Plant reveals Lowell George inspiration

Robert Plant has revealed listening to American songwriter and Little Feat singer Lowell George in the 60s helped develop his solo sound.

Speaking with Bob Harris on the radio icon’s upcoming series of previously unheard interviews titled Legends Vault, the former Led Zep man says seeing George on the BBC’s Old Grey Whistle Test had a lasting impression.

Plant says: “I was really moved by Lowell George’s approach, his vocal performances and stuff which was great. I was such a fan of American music – I’m still searching.

“Although I wouldn’t have gone into that zone myself as a singer – I’m not a blue-eyed soul singer, I was just a kind of blues singer of the late 60s, I’ve been able to develop my style from then on. But I think Lowell George’s vocal work was tremendous.”

The undated interview with Plant will be broadcast on May 29 (Friday) via Audioboom and will be the first of six previously unreleased chats between Harris and musicians across the next 12 weeks.

This month, Zeppelin officially denied their classic track Stairway To Heaven was copied from 1968 Spirit song Taurus. Papers filed in a Californian court refute the accusation of breach of copyright and say the band don’t have enough knowledge of the case to answer it.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.