#moby grape

Former Led Zeppelin Frontman Plants Himself Behind NPR’s Tiny Desk with Saving Grace

Robert Plant has a message to anyone who’s tried to silo him and his new band, Saving Grace.

“We’re not, in fact Americana,” he said from behind NPR’s Tiny Desk, “we’re English-cana.”

Plant went on to explain he and the rest of Saving Grace - singer Suzi Dian, guitarist Tony Kelsey, cellist Barney Morse-Brown, drummer Oli Jefferson and Matt Worley on guitar, banjo and cuatro - met in England near the border with Wales and are fascinated with Celtic music as they apply it to such numbers as the traditional “Gospel Plough” and "Everybody’s Song" and “It’s a Beautiful Day Today” by the American bands Low and Moby Grape, respectively.

Like the self-titled album from whence these songs come, the songs owe as much to the East as to America or Britain, though Plant does work in a reference to Spinal Tap when a little girl in the audience drops her firefighters hat. They, also like the album, sometimes work and sometimes don’t.

Among the latter is the non-album track “Gallows Pole,” which Plant introduces by way of Lead Belly rather than Led Zeppelin. But when he tries for the voice of the latter, he makes the point his more subdued singing with Dian - as with Alison Krauss - is the right path for the modern Plant.

Moby Grape - Fall On You (1967)

From Moby Grape's brilliant debut LP - it's almost like there was too much talent in one band (sort of like a SF version of Buffalo Springfield, with whom they shared a resemblance). This is a driving hard rock country tune with a great guitar break by Jerry Miller - no meandering, long jamming for this group!

Alexander "Skip" Spence 

Hit Parader Magazine. December 1967. Magazine cover detail.

Moby Grape - RAI Congrescentrum, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, February 12, 1969

A couple weeks back on Aquarium Drunkard, I wrote a little bit about Weird Herald, a fairly unknown Bay Area psych band from the late 1960s. They only had one promo single to their name during their lifespan, but Guerssen Records in Spain recently released Just Yesterday, a lovingly produced compilation of studio sessions, rehearsals and demos. Great stuff and well worth checking out — especially if you're a fan of Moby Grape. And who among us is not a fan of Moby Grape????