Dave Grohl names “the most talented musician” he worked with
Most rockstars can only dream of having the kind of resumé Dave Grohl accumulated over his career. Outside of ushering in the next generation of rock music with Nirvana, Grohl has reinvented himself as a rock and roll renaissance man, touring as the lead singer for Foo Fighters while also finding time to work with everyone from Paul McCartney to Nine Inch Nails to Queens of the Stone Age. Although Grohl may have had the fortune of working with iconic musicians over the years, he still thinks one musician stands out among the rest.
Before Grohl had even landed an opportunity to write his own songs, he thought he got most of his songwriting education secondhand from Kurt Cobain. After settling into a groove with Nirvana, Grohl understood the power of simplicity in a rock song, thinking that the main focus was grabbing a powerful melody rather than showing off.
By the time Nirvana reached its final years, Grohl had already started writing his material, woodshedding his songwriting without knowing he would use his songs later. Once Cobain passed away, Grohl would find solace through music, eventually going into the studio to create the first Foo Fighters record to get himself out of the funk he had been in.
Turning down the opportunity to play alongside Tom Petty, Grohl would become one of the ultimate rock and roll comeback stories, building himself back up with one hit after another with Foo Fighters. Though the band had their fair share of turmoil in the 2000s while making the album One By One, Grohl thought that the best way to shake up the band was to switch their style.
Pulling out all the stops, In Your Honour marked a first for the band, creating one disc of stadium-ready hard rock and a second disc full of plaintive acoustic cuts. Outside of the prominent members filling out the lineup, the second disc would feature the help of various guest stars, including Joshua Homme on the song ‘Razor’ and John Paul Jones helping with various arrangements.
Out of all the songs to make the second disc, Grohl was most enthusiastic about ‘Virginia Moon’, featuring the talents of Norah Jones. Grohl would count Jones’ contributions to the album as a brilliant balladeer thanks to songs like ‘Don’t Know Why’, as one of the greatest collaborations he had ever worked on.
Looking back on their time together, Grohl would consider Jones far superior to every musician he worked with, saying, “Norah is positively the most talented musician I’ve ever been around in my life – and that’s including some heavies. She was unbelievable. Perfect pitch, perfect time, perfect placement, perfect playing. We were absolutely stunned. She did two takes and that was it. In and out in an hour and a half”.
Grohl would even find time to collaborate with Jones later, most recently appearing on her podcast to play the song ‘Razor’ with her accompanying on piano. Although Jones’s music might seem like the polar opposite of Foo Fighters’ strengths, Grohl understood the power of being able to flex one’s musical muscles now and then.
