Get The Led Out - Bron-Y-Aur Stomp - LIVE!!! in LA - musicUcansee.com

“Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,” #10 on the setlist of this Philadelphia-based ensemble’s 20-number hoedown... well, I give it a “10.” And I’m not being in the least bit facetious when I use that shitkicker’s term, since when Page and Plant wrote the song in the Welsh castle retreat of the same name in 1970, they were tuned in to the songbird stylings of Bert Jansch, a Scottish folk musician and founding member of the band Pentangle – in particular a number called “Waggoner's Lad,” a frosty little number off Jansch's 1966 “Jack Orion,” which I too listened to over and over again back in my folkie days in the Bronx.

But wait, that is not the only coincidence that lies in the song’s iconography, because the ballad is named after Bron-Yr-Aur, a house in Montgomeryshire, Wales, where the members of Led Zeppelin retreated in 1970 to write much of “Led Zeppelin III” (again, no coincidence, as that is where it first appeared) after having completed a concert tour of North America. Bron-Yr-Aur, you see, means “golden breast” or “breast of gold” in Welsh, as in a hillside of gold. But also giving rise to the nickname (in the spirit of another Zep appropriation “The Lemon Song”): “The Titty Song,” again proving that in music there are no coincidences. For sure, the lads were obsessing about women’s troubles as laid down by Jansch in his Scottish ballad:

Lord, hard is the fortune of all womankind.
They're always controlled, they're always confined;
Controlled by their parents until they are wives,
Then slaves to their husbands for the rest of their lives.

Now, the song is also about nature – not controlled substances – specifically, about walking in the woods with Plant’s blue-eyed Merle dog named Strider, reportedly named after Aragorn (often called Strider) from J. R. R. Tolkien's “The Lord of the Rings.” In live performance, Robert often shouts "Strider!" at the end of the song.

No such luck on this night. But the song is performed uncharacteristically by all the band members (except Eddie Kurek and Tommy Zamp vocalizing standup) seated in some way. There sits usually peripatetic Paul Sinclair weaving the Scottish balladry (unlike Long John Baldry) seated on a stool, flanked by lead guitarist Paul Hammond in a chair strumming an acoustic guitar and bassist Phil D’Agostino likewise on his Fender bass while drummer Derek Smith – of course – echoes the Dovells’ “You Can’t Sit Down,” natch.

I will leave you with this hackneyed thought: Don’t take “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp” sitting down.


I may have to recuse myself as a critic because I am not a diehard Zep fan, though I have been known to dance with Jimmy Page in my days as editor of Guitar World. That being said, I did come away from the evening’s antics in Downtown LA with a Whole Lotta Love for Get the Led Out.


Shot live from the scene like a sex machine:

Visuals and production by Casey J Reagan, Editor-Publisher
MusicUCanSee.com magazine

Critique and local color by
Noë “the G” Gold
Founding Editor of Guitar World
and author of the forthcoming
Hendrix Now!
Backstory of a Legend
A Visual Spiritual Odyssey
and
Conversations with Rock Stars | Confessions of a Rock n Roll Zelig 🏄
From the band – click: https://www.gtlorocks.com/ Get The Led Out
Get The Led Out is a group of professional musicians who are passionate about their love of the music of Led Zeppelin. It's been their mission to bring the studio recordings of “The Mighty Zep” to life on the big concert stage. This is not an impersonator act but rather a group of musicians who were fans first, striving to do justice to one of the greatest bands in rock history!

Band Members:
Paul Sinclair - Lead Vocals, Harmonica:
Paul Hammond - Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Mandolin, Theremin:
Tommy Zamp - Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Vocals:
Phil D'Agostino - Bass, Vocals:
Derek Smith (in for Adam Ferraioli )- Drums, Percussion
Eddie Kurek - Keyboards, Electric and Acoustic Guitars, Vocals, Percussion