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Since 2019, one of the biggest rock stars of his generation has been quietly touring the U.K. and Ireland with his new acoustic band, performing for low-key crowds of just a couple hundred people. That rock star is Robert Plant, the lead singer of Led Zeppelin.
Though he initially thought he was done making records, Plant discovered he still had at least one more left in him. With his new band, Saving Grace, the iconic rock frontman shares lead vocals with singer and musician Suzi Dian. The group recently released their self-titled debut album, which is a collection of 10 folk rock and blues covers, as well as interpretations of traditional songs.
For Plant, these tunes hold deep personal significance. He first heard the traditional African American spiritual Gospel Plough (or Gospel Plow) on Bob Dylan’s self-titled debut album in 1962, when he was just a teenager.
“The way that he hit it, you can’t use the word interpretation because it’s far too fancy,” Plant says in an interview with Q’s Tom Power. “He didn’t stop at the lights, Dylan, he just let it come right out. So at school, I just was mesmerized…. I was fourteen. Dylan didn’t tap me on the shoulder, he hit me between the eyes with that music.”
WATCH | Official video for Everybody’s Song:
Once a stadium staple, Plant is now finding joy in playing small gigs and sharing the spotlight with Dian.
“I spent time post-Zeppelin shooting for the moon,” he says. “By the time we got to 1980, we’d kind of run out of juice, to say the least. So as I pushed off into the world aged 32, I went out carrying on under my own flag…. But now I’ve got this combination. It’s a very tight, kind group of people, and I seem to have reached that area of folk-ness that comes from years and years of experience.”
As for how he looks back on his time in Led Zeppelin now, Plant isn’t too precious about the past.
“I can only say that I have had the most extraordinary time for an average kid coming out of an average part of the industrial Midlands of England,” he says. “I guess the way that it works with maturity, with experience out in the world, on the road, with family, with people, with lovers, with will and wish, and kindness, and the shock and the fear of this current world that we live in — I can only tell you that it’s all part of the same picture for me. I was never the king bee, I was always just a contributor to something that was really far out and that’s what I’m doing, and that’s what my gig is right now.”
LISTEN | Robert Plant’s full interview with Tom Power:
31:01Robert Plant isn’t precious about the past
The full interview with Robert Plant is available on our podcast, Q with Tom Power. Listen and follow wherever you get your podcasts.
Interview with Robert Plant produced by Vanessa Greco.
