News Robert Plant facing difficulties writing new songs: “I can’t find words”
Former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant has revealed he’s struggling to write new material despite his best attempts.
Plant, who recently announced a tour of North America with Alison Krauss, last released an album of original material in 2017 with Carry Fire. However, he did team up with Krauss in 2021 on the Grammy-nominated Raise the Roof, which consisted of bluegrass covers.
In addition to touring with Krauss, Plant is set to tour the United Kingdom in March with Saving Grace, which includes a date at the Palladium in London and Sheffield City Hall.
In a new interview with Rolling Stone, Plant explained: “I’ve got a group of friends that I play with over here a little bit from time to time. I’ve also been going through all that stuff that I never released and never quite got finished. And getting excited about it. Going, ‘Wow. What am I going to do with that?’ It’s the idioms, the visitation, the places that I’ve been musically which were not complete are just mind-boggling, and they’re a little bit overwhelming.”
However, the chances of new material being released soon is slight with Plant adding: “I’ve got a Tascam digital recorder, and I sing, and I put the vocals through a guitar pedal, and then I record them on that over there, and it sounds great. Why bother to go to the studio? But I can’t find words. This is a very difficult time to try and wax lyrical out there.”
Furthermore, in the same interview, Plant reflected on playing the Led Zeppelin classic ‘Stairway To Heaven’ after a sizeable sum was donated at a function in aid of the Cancer Awareness Trust in Oxfordshire last year.
While Plant conceded it would likely be the final time he would play the song, he noted: “It was cathartic. People go, ‘Oh, that’s good. He never was going to do that.’ But I didn’t really do it! I just blurted it out. ‘Cause it’s such an important song to me for where I was at the time and where I was with Jimmy and with John and Bonzo. So on that night, it was what it was. It was a trial by fire, but I felt better at the end than at the beginning.”
Watch footage below of Plant playing ‘Stairway To Heaven’ in 2023.
