Everett True’s interview with Low’s Alan Sparhawk appears on The Vine. Robert Plant included two Low songs, “Monkey” and “Silver Rider” on his “Band of Joy” album. Of those inclusions Sparhawk says:

That’s pretty exciting. I have no idea how it came about. Near as I can tell, he heard our stuff at some point and obviously owned The Great Destroyer. I read an interview where he said he was a big fan. His versions are pretty cool. ‘Monkey’ is more of a really driving blues riff that moves along, and he ends up taking it some place really mellow, very eerie. And I think they do a phenomenal job of ‘Silver Rider’. It’s beautiful. It’s actually very similar to the way we do it, but he’s a great singer. It’d be hard to find anyone else now who’s got that much credibility. Barbra Streisand, maybe? It was a huge honour. I hope at some point we’ll see the show. He’s doing us a favour. It blew me off my seat.

Justin Adams recently spoke with Philippa Kennedy and her article appears in the National (UAE). Adams talks about his involvement with WOMAD and his affinity for desert music. He also talked about teaming up with Robert Plant:

The call from Robert Plant, asking Adams to work with him, came out of the blue. “I was completely star-struck at first. That was a pretty surprising phone call to get. He was looking for a guitarist and somebody recommended me. Obviously, when you are playing for Robert Plant for the first time in a rehearsal it’s a bit scary because he has been part of your life.

Both men gained musically from the relationship, Adams believes: “We turned each other on to really good music. For instance I took him to the Sahara desert to play at the Festival of the Desert and he took me to the Mississippi delta.”

Adams also hinted at a show with Robert Plant later in the year:

“This year I may be doing a concert in October with Robert Plant, but you never know till the last minute with Robert,” he says.

Beth Nielsen Chapman will be performing with Robert Plant on February 25, 2010 at Abbey Road studios to raise funds for Cancer Research UK.

In a recent interview with Burton Mail, Chapman talks about her music and some thoughts on Robert Plant.

She tells interviewer Richard Castle:

“I’m always thrilled to have commercial success, but, for me, the measure of my success is to be asked to work with people like Robert Plant.

“A few months ago, we shared a meal and what struck me about him was how openminded and curious he was. And we’re not just talking about music. He’s got such a quizzical mind about everything and I think that’s a great quality for a musician to have.”

CMT’s Hot Dish column by Hazel Smith has a story about Alison Krauss and her current projects. Smith’s folksy style brings out the obscure information at times, like what’s on the breakfast menu.

Smith asked Krauss if she still heard from Robert Plant. Smith writes:

I asked her if she hears from Robert Plant, and she said she does — and that he’s coming back to Nashville. “He’s recording with Buddy Miller,” she said. Buddy is the great Americana singer, songwriter and instrumentalist who records with his wife, Julie, and often works with Emmylou Harris. Buddy was the guitar player for the Raising Sand tour Alison did with Plant.

The Mississippi Blues Trail website has added a video welcome message that features musical notables from all genres, including Robert Plant.

Visit the Mississippi Blues Trail website to view the message and learn more about the project.

Gary Regan, from The Cocktailian column in sfgate.com writes about meeting various celebrities and how approachable they are as compared to Andy Warhol. Robert Plant visited a bar Regan was working at and Regan recalls:

Robert Plant, lead singer of Led Zeppelin, came into a bar at which I worked in the late ’80s and early ’90s, and he was just a regular nice guy who took time to talk to everyone who came up to him, even though he was eating lunch. Robert Plant was way more approachable than Andy Warhol.

After Robert Plant recently noted he was in talks to appear at Glastonbury, Brian May tells BBC 6 Music that he’d gladly appear with Robert:

“I’d play with Robert anytime and when we have played together he’s wonderful. Robert is a rock god and an inspiration to us all, always will be,” May said.

Robin Denselow, writing for guardian.co.uk, offered an interview with Justin Adams. Adams spoke about his music and collaborations, including his work with Robert Plant. Denselow writes:

And then, of course, there’s his “very different” work with Robert Plant. Adams says he gets on well with the Zeppelin star, because he’s got over all the initial shyness one might have of working with a legend: “Plus, we’ve got passions in common – the blues, and Moroccan music and Egyptian classical music. So we have Little Richard and Bukka White, and then berber and gnawa music as reference points.” When they last performed together the line-up consisted of “two Algerian bendir players, Juldeh on his fiddle, drums, bass, me on guitar, and Robert – and we played a spooked-out version of Led Zep’s Black Dog that was almost unrecognisable. I hope we record that stuff”.

Dominic Beaumont interviewed Francis Dunnery, and Francis had nice words about Robert Plant:

I love Robert, I think he’s a brilliant man. He is incredibly knowledgeable about a whole load of things. The guy is brilliant, his mind is unique and he’s incredibly interesting. He’s a straight talking guy, down to earth and people almost resent him because he doesn’t act like a rock star.

When we were flying around America, Robert would go back into economy and have a drink with the people back there. I think he feels comfortable amongst the working man, but I’m not sure the working man feels comfortable with him treating them as equals. He just doesn’t have the arrogant Ego that people accuse him of. He’s completely real. He is not trying to sell you an image of himself.

So far as Robert is concerned, I was never a Zeppelin fan growing up. His personality and energy are what attracts me to him. He’s a fucking nutcase in the nicest possible way. I also know that he gives millions of dollars to charity all the time and never says a thing about it. You have to respect that.

You can read the whole massive interview on Dunnery’s website:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Kim Morgan, writing in the Huffington Post, reveals that actor Vince Vaughn has a soft spot for country music. And during the interview, he had praise for the Raising Sand tour. Vaughn said:

To me, the thing that I liked about the tour that Robert Plant did with Alison Krauss was that he really went out of his way to talk about American roots music. They were trying to sound like the old Appalachian singers and a lot of the blues singers and that’s really who their idols were. What was wonderful about that show is that they played a lot of those Led Zeppelin songs Appalachian style. It was really, really beautiful.

Read the article.