You can thank COVID for this. More on that in a sec. Robert Plant is back at it! This time with Saving Grace, his first album alongside a new band of musicians he describes as “a song book of the lost and found”.
The new album is set to come out on September 26 on Nonesuch Records, and Plant just released their re-imagined take on Blind Willie Johnson’s Gospel Plough.
Okay, the backstory. Saving Grace was born in the pandemic lockdown, with Plant grounded in the English countryside. While his Nashville adventures with Alison Krauss gave us 2021’s Grammy-nominated Raise The Roof, it was back home in “The Shire” where he linked with Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (drums), Tony Kelsey (guitar), Matt Worley (banjo/strings), and Barney Morse-Brown (cello). Together, they’ve spent the last six years evolving into what Plant calls a workshop of styles, anchored in joy and abandon.
“We laugh a lot, really. I think that suits me,” Plant says. “I can’t find any reason to be too serious about anything. I’m not jaded. The sweetness of the whole thing… These are sweet people. They have become unique stylists and together they seem to have landed in a most interesting place.”
Saving Grace was recorded between 2019 and early 2025 across the Cotswolds, the Welsh Borders, and even Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studios.
Plant told Rolling Stone they started with a single mic in a field near Worley’s place: “We’d go one by one, play our parts, step back, and you can even hear birds singing on the last track. It took me back to Physical Graffiti days when I’d do vocals outside. I loved it.”
Track listing — Saving Grace
01. Chevrolet
02. As I Roved Out
03. It’s A Beautiful Day Today
04. Soul Of A Man
05. Ticket Taker
06. I Never Will Marry
07. Higher Rock
08. Too Far From You
09. Everybody’s Song
10. Gospel Plough
Robert Plant & Saving Grace — 2025 North American Tour
Oct. 30 – Wheeling, WV – Capitol Theatre Wheeling
Nov. 02 – Charlottesville, VA – The Paramount Theater of Charlottesville
Nov. 03 – Washington, DC – Lincoln Theatre
Nov. 05 – Brooklyn, NY – Brooklyn Paramount
Nov. 06 – Boston, MA – Boch Center Shubert Theatre
Nov. 08 – Port Chester, NY – Capitol Theatre
Nov. 10 – Toronto, ON – Massey Hall
Nov. 12 – Chicago, IL – The Vic
Nov. 13 – Chicago, IL – Old Town School of Folk Music
Nov. 15 – Denver, CO – Ellie Caulkins Opera House
Nov. 18 – Seattle, WA – The Moore Theatre
Nov. 19 – Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
Nov. 21 – Oakland, CA – The Fox
Nov. 22 – Los Angeles, CA – United Theater on Broadway
Vancouver readers – notice, November 19 @ The Vogue! That’ll be a great show.
How lucky are we that Plant keeps bangin’ out new music. How many decades has he been at it?! Amazing!
