…No, they weren’t groupies.
I actually didn’t know about my mom’s secret penchant for Led Zeppelin until ripe into my mid 30s. It was like a revival for her and and a new awakening for me. I thought she’d never open up—heck, I remember just a few years ago (well into my adulthood) asking her if she ever smoked a blunt growing up in the 70s. “Whitneyyy, that is not an appropriate question!” was her prudish response. I get it, she still wanted me to view her as the soccer mom she was at the time of my coming into the world. It’s amazing the things that your parents stow away in the backs of their minds when they start having babies and raising a family: they forgot where they came from—probably, to some degree, on purpose. I figure you just can’t invite LZ into a young family setting. Not to say it’s like heavy metal or Blacksabbath, but it did have more of an edge than what I remember mom and dad playing on the stereo: Fleetwood Mac, Neil Diamond, Kenny G and Christian oldschool worship music. I think the most rock ‘n roll I was exposed to was on my drives home from school with my dad—Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel were regulars to my fresh ears. So I thought my dad was the only cool one about music—I didn't get the same feeling from my mom. One could call it indifference. She was so protective of us, too—that’s right, no Scooby Doo, The Simpsons or Beetle Juice for you!
I think she forgot about her love for LZ because she was so busy in the new chapter of her life. I even recall her telling me she didn’t like listening to music that much because of the way it manipulates your emotions. Sometimes music acts as a much needed bandaid—other times it deceives (yep, cue the dramatic movies and mood-swaying commercials). So, I get it, I think she was talking about the latter point. Whenever she was listening to something it was usually Dr. Laura—to which, as I think about it, music would have been more a therapeutic bandaid to ease Dr. Laura’s brutal hard-hitting reality bites on life and love. Nonetheless, the dust has settled now, the kids are out of the house and she has time to rest in the nostalgia of yesteryear: the things and people that made an impression on her youth. I’ve discovered my mom to have been multi dimensional this whole time—all revealed in increments, those little morsels of her youth to be discovered. Come to find out, my mom is drawn to the softer acoustical side of LZ: songs such as Ramble On, Kashmir, Stairway to Heaven , Tangerine, Thank you, Over the Hills and Far away, That’s the way, etc . My Dad, on the other hand, while enjoying the acoustical songs, doesn’t mind listening to some of the heavier music of LZ.
I have heard LZ music before but always outside the door, per se—I never got into their world—until my mom invited me in just last summer. “Watch this! Watch this! It was a Youtube link of Heart singing Stairway to Heaven magnificently and they were joined by Jason Bonham—son of the late Jon Bonham—and an orchestra at the Kennedy Center Honors in 2012. They were honoring Led Zeppelin’s achievements. As a family we later watched the incredible LZ celebration Day Concert in 2007 at the O2 arena in London.
She started listening and reading up on all the LZ news and even went to a Robert Plant concert in Ohio earlier this year. Well versed on the group and their geriatric rockstar life today, the only thing left was for my mom to physically step back in time to their old stomping grounds: the U.K. Being that my mom was already a prolific traveler with 124 countries to her name—basically one of the most stamped passports in the world—she had no trouble hopping over the pond. My dad and she go abroad for their anniversary every year, anyways. They warmed up last year by traveling around London on a Beatles 2hour tour as well and saw the LZ sites in London in 2022. This year they drove around Wales and England to see the LZ sites including Headley Grange and Bron yr Aur. They even went to their second Robert Plant concert with his band Saving Grace (they said it was a lot more poignant than the one in Ohio—Plant’s home turf probably makes a difference!
“Hey Susan, take a picture of me next to this fern—maybe it inspired an LZ song.” -my dad (imagined)
“Now take a picture go me, Dean. This is one of the trails the band members walked on!” -my mom (imagined)
It’s interesting to see the juxtaposition of a famous musician: they present their vocal works of art on stage with lots of artificial lights and people screaming, yet the penning of these songs was on the opposite spectrum. Produced in the most introverted way—cottages in the middle of nowhere—these are the places where they wrote some of their most incredible albums, canonizing the group into rock ‘n roll history. Some people use Facebook as an informal blog because they don’t have a website, but I think my mom’s latest journalling post deserves to be preserved on a more solid website like mine rather than shallow platform like FB. All these memes posts are cheapening original thoughts and experiences like hers. The following are recent captions I grabbed from my mom’s Facebook along with accompanying photographs she took on those days….
Such a gorgeous walk in Wales to Bron yr Aur today ….where Led Zeppelin members Robert plant and Jimmy page came in the early 70s to be alone..get inspired and write their acoustical songs on LZ 3 and 4. They had just come off touring in America ( those huge crazy stadium concerts) and making studio albums 1 and 2 on the road in the US so they needed a break to create music for their next album LZ 3 which they wanted a softer sound…..
The songs tangerine, thank you, bron yr Aur stomp, friends, that’s the way, the battle of evermore, over the hills, …..etc were written there……..One of my photos is by the gate and is of Scott Roe who lives in Bron yr aur with his wife and daughter and he talked to us for over an hour.
Scotts father in law bought Bron yr Aur in the 70s after LZ left ….and his wife was raised there…actually before all that It was RP childhood holiday home ….
Scott said Jimmy Page came out of the blue to the gate one day last year with his younger daughter Zofia .. the first time in 50 years he had been back and it was pretty emotional for him …Scott said they came in for tea ……his daughter introduced them by saying “my dad was in a band”. Haha
Scott said Robert Plant has been there too but he and Jimmy are not that close…”it’s complicated” he said …Also Robert disagrees with the new music album Scott is producing on the property with all kinds of musical collaborators …..
I can see how RP was so drawn to Wales. I see “smoke through the trees”. It’s the wood burning fireplaces…that’s all a lot of houses have for heat….”bustle in your hedgerow” hedgerows are everywhere , leaves falling all around …..over the hills and far away …. It all makes sense…. This area of Wales is really magical…the Autumn colors and Celtic history….LZ misty mountain hop was inspired by the Welsh hills which are usually in a clock of mist.
In my pictures there is a grassy green hill above Bron yr Aur and Scott said the guys would climb up and write their music up there. There is a small river below the house. It’s off the grid still and when RP and JP were there there was no electricity or running water
We climbed up part way on the hill you can see it in the photos and the views are so beautiful.. ….”Over the hills and far away”…
Scott said people come from all over the world several times a week to Bron Yr Aur …It’s a long walk from the road …up the single narrow track….
Visited Headley Grange in Berkshire England and some other Led zep sites…..the Mill House in Windsor and the “boathouse in Pangbourne.
Headley Grange is where Robert Plant wrote Stairway to Heaven. They recorded “When the Levee Breaks” in the front hallway where the acoustics were echoing …..
Genesis, Fleetwood Mac , Rolling Stones, and others also stayed and recorded there …it’s been called the 5th member of Led Zeppelin…
it was the most beautiful drive to Headley through rural England at its best….. Country roads lined with hedges ( a bustle in your hedgerow!) and so many “leaves falling all around”….…..
The staircase in Headley Grange supposedly inspired Robert Plant as he sat in a chair by the fireplace and wrote the lyrics to Stairway .
We were taking photos outside the house and the owner came out and let us drive inside the gate and chatted with us. Her mother was the one who rented the house to the groups in the late 60s 70s. She said Jimmy Page and Robert Plant have both been back various times to reminisce and jimmy filmed there for a short documentary. Jo grew up in the house …..Her husband John also came outside to visit with us….. a very special time and they even have a “ black dog!” Haha What a day! ( :
