The Waybacks, part II: A whole lotta Zeppelin then, but don't expect a whole lot now

James Nash rocks. Photo by Jay Blakesberg

At the 2008 edition of Merlefest last April, the Waybacks played the Phish card. Without any advance warning, James Nash and company launched into Led Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love" and proceeded to play through the rest of the 1969 classic album Led Zeppelin II in its entirety.

The beloved jam band Phish made a Halloween musical costume tradition of playing complete albums by other bands - The Beatles' "White Album," the Who's Quadrophenia, Talking Heads' Remain in Light. A rock band covering classic rock albums is one thing; a dozen bluegrass and old-time country musicians performing an iconic work of artful, majestic heavy metal at an old-time music festival is another.

You can listen to samples or download the entire set from FestivaLink, and you know what? It not nearly as out of bounds as it sounds.

"I wouldn't have been so quick to admit it before the show happened, but now that the show happened and it was a success, then I'll happily submit it was my idea," says guitarist Nash, who got a chance to exercise his Jimmy Page chops.

"Merlefest [the annual tribute to the music of Doc and Merle Watson, held each year in Wilkesboro, N.C.] is on the extreme edge of festivals that throw artists together to do shows," he explained. "Sometimes there's a real plan and sometimes it's just everyone picks a song and you all take a solo on each other's song and the set is over."

When he got the idea of organizing a set around LZII, Nash faced the challenge of finding a lead singer. "There are very few people who can pull off even singing a Robert Plant song," he explained, "not even trying to sound like him, but just dealing with the vocal range - range of pitch and emotion. I started thinking, John Cowan could do this."

When he called the veteran of the New Grass Revival and pitched the idea, Nash was greeted with five seconds of silence. "Then he said, 'I'm totally in.'"

The other players on stage that day were fellow Waybacks Warren Hood, Joe Kyle, Jr. and Chuck Hamilton, plus Phil Wade, Betse Ellis, Pete Wernick, Tom Ball, Shad Cobb, Byron House and Tom Rozum. A few partial rehearsals and some pre-show jamming were all the impromptu band had to go on. "Sometimes you get the most energy and excitement when everybody really is looking around with big eyes going, 'Oh my god, I don't remember what happens next.' And definitely was the feeling we had on that stage that day," Nash recalls.

"I've always loved Led Zeppelin material," he continues. "And I think that album, Led Zeppelin II, shares a little bit of the ethos that you hear in some of the George Martin and the Beatles recordings. You're just astonished that it has so many layers. The songwriting is brilliant and yet so are the performances, but instead of just saying, OK we've got a bunch of brilliant songs with wonderful performances, let's just mix it and put it out, they used the mix to convey even another layer of meaning out of the material. It's one of those records and one of those bands and one of those times where they were just getting everything right. It's amazing when an album like that has the relevance today."

The Waybacks, however, have run into the hazard of successfully covering timeless tunes, especially Zep songs, which is probably part of the reason their latest CD, Loaded, is all originals. "When folks start shouting out 'Kashmir!' or grab me before a show and request a Zeppelin song, I try to point out to them what seems obvious to me -- which one of us were you thinking is gonna sing it? Holy god, there's no way I'm gonna try to sing that. The best we can do is throw out a few instrumental teasers during the jams."

The Waybacks with John Cowan and friends do Led Zeppelin: