CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 10/10/2018

John Paul Jones on Led Zeppelin, acoustic sets and the mandolin

"I bought a mandolin in a thrift shop in Evansville, Indiana," Led Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones writes in response to this Carl Dunn photograph from Led Zeppelin by Led Zeppelin. "I think I'd heard some Fairport Convention so I learned a couple of their tunes. It was nice to sit down and just be acoustic. Jimmy wrote most of his electric riffs and all the songs on that acoustic. It was a drastic change of pace in the show but by that time we were opening for ourselves. Those that wanted to go to the bar could, it was hard shutting them up at first, but then people really enjoyed it and it became part of the set. I started traveling with the mandolin everywhere because it's small. I love it. To this day I carry a mandolin wherever I go."