Ertegun's death ended Honeydrippers plans

Ertegun's death ended Honeydrippers plans

January 13, 2007

BY GARY GRAFF

DETROIT -- The death of Atlantic Records co-founder Ahmet Ertegun in December put the kabosh on a new Honeydrippers album that Robert Plant planned to record this year.
Plant says he and Ertegun began talking about the project -- a followup to the platinum 1984 EP ''Volume One,'' which featured Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck and Nile Rodgers, among others -- after Plant was part of a tribute to Ertegun last June at the 40th annual Montreux Jazz Festival.

''We agreed to carry on and create a Honeydrippers thing a little bit later on in 2007,'' says Plant. ''He was suggesting material and stuff like that. I knew he was thrilled with the idea of it, and so was I.''

But Plant decided there was no reason to continue the project without Ertegun's involvement. ''I would only do it because I wanted the whole rapport with him and his history,'' Plant says.

The former Led Zeppelin frontman recently did some writing in Wales with his band, Strange Sensation, but he's also been recording in the United States with Alison Krauss and T-Bone Burnett.

''It's amazing. It's otherworldly,'' Plant says of the latter, which also includes guitarist Marc Ribot. ''I don't really know how to describe it. ... It's just very unique and very strong and very emotive.''

Plant would not predict when either project will be released but did say, ''It obviously is not gonna be very long.''

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