Author: Logan Rocker

Jason Bonham recently announced that he’ll celebrate the 50th anniversary of Led Zeppein’s Physical Graffiti by playing the entire double LP on tour with his band.

As he shares on an upcoming interview for the UCR Podcast, there’s many different reasons that Physical Graffiti is his favorite Zeppelin album, starting with one of its most famous tracks,”Kashmir.” The song features a legendary drum performance by his father, late Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham and demonstrates the importance of following the creative muse, in spite of any perceived limitations. “‘Kashmir,’ that was inspired by a young drummer coming back from a lunchtime pint, singing to the guitar player [Jimmy Page],” he explains. “My father couldn’t play any other instrument than drums.”

“A lot of time when you see Dad’s writing credit, there was a band around him that would understand what he was trying to get across,” he continues. “‘Out On the Tiles‘ [from 1970’s Led Zeppelin III], you know, he’d sing something to Jimmy and Jimmy would obviously be able to figure out what he was trying to get across. So I love that aspect of Physical Graffiti [and] ‘Kashmir,’ a song which started with my dad going, ‘I’ve got this idea of this continuation.’ I always say, ‘Never be afraid to try and write. If you can’t play an instrument, hum the idea [for] somebody that can understand what you’re trying to get across.”

Listen to Led Zeppelin’s ‘Kashmir’

Bonham is also fascinated by some of the demos and sketches that emerged later on the deluxe edition of Physical Graffiti. “The early version of ‘In the Light‘ [has] a very strange piano intro and literally, the track was done and they redid the intro completely,” he says. “But the drum tracks they put down stayed with the track forever. I’ve always loved that. It’s as [Black] Sabbath as Zeppelin ever got, with the riff [for ‘In the Light’].”

What Fans Can Expect at Bonham’s Upcoming ‘Physical Graffiti’ Concerts

The drummer assures fans that when they come out to hear Physical Graffiti live, it will be an experience. “I don’t want you to know what’s coming,” he details. “We will be playing the entire album, but not necessarily in the right order. Who wants to put ‘Kashmir’ that early in the set? There’s going to be a lot of thinking on our part to make it more of a show, so it’s not so obvious, but you’re still surprised as well as pleased.”

“That’s [another] goal is to make people happy with the choice of the arrangements that we choose…some of these songs, they never did live,” he adds. “You know, I’ve been fortunate [that we’ve been playing the music long enough] that we have played, in some way, every song from Physical Graffiti, but not necessarily all at the same time. So putting the show together is a key thing to [also] make it all work visually. The whole concept of the [tour] poster [and] the building in the sand, was inspired by Planet of the Apes, when Charlton Heston sees the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the beach and he goes, “You blew it up, you idiots!” [There’s also] a bit [of] the Wizard of Oz. It’s like, with the twister, the house had been picked up and dropped in the middle of the Sahara Desert. That was to give it the element of ‘Kashmir’ and you know, the magic Led Zeppelin had.”

READ MORE: All 92 Led Zeppelin Songs Ranked

The tour is scheduled to begin May 3 in Wallingford, CT and Bonham expects they will add additional dates. But for now, he’s focused on making sure they deliver what fans are anticipating — and he knows that’s a heavy task. “The goal of this is to present it like Zeppelin did all their shows,” he explains. “They were in search of making the perfect night. They never stuck to exactly what what was on the album. If they felt just something needed to go longer, they would go longer. That was always my goal with this.”

For much of her career, Joni Mitchell was compared to the person she was when she first started making music. Back then, she was usually branded a delicate folksinger who, in the words of Robert Plant, “plays guitar, cries and sings.”

But like anyone, Mitchell grew, developed and changed, so that by the time she got to the ’80s, she was making a different kind of music and writing different kinds of lyrics. Not all her fans understood or appreciated it, to say nothing of the opinions of critics at the time.

“When you’ve been around long enough, people only remember certain facets of you,” she said in a 1985 interview. “Unfortunately, I’m carrying this tale of history around behind me.”

To be fair, Mitchell was by no means the only artist to have gotten her start in an earlier era and be met with harsh criticism in the ’80s. Bob Dylan, Neil Young, and plenty of others embarked on artistic endeavors that baffled many and did not stand the test of time.

Still, Mitchell was as determined as ever to make the art she wanted to make. In the below list, we’re taking a look at the Top 10 ’80s Joni Mitchell Songs. We suggest looking past the harbinger of ’80s music that was synthesizers to the song underneath — you might be surprised at what you find.

10. “Cool Water”
From: Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm (1988)

“Often,” Mitchell confessed to Rolling Stone (via jonimitchell.com) in 1988, “I’ve put musicians on my albums simply because of their proximity.” This is more or less how Willie Nelson came to appear on Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, more specifically on a song called “Cool Water” that was first released by the Western singing group Sons of the Pioneers in 1934. Nelson reportedly pulled up to the studio Mitchell was working out of at two in the morning one night and joined in on the fun.

9. “Chinese Cafe” / “Unchained Melody”
From: Wild Things Run Fast (1982)

In 1981, Mitchell took a trip to the Caribbean, where she heard a lot of music by acts like the Police, Talking Heads and Steely Dan, which would explain the vibe she ultimately went for on 1982’s Wild Things Run Fast. But perhaps the most notable thing about the opening track to the album, a half original, half cover called “Chinese Cafe / Unchained Melody,” isn’t the sound at all — it’s that Mitchell made a rare and incredibly vulnerable mention of the daughter she gave up for adoption back in 1965. “My child’s a stranger,” she sings. “I bore her, but I couldn’t raise her.” At that point in time, few people knew Mitchell had ever had a child and it would still be years before the topic became a public one.

8. “You Dream Flat Tires”
From: Wild Things Run Fast (1982)

There are opposing forces at play in “You Dream Flat Tires” — a jazz fusion type bass part, a rock guitar solo, tight backing harmonies — but somehow it makes such an interesting whole. Oh yeah, and it’s also a duet with Lionel Richie, another person Mitchell unexpectedly conscripted.

7. “Shadows and Light” (Live)
From: Shadows and Light (1980)

Mitchell released her second live album, Shadows and Light, in 1980, which was recorded in September of 1979 in Santa Barbara, California. Her band then consisted of guitarist Pat Metheny, bassist Jaco Pastorius, drummer Don Alias, keyboardist Lyle Mays and saxophonist Michael Brecker. If the below title track sounds cinematic to you, good news: Mitchell made a two-hour, self-edited concert film along with this album.

6. “Ethiopia”
From: Dog Eat Dog (1985)

In 1985, two all-star charity singles were released in the form of “We Are the World” and “Tears Are Not Enough,” the latter of which was recorded by a host of Canadian artists that included Mitchell. Both were meant to raise money to help with famine in Ethiopia. But following that, Mitchel felt those efforts were misguided, and wrote “Ethiopia” as a result. “[The songs] were more about us, we the performers and we the contributors of money, then they were about the people of Africa themselves,” she said to NME in 1985. “So once I had that idea I did the portrait more of the Ethiopians themselves in the context of our own world hunger.”

5. “Dancin’ Clown”
From: Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm (1988)

Joni Mitchell, Billy Idol and Tom Petty sounds like the most unlikely combination ever, and yet it happened in 1988 on Mitchell’s Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm, in which both men make cameos on the song “Dancin’ Clown.” When asked by NME why she asked Idol to sing on the track, Mitchell replied “The sneer. … No one else can sing with such a sneer. I saw him at the Grammys and I thought this guy is old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. He thinks he’s Elvis. All the bad boy posturing is kind of sincere and humorous—the nearest the ’80s get to the spirit of rock ‘n’ roll.”

4. “Edith and the Kingpin” (Live)
From: Shadows and Light (1980)

If there was one thing Mitchell proved in the ’70s and ’80s, it was that “jazz” could be a much broader thing than many people assumed it to be. The 1980 live version of “Edith and the Kingpin” embodies this idea – smooth but funky, delicate at points and robust in others. “I’m not a jazzer, I’m not a rock and roller, I’m not a folkie. I’m just a musician,” Mitchell said in a December 1980 interview. “I just go in and out of these fields, you know, at will, which is a very luxurious position. The more experimentive [sic] you become — by that I mean willing to take chances — the more chances open up to you.”

3. “Good Friends”
From: Dog Eat Dog (1985)

Speaking to Rolling Stone in 1979, Mitchell described the Doobie Brothers‘ Michael McDonald as “very natural singer.” Six years later, McDonald duetted with Mitchell on a track titled “Good Friends,” their two voices melding together surprisingly well. It’s a pleasing enough pairing that it’s easy to look past the heavy ’80s arrangement.

2. “Woodstock” (Live)
From: Shadows and Light (1980)

Mitchell did not perform at Woodstock, and she didn’t attend it either. Yet, she managed to write arguably the most famous song about it. She released “Woodstock” on her 1970 album, Ladies of the Canyon, but the 1980 live version is especially soul-stirring and exquisitely performed. There is a confidence about it that Mitchell must have learned over a decade of time.

1. “Snakes and Ladders”
From: Chalk Mark in a Rain Storm (1988)

The Eagles did not exist at the time Mitchell brought Don Henley in to record the song “Snakes and Ladders” – they’d broken up at the very beginning of the ’80s. Henley, frankly, was the perfect choice to sing the part of a highly confident “air-brushed angel.” “He came in and heard the song and his brow kind of knit up,” Mitchell explained to Musician magazine then. “I said, ‘Can you get into this?’ He said, ‘What are you talking about? This is my life!'”

Slayer singer/bassist Tom Araya didn’t listen to metal until he joined the band.

The fire-spewing thrash metal frontman made the revelation during an interview on Canadian TV network SuperChannel in 1988. When the interviewer asks him to name his influences, he laughs and answers, “You don’t want to hear my influences!”

He adds that he grew up listening to more classic rock bands, naming Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Animals and Jefferson Airplane.

“The only time I recently started listening to [metal] music was when I joined the band with these guys,” he continues, gesturing to guitar player Kerry King next to him. “I didn’t even know metal existed.”

“That’s for sure!” King corroborates with a laugh.

Araya continues: “I didn’t know this shit existed until he [King] said, ‘Hey, what do you say you join the band? These are the songs that we’re learning.’ I said, ‘Who’s this? There’s a band called Iron Maiden – who’s that?’”

Araya talked further about his early influences in a 2011 interview with Wikimetal. “Growing up I always used to listen to hard rock, acid rock in the 60s,” he remembered, “so I really liked hard rock music, so that’s what influenced me to be a rock bass player I guess. Heavy metal would have to be Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, those were the bands I kind of favoured, growing up and listening to.”

Despite not being a metalhead at first, Araya become one of the genre’s most recognised figures, fronting Slayer nonstop from 1981 until their retirement in 2019. He once again started screaming behind the mic in 2024, when the band announced their return for a series of festival shows later in the year.

Initially, King said that fans shouldn’t expect Slayer concerts to become a “yearly event”, but the thrashers now have five concerts set for 2025. Three will take place in the UK this summer, headlining Cardiff’s Blackweir Fields on July 3, appearing at Black Sabbath’s Back To The Beginning show in Villa Park, Birmingham, on July 5, then headlining London’s Finsbury Park on July 6. Support at the Cardiff and London dates will come from Amon Amarth, Anthrax, Mastodon, Hatebreed and Neckbreakker.

Araya recently commented on Slayer’s appearance at Back To The Beginning, which will feature the last-ever live shows from Sabbath’s original lineup and frontman Ozzy Osbourne.

“I am a Sabbath fan, and doing this show is an honour,” he said. “I was hanging out with my brother and his friends during my junior year in high school, and we would play Sabbath all the time, so I am a big fan.

“Black Sabbath were the originators, people call them ‘the godfathers of metal music’. I think it’s going to be an amazing experience, from the beginning to the end. I’m really, really honoured to be a part of this, it’s going to be great.”

Multi-national prog rockers Big Big Train have shared a brand new live clip of The Last English King.

The song features in both live and studio form on the band’s upcoming reissue of their 2002 album Bard, which they will reissue through English Electric Recordings on March 21. At the same time the band will release a new EP, Scop, as a companion to Bard. The EP takes its title from the old English word for ‘Bard’, and will feature five demos from the Bard recording sessions plus The Sundial.

“On the tour last autumn and at our forthcoming shows in April and May, our focus is on playing songs from our most recent studio album The Likes Of Us,” lead vocalist Alberto Bravin explains. “But we also always want to celebrate the great Big Big Train back catalogue and so we decided to dust off The Last English King, a song that the band had never played live until last September.”

“It has been such a blast to delve into ancient history with The Last English King”, adds drummer Nick D’Virgilio. “I really dug the song the first time I heard it and knew that this line-up could do something very special with the arrangement. I love the way it starts out acoustically and then has a very psychedelic section before the huge, powerful ending.”

“The Last English King is great fun to perform,” keyboardist Oskar Holldorff comments:. The extended keyboard solos gave me a chance to stretch out and play something slightly different every night. Hopefully we will play the song many more times in the future.”

Big Big Train kick off their forthcoming US April tour in Florida on April 2, and will co-headline at this year’s Cruise To The Edge. The band will also make their very first live appearances in Canada and also perform in Portugal for the very first time at the beginning of May at the Gouveia Art Rock Festival.

Scop will be released exclusively as a digital download only via the Big Big Train Bandcamp page.

Pre-order Bard.

Dolly Parton‘s husband of more than five decades, Carl Dean, has died.

A representative for the singer confirms that Carl Dean died on Monday, March 3, 2025, in Nashville, Tenn.

“Carl and I spent many wonderful years together. Words can’t do justice to the love we shared over 60 years,” Parton says in a statement. “Thank you for your prayers and sympathy.”

Parton met Carl Dean on her very first day in Nashville in 1964, when she was an aspiring artist looking for a break. He approached her at a laundromat and struck up a conversation, and the couple quickly became inseparable.

They married in May of 1966, and, though they were married for nearly 60 years before his death and Parton frequently talked about him in interviews, fans almost never caught a glimpse of Parton’s elusive spouse over the years.

His reluctance to appear in the public spotlight took on legendary status. As Parton explained in a podcast interview with Jelly Roll‘s wife, Bunnie Xo, in 2024, he was so uncomfortable with the attention that he outright refused to take part in any music business events after agreeing to attend the BMI Awards not long after they were married.

Parton was set to receive her first-ever Songwriter of the Year award at the ceremony, and she was excited to have her husband share it with her.

“I rented a tux and begged him to go,” she said. “And he did, and oh, he was so uncomfortable the whole night.”

When they returned home from the celebrity event, Dean put his foot down.

“He said, ‘Look now, I want you to do everything you want to do, and I wish you the best, but don’t ever ask me to go to another one of these damn things, because I’m not doing it.’ And he never did,” Parton continued.

“… And I respected that. I didn’t know he was gonna be that uneasy.”

Despite his refusal to participate in the spotlight, Carl Dean was Parton’s biggest cheerleader in private over the years, as she acknowledged when she shared a throwback picture of them together in 2021.

“Find you a partner who will support you like my Carl Dean does!” she wrote to accompany the photo.

Multiple outlets have reported that Dean ran a company that laid asphalt in Nashville for many years. It’s unclear what year he retired.

In 2022, Parton alluded to Dean’s advancing age in an interview with Pollstar, revealing that she didn’t believe she would ever mount a full-fledged tour ever again.

“Something could happen,” she observed. “I would not feel right about that, if I were gone and somebody needed me.”

Per Parton’s official statement, Dean leaves behind two living siblings, Sandra and Donnie. He will be “laid to rest in a private ceremony with immediate family attending.”

The family has asked for privacy at this time.