Jason Bonham


Jason Bonham, son of the late John "Bonzo" Bonham, does not take lightly the responsibility of carrying on his father's legacy. Having made a head start at drumming while he was a child, Jason is now passing on the same lessons to a third generation of Bonham drummers.

John Bonham's death in 1980 left such an impact on the surviving members of Led Zeppelin that they knew immediately they could not continue as they were. Yet Jason Bonham's familiarity with the band made him a shoe-in to join his father's bandmates on the few occasions reunion concerts have taken place.

This year marked the 20th anniversary of Bonham's most successful album release to date, the Platinum-certified disc The Disregard of Timekeeping released by his band, Bonham. To mark the milestone, he recently toured with a new band and played under the banner of "An Evening with Jason Bonham."

In the past, Bonham has also toured and/or recorded with Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, Foreigner, UFO, Paul Rodgers, Joe Bonamassa, Virginia Wolf, Airrace, Healing Sixes and Motherland. He also acted in the movie Rock Star and appeared on the reality TV show "SuperGroup."

- What's the latest on Jason Bonham?

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Led Zeppelin's music featured at MerleFest

While Led Zeppelin didn't make an appearance at MerleFest 2008 (was anybody predicting this?), the group's music did. The Waybacks chose to perform Led Zeppelin II in its entirety for the Hillside Album Hour on Saturday afternoon. Here are some clips from that performance:



John Paul Jones has been semi-regular at the annual MerleFest in North Carolina over the past five years. He first attended in 2004 when he was taking mandolin lessons from Chris Thile. He returned the following year, performing together as members of Mutual Admiration Society. In 2007, Jones performed again at MerleFest, sitting in with Uncle Earl, the Sam Bush Band, Donna the Buffalo and the Duhks.

This year, Jones was assumedly overseas, readying for an onstage performance April 30 with Robyn Hitchcock at Bergenfest in Norway.

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at 10:07 AM

3 comments:

  1. AnonymousApril 30, 2008 at 3:52 PM

    Steve,

    I see you really getting into this Country & Western theme.... Ouch... Clips of Led Zeppelin PLEASE.. not * tributes* Or was it because of the LEMON SONG....

    Squeeze this.... :)

    Rich from Long Island

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 29, 2008 at 2:53 PM

    Rich:

    The Waybacks are far from a Tribute Band. Can you not hear how amazing the acoustic guitar player is knocking out riffs that were played by Jimmy on an electric guitar?

    As usual, Steve brings out aspects of Zeppelin that no other person ever touches let alone can source.

    Keep up the GREAT work Steve, whether Country & Western or otherwise.

    Sheldon from Toronto

    ReplyDelete
  3. Steve SauerSeptember 29, 2008 at 4:08 PM

    Thanks, Sheldon. Actually, it's funny this topic comes up again, as I can now add a link to an article in the Examiner discussing the thought that went into playing this Waybacks set.

    See http://www.examiner.com/x-344-SF-Music-Examiner~y2008m8d21-The-Waybacks-part-II-A-whole-lotta-Zeppelin-then-but-dont-expect-a-whole-lot-now

    When I saw that story, I sent the link to some friends of mine who play with me once a year. I play gigs all year round as the keyboard player for several bands, but these guys aren't even stereotypical garage band dads; my friends play even less than those guys.

    Yet I was able to inspire them to join me in a run-through of The Dark Side of the Moon in its entirety one night last month, and in the same week Abbey Road! They were great!

    In case you're interested, I wrote more about that experience here: http://stevepsauer.blogspot.com/2008/08/modern-day-harold-hill-but-with.html

    ReplyDelete

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John Paul Jones is now in one of the hottest and hardest rock bands, Them Crooked Vultures. The frontman, handling lead guitar and vocals, is Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters is on drums. As for Jones, he offers not only bass and keyboard but also mandolin, keytar, lap steel and whatever else is needed.

One album was released in November, and another is forthcoming. A tour of North America completed in November, and the band now heads to Europe in December and Australia in January.

- What's the latest on Them Crooked Vultures, the group featuring John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl and Josh Homme?

- What else is John Paul Jones up to?