Boz Scaggs is hosting the second of two charity gigs in San Francisco tonight, and word was released only hours in advance that Robert Plant would be making an appearance.
Plant will be sitting in on a song with Buddy Miller, a Nashville native and recent recipient of multiple Americana awards. Miller was part of the touring band that accompanied Plant and Alison Krauss worldwide last year.
Plant really seems to have caught the Buddy Miller bug. Last July, they recorded a track together backstage at one of their gigs. It appeared this March on Buddy's latest album with his wife, Julie Miller. But before that, on Sept. 18, 2008, Plant and Buddy Miller played their song together in front of an audience during their first onstage appearance without Krauss.
The only other times Plant has graced a stage this year were on April 25 at a Womad concert in Abu Dhabi and on Sept. 11 at a charity concert in London, both times with Justin Adams, formerly Plant's guitarist in the Strange Sensation, and Adams's latest touring companion, Gambian musician Juldeh Camara.
Buddy Miller has been doing a lot of things too. The poor guy, who had a heart attack last year, is said to be pulling long hours working every week and suffering from the affliction of not knowing how to say no to people.
But judging from the vacant touring schedule currently shown at www.buddyandjulie.com, he hasn't had anything scheduled since July. This may mean Miller's date book is wide open if Plant suggests they do something a little more permanent together than just tonight's one song at the charity gig.
The other possibility is that Miller simply hasn't gotten his scheduled gigs up on that site and he really is booked. For instance, in addition to assisting Boz Scaggs this week, he's booked to appear at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival tomorrow. There, just as tonight and last night, Miller's part of Boz Scaggs & the Blue Velvet Band, which also features blues harmonica player James Cotton among others. They play at the Rooster Stage at 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, and the festival is a free three-day concert at Speedway Meadow in Golden Gate Park. Who knows if Plant may show up there too!
Plant's impromptu appearance in San Francisco tonight could not have come on a more interesting night, which is also seeing Jason Bonham at the Mirage in Las Vegas with Slash and Friends, plus John Paul Jones playing twice in one day at the Austin City Limits Festival in Texas: first with Sara Watkins (as confirmed by LedZeppelinNews.com in advance of the set) and second with Them Crooked Vultures. I have been following all three of these events on Twitter tonight.
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?
Friday, October 2, 2009
Robert Plant to join Buddy Miller onstage in San Francisco tonight; John Paul Jones and Jason Bonham also gigging in U.S. this evening
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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?
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Nashville-based session musician Chris Donohue, a member of Boz Scaggs & the Blue Velvet Band, has just used Twitter to confirm Robert Plant will be singing tomorrow at the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival, a free concert in San Francisco.
ReplyDeleteFrom http://twitter.com/cbdonohue/status/4573043479
"Whoa, Robert Plant sat in with us tonight and will do so again at HSB tomorrow. If you're in SF we'll see you 11.45am at the Towers of Gold Stage"
Also, Twitter user Stax posted a photo of Robert Plant onstage at the Friday night charity gig with Buddy Miller -- see http://bestc.am/H5a for the picture. Stax also commented, "Robert Plant just sat in with buddy miller at great American. Fing awesome!!!!!"
Twitter user Tennesseetraci wrote, "Now we have Buddy Miller and Robert Plant at the Great American Music Hall, life is good."