.

Song Premiere: Amy Cook Featuring Robert Plant, 'It's Gonna Rain'

'Summer Skin' set for release on August 28th

August 15, 2012 9:00 AM ET
amy cook
Amy Cook
Alexandra Valenti

Click to listen to Amy Cook's 'It's Gonna Rain (featuring Robert Plant)'

On August 28th, Amy Cook will release Summer Skin, her follow-up to 2010's Let the Light In, on Roothouse Records. The album features guest appearances by such stars as Patti Griffin, Ben Kweller and Robert Plant. However, according to Cook, the duet with the Led Zeppelin frontman wasn't exactly planned.

"Robert Plant had come to the studio with Patty [Griffin] and was sitting next to me in the control room and he said, 'Do you mind if I give it a go?'" Cook tells Rolling Stone. "I did not mind. He sang it a couple of times and it was perfect."

Plant's harmony vocals appear on "It's Gonna Rain," a smoky ballad that makes ample use of the familiar "Stand by Me" chord progression. Cook describes it as a "song of hope," explaining,  "'It's Gonna Rain' is a song I wrote for a friend who had had a rough couple of years."

Listen to "It's Gonna Rain" here, and check out Cook's August tour dates below.

8/15 Philadelphia, PA – Tin Angel
8/16 New York, NY – City Winery
8/17 Annapolis, MD – Ramshead on Stage
8/18 Vienna, VA – Jammin' Java
8/28 Austin, TX – Victory Grill
8/31 Austin, TX – Waterloo Records

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

prev
Music Main Next

blog comments powered by Disqus
Daily Newsletter

Get the latest RS news in your inbox.

Sign up to receive the Rolling Stone newsletter and special offers from RS and its
marketing partners.

X

We may use your e-mail address to send you the newsletter and offers that may interest you, on behalf of Rolling Stone and its partners. For more information please read our Privacy Policy.

Song Stories

“Let My Love Open the Door”

Pete Townshend | 1980

A peppy, hopeful love song, "Let My Love Open the Door" became a U. S. Top Ten hit for Pete Townshend in 1980, anchored by the kind of repeating synthesizer figures that he'd used in some of the Who's recordings in the previous decade. Although Townshend brushed the song off as "just a ditty" in Rolling Stone shortly after its release, in 1996 he revealed it was about love of the holiest sort. "It's supposed to be about the power of God's love," he remarked. "That when you're in difficulty, whether it's major or minor, God's love is always there for you."

More Song Stories entries »