Them Crooked  Vultures continue to add dates to their summer schedule with four more European festival dates announced this week. The festivals are Rock Am Ring, Nurburgring, Germany over the weekend of 4^th -6^th June, The Hove Festival (Web Link) , Arendal, Norway on June 30th, The Peace & Love Festival (Web Link), Borlange, Sweden on July 1st and The Festivalpladsen (Web Link), Roskilde, Denmark on July 2nd.

The excellent Austin City Limits TV broadcast that was shown last week is now available to watch in its entirety by following this link   them-crooked-vultures-entire-austin-city-limits-tv-performance.

                 Beth Neilson Chapman and Robert at Abbey Road                                                           

As Robert Plant’s show at Abbey Road approaches (Thursday 25^th February) a couple of interesting quotes appeared this week. Firstly from Beth Neilson Chapman who was speaking to the Derbyshire Times on her upcoming show in Derby on the 26^th,

Beth is taking a departure from her tour to perform a charity gig at Abbey Road with legendary Led Zeppelin front man Robert Plant.
“I’m always thrilled to have commercial success,” says Beth, “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 open-minded 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.
“I’ll make sure I don’t get dragged into partying with him after the show, though, so I’m on good form for the Derby show.”
The second one comes from a recent interview with Alison Krauss, asked if she still heard from Robert Plant,

                     Robert and Buddy Miller

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. So that would indicate that a second  Plant/Krauss album is unlikely to happen this year.

In a recent interview Whitesnake vocalist spoke of the possibility of a “special edition” version of the 1993 Coverdale/Page album being released.  Coverdale said that  “EMI have recently been making overtures to me about putting a ‘special edition’ together after they heard there were several unreleased tracks… but, time & resource is the problem… We’ve been archiving lots of tapes, cassettes & videos at home recently & we have discovered a ton of the demos Jimmy & I made which could be very interesting for some people to hear…
We also filmed a lot of our writing & recording sessions… so, I feel we could put a terrific ‘special’ together that would be a treat to have… but, in reality, JP & I have never discussed re-issuing, or making another CP album… There is always the possibility of something happening… I just can’t see it in the forseeable future as I am busy with ‘all things Whitesnake’… Personally, I am thrilled I had the opportunity to work with one of my musical heroes… & to maintain a healthy, loving friendship with him”… So thats a no then.

One CD set that is being reissued is the 1990 “Live At Knebworth” in aid of Nordoff-Robbins. Heralded (by some) as “the best British rock concert of all time,” artist included Paul McCartney, Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton, Robert Plant & Jimmy Page, Elton John, Phil Collins, Genesis, Dire Straits, Tears For Fears, Cliff Richard & The Shadows, and Status Quo. All performing free of charge to support the charities, this line-up was amassed from recipients of the prestigious Nordoff-Robbins’ Silver Clef Award, which recognizes acts that make outstanding contributions to the British music industry. Originally released on Polydor in 1990, this 20th anniversary reissue will continue the tradition on giving back, as sales will raise funds for both Nordoff-Robbins (the U.K.’s leading independent provider of music therapy) and the Brit School of Performing Arts. The double CD is released on March 23th by Eagle Rock Entertainment. The Plant tracks included are Hurting Kind, Liars Dance, Tall Cool One and Wearing And Tearing. (GF)