Live review: Robert Plant and Band of Joy at the Greek Theatre

Hand it to Robert Plant: The man knows how to pick a band.

Right now it’s the Band of Joy, the rootsy ensemble led by Americana music hero Buddy Miller that largely lived up to its name at the first stop of its maiden tour Saturday at the Greek Theatre.

Miller is the one carryover from the Band of Joy’s extraordinary predecessor that Plant and collaborator Alison Krauss and producer T Bone Burnett cooked up for the multiple Grammy-winning album “Raising Sand,” whose Greek tour stop in 2008 was one of the most scintillating concerts in recent years.

Then there was Plant’s '80s outfit the Honeydrippers, an early excursion into roots rock and R&B that allowed the curly-locked singer to delve into the music of his youth.

And, for all we know, there may have been another of note along the way.

OK, OK, so Led Zeppelin does cast a rather large shadow, but Plant has shown no qualms about either stepping away from it, or from occasionally traipsing back through it when the mood strikes.

Buddy Miller gathers guitar greats for Majestic Silver Strings album, Grammy Museum show

 
Americana songwriter, singer, guitarist and producer Buddy Miller’s latest project, the Majestic Silver Strings, surfaces March 1 in a new album named for the stellar collection of players who join him: Marc Ribot, Bill Frisell and Greg Leisz.

In conjunction with the album’s release, the quartet of esteemed guitarists will make what’s billed as their only concert appearance together this year at a performance and question-answer session the following week at the downtown L.A. Grammy Museum.

At the March 10 session, they plan to discuss the album’s reinterpretations of country and folk music standards including George Jones' first hit, “Why Baby Why,” Eddy Arnold’s “Cattle Call,” Roger Miller’s “Dang Me” and the cowboy classic “Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie,” along with several originals. Among the guest vocalists on the album are Emmylou Harris, Patty Griffin, Shawn Colvin, Lee Ann Womack, Chocolate Genius Inc. and Miller’s wife, singer-songwriter Julie Miller.

For the Grammy Museum show, Buddy Miller, who produced Robert Plant's latest album, "Band of Joy," Ribot, Frisell and Leisz will be backed by bassist Dennis Crouch and percussionist Jay Bellerose, who also play on the album. Tickets go on sale Friday at Ticketmaster or through the museum’s box office.

The album release will include a DVD with highlights of the only other performance by the Majestic Silver Strings, last year in Nashville.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo of the Majestic Silver Strings, from left: Bill Frisell, Buddy Miller, Greg Leisz and Marc Ribot. Credit: Michael Wilson.

Robert Plant, Jeff Beck, Arcade Fire top 2011 New Orleans Jazz Fest lineup

The lineup for the 2011 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival will bring together international rock, pop, jazz, country headliners, including Robert Plant, Jeff Beck, Arcade Fire, Bon Jovi, Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Sonny Rollins, it was announced today. Added into that impressive roster will be scores of acts based in and around Louisiana, along with a strong representation of Haitian performers.  

Also slated to appear on the 12 stages at this year's Fest, which takes place over a two-weekend run from April 29 to May 8, are Tom Jones, Lauryn Hill, the Avett Brothers, Cyndi Lauper, Mumford & Sons, Jamey Johnson, Jimmy Buffett and Louisiana rock, blues, Cajun, zydeco, gospel and folk musicians such as Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, the Neville Brothers, Trombone Shorty, Irma Thomas, Galactic and dozens of others.

Because of the strong historical and cultural connection between the Crescent City and Haiti, festival organizers have devoted much attention to the Caribbean nation’s performers, including Wyclef Jean, Tabou Combo, Boukman Eksperyans and Emeline Michele. Ticket information is available on the Jazz Fest website.

-- Randy Lewis

Photo: Robert Plant. Credit: Carlo Allegri / Associated Press

 

Album review: Robert Plant's 'Band of Joy'

The natural and the supernatural have long co-mingled in the world Robert Plant inhabits, as far back as his days fronting Led Zeppelin on through his bar-raising 2007 collaboration with Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand.” So it comes as no surprise that those forces are also central to his new project, produced by Americana heavyweight Buddy Miller and recorded in Nashville.

As veteran Plant followers would expect, there's little here in common with the bulk of what's coming out of Music City these days. He's far more interested in the ancient roots of country and folk music, a haunted place where broken hearts rarely heal and where restless spirits find little peace.

Miller has provided Plant with a musical framework as deep as it is wide, not far afield from that which T Bone Burnett built for “Raising Sand.” Now that Krauss has returned to her longtime band Union Station, Plant calls on singer-songwriter Patty Griffin as his duet partner for seven of the 12 tracks, and she matches his yearning, questing vocals gorgeously.

It's elemental stuff, emotionally and musically, that fascinates Plant — whether it's the savage electric folk-blues treatment of Los Lobos' “Angel Dance,” the raucous Bo Diddley proto-rock approach for Texas R&B musician Barbara Lynn's “You Can't Buy My Love” or the achingly beautiful grand-scale balladry of Low's “Silver Rider.” He's also concerned more with quiet revelations than top-of-the-lungs proclamations, which may disappoint those only interested in hearing his Zeppelin roar one more time.

“Band of Joy,” which revives the name of the band Plant was in before Zeppelin erupted from the earth's molten core, feels more rooted to the earth than the consistently transcendent “Raising Sand,” but the singer effectively keeps a foot planted in each of those worlds.

— Randy Lewis

Robert Plant
“Band of Joy”
Rounder
Three stars (Out of four)