 before releasing a pair of solo albums, Home (1994) and Laugh (1997).
Hall returned for a reunion in 2008 and performed on-and-off with the band until his death, appearing on their eight studio album, 2019’s Encore.
In the early 2000s Hall sang on the 2001 Gorillaz song “911” and sat in on the Toots and the Maytals 2004 Grammy-winning album True Love. Though the Specials formed and reformed a number of times over the years with a wide variety of lineups, Hall will be remembered for the indelible mark he left on their first two albums and the long tail of influence in the band’s music, message and style, which was carried on in spirit by everyone from Fishbone to the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, No Doubt, Blur, Sublime, and Operation Ivy/Rancid.
In a moving nod to the Specials’ message of unity, the band noted in its tribute that Hall often left the stage at the end of shows by uttering a signature affirming three-word mantra: “Love Love Love.”
Watch “A Message to You Rudy” and see some tributes to Hall below.
Gutted to hear of the passing of #terryhall. He was a lovely, sensitive, talented and unique person. Our extremely brief romance resulted in the song Our Lips Are Sealed, which will forever tie us together in music history. Terrible news to hear this. 😢 pic.twitter.com/Fxxqr0p01T— Jane Wiedlin (@janewiedlin) December 19, 2022
The Specials were a celebration of how British culture was envigorated by Caribbean immigration but the onstage demenour of their lead singer was a reminder that they were in the serious business of challenging our perception of who we were in the late 1970s. RIP Terry Hall pic.twitter.com/PVwbXyXubq— Billy Bragg (@billybragg) December 19, 2022
“I was deeply saddened to hear about Terry Hall’s passing on Sunday. @SugaryStaple was called as we arrived in Egypt. We knew Terry had been unwell but didn’t realise how serious until recently. We had only just confirmed some 2023 joint music agreements together. This has hit me pic.twitter.com/sHNMJIwPII— From THE SPECIALS Neville Staple (@NevilleStaple) December 19, 2022
This is very very sad newsOnly if we had the conscious humour & intelligence in popular music today that #terryhall brought in his lyrics to us all back then.It’s time to put the specials where they belong as one of the greatest British bands ever. #ripterryhall https://t.co/Ghrh2o0uPj— 🏴☠️ Geoff Barrow 🏴☠️ (@jetfury) December 20, 2022
If night two is this rockin’, how are we even going to make it six more crazy nights? For the second installment of this holiday season’s “Hanukkah Sessions,” Foo Fighters boss Dave Grohl and producer Greg Kurstin roped in P!nk for a raucous run through the singer’s 2001 smash “Get the Party Started.”
“One of the music world’s biggest and brightest stars of David, P!nk shows a couple of schmendricks how it’s done by joining us for her very own Bat Mitzvah staple ‘Get The Party Started!,’” read the description of the clip.
P!nk, dressed down in ripped green pants and a blue denim shirt worked the tiny stage at L.A. club Largo backed by Grohl on drums and Kurstin on keys, hilariously flubbing a few lines from the single on her second album, Missundaztood, while getting a bit of forceful backup vocal assistance from one of the night’s other special guests, Jack Black.
This is Grohl and Kurstin’s third year posting eight nights of covers of songs made famous by Jewish musicians. In a twist, this year’s efforts were all recorded live at Los Angeles’ intimate Largo on Dec. 5 with a cast of all-star guests taking the stage at the 250-capacity club that also included the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O and Grohl’s 16-year-old daughter, Violet. Night one featured beloved director Judd Apatow rocking through a cover of Blood, Sweat & Tears’ 1969 Grammy-nominated Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Spinning Wheel.”
Grohl and Kurstin released the first “Sessions” in Dec. 2020 in the midst of the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping one new cover for each night of the holiday. In the midst of a concerning rise in antisemitic incidents and hate speech in the U.S., proceeds from the Largo night went to the Anti-Defamation League.
The inaugural 2020 “Sessions” featured covers of songs by he Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack and the Velvet Underground, while last year’s edition brought eight crazy nights of covers, including a black metal take on Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You),” as well as the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana (At the Copa),” the Clash’s “Train in Vain,” Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite,” Van Halen’s “Jump,” Amy Winehouse’s “Take the Box” and Billy Joel’s “Big Shot.”
Watch P!nk get the party started below.
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Shirley Ann Watts, a former art student and prominent breeder of Arabian horses who met drummer Charlie Watts well before he joined the Rolling Stones and with him formed one of rock’s most enduring marriages, has died. She was 84.
“Shirley died peacefully on Friday 16th December in Devon after a short illness surrounded by her family,” her family announced Monday (Dec. 19). The Rolling Stones’ Ronnie Wood was among those mourning her.
“We will miss you so much, but take comfort that you are reunited with your beloved Charlie,” Wood wrote on Facebook.
While Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards all have had multiple wives and girlfriends, Charlie and Shirley Watts remained together for more than 50 years, until Charlie died in 2021. Their only known crisis happened in the mid-1980s, when Charlie Watts struggled with heroin addiction, a time he would later say nearly cost him his marriage. He was otherwise regarded as so devoted to his wife, and daughter Seraphina, that journalists essentially left him alone.
“I’ve always wanted to be a drummer [and] as long as it’s comfortable with my wife, I’ll continue to do it,” he told Rolling Stone magazine in 1996.
When Charlie wasn’t touring or recording, he and his family lived on a 600-acre, 16th century estate in Devon, where they were better known for their Polish Arabian horses and for rescuing animals than for the drummer’s singular place in rock history. Stories about the Watts were as likely to appear in Arabian Horse World as they were in a music publication.
According to Charlie, his wife had warm relations with Jagger and Richards and, unlike him, would play the Stones’ music around the house. But Shirley herself expressed ambivalent feelings, telling Vanity Fair in 1989 that the band’s drug use affected her life “very, very deeply” and that she otherwise had little use for the rock star world.
“It was quite appalling being pitched into the life of the Rolling Stones,” she said. “I really got lost for about 25 years and I’ve never been able to cope with it. There’s been lots of anger, much of it very, very deep. I like the people in the group — up to a point. But I’ve always hated the way rock music and its world treat women and particularly the Rolling Stones’ attitude. There is no respect.”
Shirley Ann Shepherd was born in London in 1938 and was studying sculpture at the Royal College of Art in the early ’60s when she first saw her future husband, who at the time was part of the emerging blues and jazz scene in England that also included Jagger and Richards. They were already dating when Watts joined the Stones early in 1963, and married the following year, just as the band had established itself as second only to the Beatles in local popularity.
“She was so funny and clever, and she had the most infectious laugh you’d ever heard,” Charlie Watts said of her when interviewed by The Guardian in 2000. “And I loved the world she was in, the world of art and sculpting. I just admired Shirley very, very much.”
The biggest scandal about their marriage was their decision to get married. Rock star weddings were considered bad business at the time, a turnoff to young female fans — the Beatles’ John Lennon was among those who hedged when reporters asked him about his domestic life.
Without informing the other Stones, the Watts married in Bradford and had a quiet lunch at a nearby pub. According to Paul Sexton’s Charlie’s Good Tonight, a 2022 biography of the late drummer written with his family’s cooperation, Charlie Watts initially denied reports that he was married, telling the Daily Express that “it would do a great deal of harm to my career if the story got around.” But Shirley happily confirmed the news, saying they could not “bear to live separately any longer.”
Neither Charlie nor Shirley liked drawing attention to themselves, but at times they did so anyway. Shirley Watts was arrested at the Nice airport in 1971 for attacking customs officials after they had reportedly singled out her husband for attention. In 2016, she threatened to sue Polish government officials over the alleged mistreatment of two Arabian mares at a state-run farm.
Shirley Watts also endured a battle with alcoholism, one she helped overcome by hours of sculpting horses and dogs. The Watts’ shared interest in horses grew from collecting figurines to raising hundreds of Arab horses, a passion that began after Charlie purchased a part-bred stallion for his wife.
“I much prefer my life here with the horses. I love the hunt. The sense of power one gets on a horse,” she told Vanity Fair. “It’s a very primeval instinct. When you hear the hounds — they call it the music — when you hear the hounds’ music, it’s bloodcurdling it’s so thrilling. And it affects both you and the horse. There’s nothing like it. It’s dangerous. It’s exciting.”
She added, with a laugh, “It sounds rather like a rock ‘n’ roll concert.”
Gwen Stefani opened up on Monday (Dec. 19) about the possibility of No Doubt getting back together, her favorite holiday traditions and more.
“What are the odds of anything?” the star said in a profile for the Wall Street Journal when it came to a reunion with her old bandmates. “I was just on The Drew Barrymore Show. She was one of my favorite celebrities when I was a little girl, and now I was just on the show with her. Anything can happen. I have no idea what’s going to happen with No Doubt. We haven’t really talked about doing anything, but it feels like everyone is, right? All the ’90s people — Blink-182 did an eight-month tour that sold out in like five minutes.”
The So Cal-based foursome last came together a full decade ago for 2012’s Push and Shove, which itself was released 11 years after their previous album, 2001’s Rock Steady. Of course, since then, Stefani has served as a six-time coach on The Voice, met and married her husband Blake Shelton, launched a Las Vegas residency and released two more solo albums —2016’s This Is What the Truth Feels Like and 2017’s You Make It Feel Like Christmas.
“Blake likes to make new traditions every year,” Stefani added of celebrating the holidays with her country star hubby and three sons. “We do this thing called a timpano dome, which is an Italian dome, it’s kind of like a lasagna within a pizza. We’ve been doing that ever since I met him. It was in a famous movie [1996’s Big Night]. You can put anything in it.”
The couple also took a trip to Disneyland over the weekend, which the “Let Me Reintroduce Myself” singer happily shared on Instagram. “Had the most magical time at @disneyland!! all the pretty lights + decor felt like i was walking thru a winter wonderland !!” she captioned a video of the family’s Christmastime adventures in the Happiest Place on Earth.
Check out Gwen’s sweet trip to Disneyland below.
Kim Simmonds, founder of Savoy Brown, died on Tuesday (Dec. 13), according to a statement released by the band. He was 75 years old.
“Kim Simmonds passed away peacefully in the evening of December 13th — may he rest in peace,” the group shared on social media. “Please note one of Kim’s last requests was to thank the fans of Savoy Brown — your support was and shall always be immensely appreciated.”
In August, the blues guitarist announced that he had been fighting stage 4 colon cancer — specifically, a a rare form called signet cell colon cancer –for more than a year. He noted that the chemotherapy he was receiving had made it difficult for him to play his instrument due to the side effect of “peripheral neuropathy which has now deadened the nerves in my fingers and hands (feet too).” At the time, Brown explained that his type of cancer “is rarely found early enough to provide a chance for cure,” and occurs in less than one percent of cases.
While Simmonds initially formed The Savoy Brown Blues Band in 1965 with singer Brice Portius, bassist Ray Chappell, drummer Leo Mannings, keys player Trevor Jeavons and harmonica player John O’Leary, he remained the sole constant member of the band throughout nearly six decades of lineup changes. Throughout their career, the band released more than 40 studio albums with the two most recent — Ain’t Done Yet and Taking the Blues Back Home: Live in America — arriving in 2020.
Read Savoy Brown’s tribute to Simmonds below.
Miley Cyrus teased some big changes on the horizon via social media on Monday (Dec. 19), and fans are hoping it means new music from their queen.
“NEW YEAR, NEW MILEY,” the pop star captioned a video of a cryptic roadside sign in Los Angeles emblazoned with the same four words. The phrase is flanked by close-up shots of a lower body wearing a strappy red thong and a tattooed hand digging into a leg.
In the comments section, fans rushed to speculate about what the promise of “New Miley” could mean, with many hoping for a new musical era. “Give us a sign if new song is coming sooner than we think Miley,” one wrote. Another declared, “I’m ready no matter what the genre is gonna be” with a fire emoji. Other comments included a request to “Headline Coachella PLEASE!” and one particular fan asking, “DOES THIS MEAN A TOUR?!!!”
To add to the mystery, Cyrus also launched a countdown clock on her official website, which is set to count down to the stroke of midnight on Jan. 1, 2023 — the same time she just so happens to be hosting NBC’s New Year’s Eve special with godmother Dolly Parton.
The Hannah Montana star’s most recent studio album was 2020’s rock-influenced Plastic Hearts, which debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 and No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums chart. It spawned singles “Midnight Sky,” “Prisoner” featuring Dua Lipa, and “Angels Like You” as well as killer live covers of Blondie’s “Heart of Glass” and The Cranberries’ “Zombie.” Earlier this year, she also dropped her third live album Attention: Miley Live.
Check out Miley’s cryptic announcement below.
Charlie Gracie, an early rockabilly singer and guitarist who influenced a generation of 1960s rock stars has died at 86. The news of his passing on Dec. 16 was confirmed by ABKCO Records, which is home to the catalog of Cameo Records, the Philadelphia label that Gracie recorded his biggest hits for; at press time no cause of death was announced.
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The South Philadelphia native born Charles Antony Graci on May 14, 1936 who was discovered by Cadillac Records owner Graham Prince after the then 15-year-old singer performed on a local radio show, leading to a series of early singles (“Rockin’ ‘n’ Rollin’,” “Boogie Woogie Blues,” “I’m Gonna Sit Right Down and Write Myself a Letter”) and a deal with Cameo, which released his breakthrough 1957 Billboard No. 1 pop chart hit and signature tune, the rockabilly burner “Butterfly.”
The song led to tours with Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, the Everly Brothers, Bo Diddley and Eddie Cochran, as well as a starring role in the 1957 musical romance Jamboree as himself. The hits continued apace, with late 1950s charting tracks including “Fabulous,” “Ninety-Nine Ways” and “Cool Baby,” charting in the U.S. and England, where Gracie would take his place as an early influence on a generation of soon-to-be global superstars.
According to the artist’s bio, “Charlie’s star burned even brighter in Great Britain where he became the first solo American artist to bring rock & roll to the English concert stage. Preceded only by Bill Haley and the Comets, Charlie headlined London’s Palladium and Hippodrome — receiving outstanding receptions from the press and public.”
As a testament to his enduring influence, in 2011 ABKCO Records released For the Love of Charlie!, an all-star compilation produced by Al Kooper and featuring such fans as Graham Nash and Herman’s Hermits singer Peter Noone. Paul McCartney covered Gracie’s “Butterfly” follow-up single, “Fabulous,” in 1999 on his Run Devil Run early rock covers album, 30 years after Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page recorded his own version with Zep bassist John Paul Jones and guitarist Albert Lee, among others.
Following his run on Cameo, Gracie cycled through a series of smaller label homes and kept touring for the next 50+ years, including opening a handful of dates for Van Morrison on his 2000 U.S. West coast tour and releasing his last album, Angel on My Shoulder, in 2015. Gracie was also the subject of a PBS documentary, Fabulous!, in 2007.
Listen to 1957’s “Butterfly” below.
When two of the most singular voices in music history first came together 15 years ago, it’s not surprising that alchemized harmonies and pure, uncut vibe came as a result. Upon melding their vocals on the 2007 collaborative album Raising Sand, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss translated traditional Americana into mainstream consciousness by force of personality, expanding on Krauss’ extensive repertoire within the genre and furthering the work in the sound for Plant, whose own predilection for Americana had been a benchmark of popular music since he first lamented, “I can’t quit you baby,” 53 years ago on Led Zeppelin‘s cover of Willie Dixon’s Delta blues scorcher.
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But in a testament to Krauss and Plant’s respective popularity, as well as the delicate yet tantalizing sound they’d created, Raising Sand transcended well beyond fans of folk, bluegrass and blues, becoming a sort of blazing anomoly across popular music at large. The LP hit No. 2 on the Billboard 200 (where it spent 72 weeks), secured the pair a headlining spot at Bonnaroo, and earned them the 2009 Grammy for album of the year. “In the old days, we would have called this selling out,” Plant said in his acceptance speech, “but it’s a good way to spend a Sunday.”
Then the project went dark, disappearing in a puff of smoke as quickly as it had arrived, as Krauss returned to her longtime band Union Station and Plant worked in the studio and on the road as a solo act and with his own outfits, Band Of Joy and Sensational Shapeshifters. But just like the many listeners who considered Raising Sand a new classic, Krauss and Planet were aware the project was special, with considerations of a reunion occupying their minds during the long hiatus.
“I really wanted to get back to it. I love it,” Plant, 74, tells Billboard, calling from the United Kingdom, where he can be heard puttering around his house during what is there late afternoon.
“Harmony singing is my favorite thing to do,” Krauss, 51, dialing in from mid-morning Nashville, adds of what she and Plant do so especially well together.
So get back to it they did, with the stars realigning last year year for Raise The Roof, another collection of covers by acts as disparate as Calexico, Allen Toussaint and The Everly Brothers, all rendered in a twangy, incandescent style built around the union of Krauss and Plant’s voices. The album — which, like its predecessor, was produced by T Bone Burnett — debuted at No. 1 on the Top Rock Albums, Americana/Folk Albums and Bluegrass Albums charts, and at No. 7 on the Billboard 200. This past summer, an attendant tour included a main stage show at Glastonbury and a performance in London’s Hyde Park (“Basically we were just passing time until the Eagles came on stage,” Plant says of that opening gig), along with three dozen other dates in the U.S. and Europe.
And now, as a surprise to precisely no one, Raise The Roof has garnered some Grammy nominations — three total, for best country duo/group performance (for “Going Where The Lonely Go”), best American roots song (for “High And Lonesome”) and best Americana album. The nods add to Krauss’ mythology as the second-most-awarded woman in Grammys history (after Beyoncé) with 27 wins and 45 nominations. Meanwhile, Plant has eight wins and 18 nominations, the first of which came in 1969 when Zeppelin was up for best new artist. (They lost to Crosby, Stills and Nash.)
“The very fact that it’s has been recognized that we’ve had a good time,” Plant says of this latest round of nominations, “is more than I could imagine.”
Plant: Hello. Good afternoon.
Krauss : Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa!
Plant: Hello Alison! How are ya?
Krauss: Hey, I’m fine! How are you doing?
Plant: Okay, I think we may actually be getting into a place now here on the Welsh borders where it’s starting to get chilly. We had the longest, longest, longest beginning of an autumn, but it’s beautiful. The weather’s good. Things are good. I’m looking forward to going to have a look at this little puppy dog next week, and I’m actually living a normal life, finally.
Krauss: Wow.
Plant: I hate it.
I’m curious about this puppy!
Plant: Well, you know, when I was a kid, my mom was allergic to dog hair and stuff. We never had a fluffy pet or anything like that. So over the last so many years, I’ve always prized these beautiful running dogs. They’re a combination of Greyhound and a terrier.
And the traveling folk, the gypsies and the travelers — you always see them with them; they’re just really beautiful — they’re this kind of dog you see on all those medieval paintings and stuff. There’s always somebody standing behind the blinds with a beautiful animal.
I lost my best dog after 14 years about two or three months ago, and I said I would never have another dog, but life without a dog is difficult for me. But it’s got nothing to do with “Stairway To Heaven,” thank god!
I mean, if you don’t see a connection, there isn’t one.
Plant: No, there isn’t one there. I just had to stop talking about dogs.
Okay, let’s talk about your album then. November 19 marked the year anniversary of the release of Raise The Roof. I’m curious if your relationship to the music changed in any way over the last year, particularly as you’ve been touring it.
Plant: I think that Alison and I became — I mean, we’re partners in every sense, professionally. And we’ve shared every single element and every single part of the creation of the record from the get-go, from the song selections to creating the atmosphere, and we take it into the studio together; we use it when we’re coming up with artwork. I think we’ve just grown a lot tighter and a lot closer, and we share a lot of lighthearted humor, but at the same time I think we’re pretty, professional about how good we want it to be. Would you say so, Alison?
Krauss: I don’t think that there’s a different relationship to it. I mean, you’re always looking for things that speak to you in a truthful way, whether you’re telling someone else’s story, or you’re relaying a message or telling your own story. I don’t think that that’s changed. The fun thing was to pick this up again — like, to have something be so fun and be a total surprise, then get to come back and and get to do it again. To me, when we went back in the studio together, it was like no time had gone by, especially with T Bone. It was a lot of fun. We had some new faces in there, but the energy was very generous, which it always was. So I don’t know if there’s a different relationship to it, just happy to revisit.
Plant: We had no idea how it was going to pan out, and going back together after such a long time was, well — there was a lot riding on it. Were we still able and amenable to exchanging ideas? With material and song choices, a lot runs on how we can perform within these old songs. So yeah, it was interesting to get the ball rolling again and to blow away the cobwebs. But as I said, in that kind of oblique answer, we grew closer, if you like. We were able to take the actual songs and embellish them and develop them for a live show, which made them, I think, quite tantalizing, and there was another energy to them as well.
I saw you guys in Chicago this past June, and it seemed like the vibe onstage was often mellow, and sometimes almost contemplative. What does it feel like to perform these songs live? What mood are you in?
Plant: Well, contemplative, I don’t think so — I think it’s just the nature of the song. You weave in and out of the original form of the music as you heard it, even before you recorded it. The songs have a personality. I just think that we’re very adaptable — we just go into character and we just sing the best that we can within those character settings.
Krauss: I also think this wouldn’t be appealing to us if it wasn’t natural. So I don’t feel like there’s any headspace we have to get into. It just kind of fell into place. It was a natural friendship, and it just translated — we both have a love of history and traditional music, and all the people in the band are the same kind of historians. So it was a natural thing. It didn’t feel like we had to pump ourselves up for it, if that makes sense.
Plant: No, exactly. And I think there’s a kind of melding, a kind of a great coming together on stage, especially with the way the musicians have developed the songs with us. It’s quite a liberation. We’ve been through quite a bit in the last 12 months, with working through the United States and then into Europe. We became real rolling musicians. It was something to behold, because the group personality got more and more, I suppose, charming. And also there was sort of a little bit of a warrior feel, going from country to country to country, through Scandinavia and down into Western Europe and across even into Poland. I do believe we grew more and more into the gig.
Were you able to do things at the end of the tour that weren’t happening in the beginning?
Plant: Sure, yeah. You find a groove that works, and it’s genuine.
How do you maintain the stamina required for such a massive and far-flung tour?
Plant: I think it’s just the will, isn’t it? To want to do it.
Krauss: It helps to be fun!
Plant: Yeah. We do laugh a lot. I mean, it’s not a competitive thing. It’s just such a magnificent and unexpected surprise, to be able to be from such different worlds initially and find that we have our own world. We’ve got our own place.
I read a relatively recent article that described you two as an “odd couple,” and didn’t feel like that description was entirely accurate. How do you feel like you two fit together at this point, after this long collaboration?
Plant: I just think that we’re really, really firm friends. And we confer and listen to each other when we have options. It’s really good, because we don’t tangle. Obviously life off the road is — we’re so far away from each other that these moments of hanging out or telephone conversations, or we’ll be coming back to Nashville in April — all those sort of things is all stuff to look forward to. So we’re never around each other long enough to get tired of anything. It’s just a growing condition, really.
Krauss: Yeah, I mean, it’s a really nice cast of characters in that band, and we enjoy them, and it’s a pleasure. We were happy to get to do it and happy to be going back. It’s something we talked about putting back together for years. It was a really nice idea, and sometimes those things are just a nice idea, but this one [did some back together]. I just feel really grateful. It was a surprise, from start to finish.
Why was last year the right time to come back to the project, after releasing your first album together in 2007?
Plant: I’m not in control of my own time, I just find the momentum in a project and go with it. There’s only a particular lifespan from record to record. In the old days, that was how it worked — if you’re really buying into this as a life, which we are — then as it used to be that there was a cycle of events where you would write or create a record, and you’d follow it through with the usual rigmarole of touring and stuff like that. It always used to be something like a three-and-a-half or four-year thing, from start to finish.
So when we left Raising Sand and said a tearful farewell, we went on to do other projects. And if I’d finish something and I was really looking forward to doing something fresh, maybe Alison was in the middle of one of her projects, and that’s how it was. It was no negotiation except for with the calendar and with time. I also had been on the road a lot with with my friends Sensational Spaceshifters, and this [project with Alison] was just promising to be — offering to be — a totally different experience, or a different feel. I really wanted to get back to it. I love it.
And every night when we sing, two or three of the songs where Alison takes the lead, I always find it such an adventure to join and contribute to her personality as a lead singer. I love that. I didn’t have that for several years. So once the opportunity arose, and we were both free and ready — and free to fail actually, I think would be the term — it’s quite tenuous really to go back in after such a long time, but it worked. These are different days as far as the music biz is concerned, but they’re not different days for us. We’ve got it down, and we know what we’re doing, and we like it.
Krauss: Harmony singing is my favorite thing to do. And he is a…
Plant: Steady. Be careful.
Krauss: [laughs] He always changes in those tunes, night to night, and it keeps me on my toes. I was listening to a show we did in Red Rocks, and the differences and changes in the tunes night to night — the show sounds so good, Robert. It’s just fun, because they really evolve, and it’s a much different environment than what I grew up doing, which is very regimented harmony singing where the whole gig is perfecting it. Like, you don’t go to prom because you’re working on your harmony. This is just a totally different animal, and I just love the way the tunes have changed, even throughout this past summer.
Plant: And all I did was go to prom. I still am! Life could be a dream sh-boom! That’s what happened to me. When I used to open the show for people, you know, stars in the early and mid-60s, I used to go, “Wow, this is so exotic. It’s just amazing.” When those big old stage lights came on in the proscenium arch theater, my whole heart leapt. I couldn’t wait to get to the next place to see somebody else do the same thing. And so I didn’t study anything, except for trying to be as good as Terry Reid, or Steve Marriott, or Steve Winwood, or so many people who are extraordinary singers.
Krauss: One big prom! [laughs]
Plant: But I think that’s part of the really big thing about you and I, Alison, is that we’ve leapt into each other, and it’s given me a great departure from finding myself typecast and in being challenged, which, despite its changes from time to time within the shows, just makes for a really good ride, I think.
Krauss: It’s never dull. [laughs]
Plant: I could be sort of far too serious about myself and sit in my dressing room with a star on the door, but that’s not why I do this. I do this because I only work with people who’ve got a big heart, and this is it. So it’s never dull. But if it’s dull, I’m not sticking around anyway.
You both have many previous Grammy wins and nominations. Do these awards matter to you? Does getting nominated enhance the project itself or make it more meaningful in any way?
Plant: I’ll leave that to you, Alison.
Krauss: I just think it’s always unexpected. You don’t figure it’s going to happen, that you get nominated. Like I always say, every record you make is like the only one you’re going to.
Plant: Yeah.
Krauss: And so it’s really nice to get that acknowledgement that people have heard it and like it. It’s always a relief.
Plant: And also the idea of us being considered to be a country duet is fascinating. The thing is, a nomination is a nomination — the very fact that it’s been recognized that we’ve had a good time is more than I could imagine. I didn’t get many Grammys… so to be nominated as a country duet is out of my normal radar. It’s great. I love it, and I also know that we did a pretty good job. I learned a lot, and continue to learn, which is what I want to do. I do think that’s pretty cool.
In 2009, Raising Sand won the Grammy for album of the year. Nominated in that category this year are artists like Lizzo, Beyoncé, Coldplay. Do you feel connected to those kinds of acts, or are you more at home in the country category? What’s your relationship to mainstream pop stars?
Plant: Not a lot. [laughs] It’s different worlds, isn’t it? That’s all it is. It’s just like, do you like this, or do you only appreciate stuff that come out of the Mississippi Delta or New Orleans? We’re all musicians; we all do what we do. You have to appreciate everything from where it stands in its own world.
Is there any chance of a third album from you two?
Plant: I can’t see any reason why not. I suppose if we wait another 14 years it could be a bit dicey for me, to be honest. I might find it a little bit difficult hitting a top C. But we can say it really works well, and we enjoy each other and that’s a great thing — so it seems like a great idea.
Dave Grohl and pal producer/songwriter Greg Kurstin cranked up the “Hanukkah Sessions” for a third year on Sunday night (Dec. 18) for another round of covers of songs made famous by Jewish musicians. In a twist, this year’s efforts were all recorded live at Los Angeles’ intimate Largo on Dec. 5 with a cast of all-star guests taking the stage at the 250-capacity club.
The pair also brought in a ringer to handle vocals for the first of the eight night celebration of lights: director Judd Apatow. The Bros co-producer stepped to the mic for a run through Blood, Sweat & Tears’ 1969 Grammy-nominated Billboard Hot 100 No. 2 hit “Spinning Wheel,” which, according to a Variety report on the event, was inspired by a karaoke night in Hawaii with Grohl’s family. “A little blood and plenty of schvitz went into this year’s Hanukkah Sessions — but the only tears you’ll be shedding will be tears of nachas when you hear Judd Apatow sing ‘Spinning Wheel’ by Blood, Sweat & (No) Tears!” read the video’s description.
“This is a song that means a lot to me, it was performed by the great Hank Kingsley [Jeffrey Tambor] on The Larry Sanders Show. This is a tribute to Garry and to Hank,” said Apatow at the top of the clip, referring to the infamous sidekick on the fake talk show hosted by his late friend Garry Shandling. And with that, with Grohl on drums and Kurstin on keys, Apatow sang-talked the swinging psychedelic soft rock classic on a stage decked with multiple menorahs, some stray tinsel and a killer horn section.
During Kurstin’s jazzy piano solo Apatow did some awkward dad dancing before the late-song break, announcing casually, “there’s more” before diving back in with a series of goofy faces as the band went into a song-ending freak-out. Proclaiming himself out of gas (or was it oil?) at the end, an out of breath Apatow joked, “Dave I know you do five-hour concerts, but that’s all I could do. I need a month off.”
Grohl and Kurstin released the first “Sessions” in Dec. 2020 in the midst of the first winter of the COVID-19 pandemic, dropping one new cover for each night of the holiday. In the midst of a concerning rise in antisemitic incidents and hate speech in the U.S., proceeds from the Largo night went to the Anti-Defamation League.
Among the other guests at Largo were P!nk, Kurstin’s The Bird and the Bee collaborator Inara George, Grohl’s mighty-voiced 16-year-old daughter Violet, Beck, the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Karen O and Jack Black. The inaugural 2020 “Sessions” featured covers of songs by he Beastie Boys, Drake, Mountain, Peaches, Bob Dylan, Elastica, The Knack and the Velvet Underground, while last year’s edition brought eight crazy nights of covers, including a black metal take on Lisa Loeb’s “Stay (I Missed You),” as well as the Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop,” Barry Manilow’s “Copacabana (At the Copa),” the Clash’s “Train in Vain,” Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Night,” Van Halen’s “Jump,” Amy Winehouse’s “Take the Box” and Billy Joel’s “Big Shot.”
Watch the “Spinning Wheel” cover below.