A Welsh Retreat Helped Shape ‘Led Zeppelin III’

Led Zeppelin released Led Zeppelin III in North America on October 5, 1970. Their third studio album opened with “Immigrant Song,” but gave acoustic music a larger place in the band’s writing and arrangements. “That’s the Way” grew out of Jimmy Page and Robert Plant’s time away from touring in Wales. The band’s filmed 1975 Earls Court performance captures the song in the acoustic portion of its live show.

The retreat began as a chance to rest. Plant remembered Bron-Yr-Aur, a Welsh cottage he had visited with his family, and suggested returning with Page. With no electricity, they spent their time with acoustic guitars. Page told Guitar World that “That’s the Way” was the only song they finished there. The larger effect was on how they approached the record: “being in the country set a tone,” he said. A break from the road gave them space to follow ideas that a touring schedule had left less room to develop.

Some of the album’s heavier material was already taking shape. In a 2020 Total Guitar interview, Page recalled early rehearsals with John Bonham when he had “Immigrant Song,” “Out on the Tiles” and “Friends” to work on. Electric riffs and acoustic writing were developing alongside each other. Page also stressed that acoustic instruments had been part of Led Zeppelin’s first two albums; the third gave that work more time and attention.

Page and Plant reconvened with Bonham and John Paul Jones to develop the material as a band. Page produced the album, with recording work at Olympic and Island studios and at Headley Grange using the Rolling Stones’ mobile studio. “Since I’ve Been Loving You” proved particularly difficult to capture. Page recalled to Guitar World that the group had attempted it, moved on to other music and returned for another try. Preserving the performance’s shifts in intensity mattered, and he credited Jones with an important part in its chord movement.

The acoustic arrangements also gave Page a reason to try an unfamiliar instrument. Speaking to Trouser Press in 1977, he recalled using Jones’ banjo on “Gallows Pole” despite never having played one before. In the same interview, he described working through a set of country blues and traditional blues songs suggested by Plant. “Hats Off to (Roy) Harper” was the selection they put on the album, closing the record with another side of the pair’s shared interests.

That variety was part of Page’s plan for Led Zeppelin as an album band. He told Total Guitar that he wanted listeners to encounter a different record each time, even if a label might have preferred another “Whole Lotta Love.” “I wanted to make each album different from the one before,” he said.

Some reviews nevertheless treated the acoustic material as a change of identity. Page told Trouser Press that he felt critics had misunderstood the record, particularly suggestions that the band was following Crosby, Stills & Nash. Performing the songs gave him a different response to judge. He recalled audiences welcoming the acoustic numbers, which helped restore his confidence in the choices the band had made.

The 2014 deluxe edition returned to the studio work behind those finished songs. Its companion disc included “Jennings Farm Blues,” an instrumental forerunner of “Bron-Y-Aur Stomp,” and “Bathroom Sound,” an instrumental version of “Out on the Tiles.” The disc also included “Keys to the Highway/Trouble in Mind,” a blues medley that had remained outside the original album.