{"id":585157,"date":"2026-08-15T04:04:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:04:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/585157\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T04:04:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T04:04:10","slug":"robert-plant-wrote-the-foreword-for-a-new-photo-book-about-the-black-country","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/585157\/","title":{"rendered":"Robert Plant wrote the foreword for a new photo book about the Black Country"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Robert Plant has written the foreword to \u201cBlack Country Type II\u201d, a new book that collects photographer Tom Hicks\u2019 images of the Black Country.<\/p>\n<p>Plant has called the 144-page book \u201ca startling study of our fractured, crazy place\u201d, <a href=\"https:\/\/the-modernist.org\/products\/black-country-type-ll\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">according to the book\u2019s sales listing from publisher The Modernist<\/a>. The book\u2019s title, with its roman numerals, is a nod to Led Zeppelin II.<\/p>\n<p>A new exhibition of Hicks\u2019 photographs has also opened at the Black Country Living Museum in Dudley.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTom Hicks captures the surreal madness and magnificence of our old mothership with a keen eye and quiet wit,\u201d Plant said of the new exhibition which can be found in the museum\u2019s caf\u00e9 in its visitor centre.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1000034605-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-9993\"  \/>A double page spread inside \u2018Black Country Type II\u2019 by Tom Hicks<\/p>\n<p>The exhibition opened on August 12 and is expected to be open for more than a year.<\/p>\n<p>Plant and Hicks were photographed together at the exhibition to promote both the display and Hicks\u2019 new book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy work focuses on the colour, character and humour of the region,\u201d Hicks told LedZepNews. \u201cThe photos are taken on freeform walks and cycle rides through what is a relatively unknown area (to the outside world at least).\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cRobert has a copy of my first book \u2018Black Country Type\u2019 and he had previously invited me to show images at his show in Wolverhampton,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhen we began speaking about my work, his passion for the area really shone through.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am of course a huge fan of Led Zeppelin but we also have a shared love of Wolverhampton Wanderers, so we have lots of common ground,\u201d Hicks added.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was so wonderful to read his foreword \u2013 it\u2019s perfect! He has been so generous and kind to me \u2013 it has been such a pleasure. His support for the arts in the Black Country is passionate and unwavering.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Follow Led Zeppelin News on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LedZepNews\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Twitter<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ledzepnews\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Facebook<\/a> to stay up to date on news as it happens. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/ledzepnews.substack.com\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sign up to our email<\/a> for a digest of the latest news sent to your inbox. LedZepNews uses paid Amazon referral links to earn commissions to cover its costs.\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Plant has written the foreword to \u201cBlack Country Type II\u201d, a new book that collects photographer Tom&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":585158,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[146,85,46,409],"class_list":["post-585157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585157","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=585157"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/585157\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/585158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=585157"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=585157"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=585157"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}