ROBERT PLANT WITH SUZI DIAN : SAVING GRACE

 

  1. Chevrolet
  2. As I Roved Out
  3. It's A Beautiful Day Today
  4. Soul Of A Man
  5. Ticket Taker
  6. I Will Never Marry
  7. Higher Rock
  8. Too Far From You
  9. Everybody's Song
  10. Gospel Plough

Label : Nonesuch

Release Date : September 26, 2025

Length : 41:52

Review (Wikipedia) : Saving Grace is the twelfth studio album by English singer Robert Plant, credited to Robert Plant with Suzi Dian, released on 26 September 2025 through Nonesuch Records. It features the band Plant has been touring with since 2019 and contains ten cover versions of songs by a variety of artists. Saving Grace was named after the band Plant had been performing with for over six years, which includes singer Suzi Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, and cellist Barney Morse-Brown. In a statement, Plant spoke of the joyful dynamic he shared with the band, highlighting "the sweetness of the whole thing" and noting that they would "laugh" together frequently. The album was recorded between April 2019 and January 2025 in studios across the Cotswolds and the Welsh Borders. Plant began working with the Saving Grace collective during the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a roots-oriented sound inspired by folk and traditional blues. To promote the album, Plant and Saving Grace will tour North America in Autumn 2025. Saving Grace features ten tracks, primarily reinterpretations of material by artists such as Memphis Minnie, Moby Grape, Blind Willie Johnson, The Low Anthem, Martha Scanlan, Sarah Siskind, and Low. Its lead single, a cover of Low's "Everybody's Song", was released on 16 July 2025, the second single "Gospel Plough" on 14 August.

Review (De Krenten Uit De Pop) : Voormalig Led Zeppelin zanger Robert Plant slaat als solomuzikant steeds weer andere wegen in en maakt ook met het deze week verschenen en echt opvallend mooie Saving Grace weer behoorlijk wat indruk. Toen Led Zeppelin in 1980 uit elkaar viel werd vooral veel verwacht van de solocarričre van gitarist Jimmy Page, maar die van zanger Robert Plant bleek echter een stuk succesvoller. Het oeuvre van Robert Plant is inmiddels flink uitgedijd en het is een oeuvre dat wat betreft genres een zeer breed terrein bestrijkt. De Britse muzikant heeft zich voor zijn nieuwe album omringd met een aantal geweldige muzikanten en zangeres Suzi Dian. Het was de afgelopen maanden al op het podium te zien, maar de muzikale en vocale hoogstandjes zijn nu ook te horen op Saving Grace, dat nog een fantastisch album toevoegt aan het bijzondere oeuvre van de voormalige Led Zeppelin zanger. In 1980 overleed Led Zeppelin drummer John Bonham en viel direct het doek voor een van de meest legendarische rockbands aller tijden. Het is inmiddels 45 jaar geleden en in die 45 jaar heeft met name zanger Robert Plant laten horen dat er leven is na Led Zeppelin. De solocarričre van Robert Plant duurt inmiddels een stuk langer dan die van zijn voormalige band en het is een carričre die absoluut opvallend en indrukwekkend mag worden genoemd. De Britse zanger maakte eerst een aantal albums die naadloos aansloten bij de rockmuziek die in de jaren 80 werd gemaakt, ging vervolgens samen met Led Zeppelin gitarist Jimmy Page op zoek naar de wortels van Led Zeppelin in de folk en de blues, werkte hierna zeer succesvol samen met bluegrass zangeres Alison Krauss om tenslotte weer een aantal interessante soloalbums te maken. In de tussentijd waren er ook nog een aantal andere interessante projecten, waarvan het uitstapje met The Honeydrippers het bekendst is. Eerder dit jaar was Robert Plant samen met zangeres Suzi Dian en een aantal geweldige andere muzikanten te zien op de podia in Europa en deze week is een nieuw album van de Britse muzikant verschenen. De naam van Robert Plant staat het grootst vermeld op de cover van Saving Grace, maar ook de naam van Suzi Dian heeft terecht een plekje gekregen. Iedereen die Robert Plant eerder dit jaar op het podium aan het werk zag, weet wat je ongeveer kunt verwachten op Saving Grace, al zijn de op het podium gespeelde versies van Led Zeppelin songs achterwege gelaten. Het nieuwe album van Robert Plant bevat wel een aantal folk- en bluessongs en traditionals en songs van onder andere Low, The Low Anthem en Sarah Siskind. Ook op zijn nieuwe album maakt Robert Plant geen geheim van zijn liefde voor traditionele Amerikaanse rootsmuziek en Britse folk. Het is een liefde die op fraaie wijze wordt geuit met een geweldig spelende band, waarin met name de snarenwonders opvallen. In muzikaal opzicht is Saving Grace niet alleen een mooi, maar ook een spannend album. De muzikanten op het album laten zich enerzijds beďnvloeden door traditionele folk, blues en gospel, maar voorzien de muziek op Saving Grace ook van een wat mystiek en bezwerend karakter. Het snarenwerk op het album is om je vingers bij af te likken, maar het is ook muziek vol bijzondere wendingen en fraaie spanningsbogen. Robert Plant is inmiddels een totaal andere zanger dan hij was bij Led Zeppelin, wat gezien de vele decennia die zijn verstreken ook niet zo gek is, maar de Britse muzikant is nog verrassend goed bij stem. Hij heeft bovendien in Suzi Dian de perfecte metgezel gevonden. Net als de stem van Alison Krauss past ook de stem van Suzi Dian uitstekend bij die van Robert Plant, waardoor er naast muzikaal vuurwerk ook flink wat vocaal vuurwerk is te horen op Saving Grace. Het komt samen in een opvallende selectie songs, die uit verschillende genres komen. Het maakt niet zoveel uit voor het geluid op Saving Grace, want Robert Plant, Suzi Dian en de uitstekende andere muzikanten die zijn te horen op het album, maken hun eigen songs van de songs op Saving Grace. De zeer realistisch uitziende aankondiging van een afscheidstournee van Led Zeppelin in 2026 bleek helaas nepnieuws, maar het nieuwe album van Robert Plant maakt veel goed.

Review (Muziekkrant Oor) : Met veel stijl heeft Robert Plant (77) zich de afgelopen twintig jaar van niet meer echt relevante rocklegende tot eigenzinnige folkmuzikant ontwikkeld. Waarmee hij gewoon deels is teruggegaan naar de grondbeginselen van Led Zeppelin. Saving Grace volgt vier jaar na Raise The Roof met Alison Krauss en is feitelijk de opvolger van Carry Fire uit 2017. Al ziet Plant dit niet als een volledig soloalbum; de plaat is vernoemd naar de Britse band waarmee hij al zes jaar speelt en zangeres Suzi Dian is eigenlijk de Alison Krauss hier. -Advertentie- Saving Grace bevat covers van traditionals, oerfolk- en blues (Memphis Minnie, Blind Willie Johnson) en meer eigentijdse namen. In die laatste categorie neemt Plant met Everybody’s Song al voor de derde keer een nummer van Low onderhanden. Hij verandert het in zwaar aangezette en opzwepende Appalachenfolk in driekwartsmaat, met een glansrol voor hoofd snaarinstrumenten Matt Worley, die uit zijn cuatro Arabische melodielijnen tovert. Zijn elektrische banjospel doet in het onderhuidse Chevrolet en dreigende As I Roved Out aan dat van David Eugene Edwards (16 Horsepower) denken. Dit album is bepaald geen ongevaarlijke ouwelullen-exercitie, al is er een ontwapenend zoet moment in de vorm van Moby Grape’s hippieballad It’s A Beautiful Day Today. Plant gunt de leadzang in Soul Of A Man van Blind Willie Johnson aan Matt Worley en in Higher Rock (Martha Scanlan) en Too Far From You (Sarah Siskind) aan Suzi Dian. Hun samenzang is over de gehele linie prachtig, en misschien nog het mooist in de percussieloze traditionals I Will Never Marry en Gospel Plough. Daarin zorgt de band voor een broeierige sound, die ergens tussen hoop en vrees uitkomt. Hadden we de stembanden van de oude meester al behandeld? Die zingt ingehouden maar krachtig, precies met het juiste gevoel. En zo kunnen we Saving Grace als geheel ook omschrijven.

Review (Bourbon And Vinyl) : Robert Plant has returned with his first solo album since 2017’s Carry Fire, this time with a new backing band Saving Grace (whose name also doubles as the album title), a band he’s been touring/playing with since 2019. Of course, in the interim we saw him reconnect with Alison Krauss for 2021’s Raise The Roof. I’ve been a fan of Plant’s solo work since his debut Pictures At Eleven that came out when I was in high school after the demise of Zeppelin’s drummer John Bonham and the dissolution of Led Zeppelin. With this laid back rootsy album it’s clear that Plant could care less about anybody clamoring for a Zeppelin reunion. That’s one of the things I’ve always respected about Plant, he follows his muse wherever it takes him. He’s a little like Ozzy, not soundwise, but no matter who he works with the results are always pretty stellar and this album is no exception. Some albums are better than others, but there isn’t really a bad album in his solo catalog. Well, Shaken N’ Stirred wasn’t my cup of tea but it had some great moments. While Plant steadfastly ignores pleas for him to reunite with his original band, it has seemed like a Zeppelin-esque year here at B&V. We of course celebrated the 50th anniversary of their landmark 1975 old school, double-album Physical Graffiti…we do so love our double albums here. The band itself celebrated the anniversary with the release of the excellent Live EP with four killer live tracks from the album. Of course earlier this year the fabulous documentary Becoming Led Zeppelin about the band’s formative years hit theaters. With all of that going on Jimmy Page celebrated the 25th anniversary of his collaboration with the Black Crowes, Live At The Greek, that saw the band play a bunch of Zeppelin covers with Page. It may be forty-five years since they disbanded but they have weighed heavy on my mind this year…and now we get a brand new Plant solo record! I kept seeing concert announcements over the last several years on social media for Plant shows with Saving Grace but didn’t know much about them. Apparently Plant met banjo player Matt Worley in his local pub. I don’t know if that’s true, but what a bit of good fortune for the banjo player. “Honey, guess who I met down at the pub tonight…and he wants to form a band!” That’s a B&V inspired origin story if I ever heard one, but I digress. They decided to pull together a “collective” of musicians to play folk standards and old, traditional blues tunes. They rounded out the line up with Suzi Dian, who gets billing on the LP, she sings and plays accordion. Plant has been enamored with having someone to harmonize with since his first album with Krauss, 2007’s Raising Sand. He’s done two albums with Krauss and one with a group named after his first band with Bonham, Band Of Joy, which featured the harmony vocals of Patti Griffin. Plant’s voice, which is already remarkable, paired with a female singer is an amazing thing to behold, no matter who the female singer is. They rounded out the lineup for Saving Grace with Dian’s husband Oil Jefferson on drums, Tony Kelsey on guitar, Barney Morse-Brown on cello. Clearly with all these acoustic instruments you should be thinking “Gallows Pole” and not “The Immigrant Song,” if you follow my thought process. I really like this album although it’s not going to scratch any Zeppelin itch you’re having. It was heralded by the first single “Everybody’s Song,” a cover of a band called Low. I’ve posted about it already, but it a phenomenal track. This album, like 2002’s Dreamland consists of all cover songs. They cover tracks from Blind Willie Johnson to Memphis Minnie to Moby Grape. The album starts off with three great songs. They kick off with “Chevrolet,” which yes, I’ve already added to my Playlist: Songs About Cars. The basic elements of the album are laid out – Plant’s vocal dominates, Dian harmonizes over hushed drums and acoustic guitars and yes, a banjo. “I’m gonna buy you a Chevrolet, Just do somethin’ for you now…” Suzi Dian may not be Alison Krauss but she and Plant sound great together. “As I Roved Out,” is an over six minute clinic on harmonizing. This might be my favorite track on the album. The muted instruments really create some dramatic settings for Plant and Dian to sing over. Towards the end of the track, the music mostly falls away and we’re left with just Plant & Dian’s vocals and it’s stunningly beautiful. Another absolute favorite of mine was the third track, “It’s A Beautiful Day Today” that is as sweet and pretty a song as the title would imply. It’s a Moby Grape cover. Now, this band is described as a “collective” in some of the press I’ve read, so be forewarned that Plant cedes lead vocals to both Dian (on 2 tracks) and Matt Worley on one track. Worley sings on the creeping blues of “Soul Of A Man,” which sees Plant blow a little harmonica. And even though Worley is singing lead, Plant and Dian do harmonies as well. Worley does a nice job with the track, but when Robert Plant is in the band… Dian does most the lead on the jaunty “Higher Rock.” Although Plant does sing a verse and of course harmonizes with her as well. I’m not a big gospel fan, but I like this song, Dian acquits herself well. Dian also takes the lead on “Too Far From You.” These are not bad tracks, but if you’re expecting Plant on every track, you should be prepared for these three tracks with different lead vocalists. Plant’s presence is never far away, no matter whose at the mic. Of the rest, there’s some pretty amazing stuff here. “Ticket Taker” was a track from a band called the Low Anthem, who I’ve never heard of. It’s an absolute knockout of a song. Plant/Dian harmonize over gentle acoustic guitar. It gives off real 60s coffee house vibes as does the next track, “Never Will I Marry.” It’s as folk music as these guys get. It’s practically acapella. They end the album with the old traditional track, “Gospel Plow.” Plant always had roots in folk music, it’s one of the reasons Page felt confident to go from hard rocking anthems to some of the quieter stuff on say, Led Zeppelin III. I really like how he indulges that love of folk/traditional blues/roots music here. I wonder if, like Dreamland, he’ll follow up with an album of originals that he and Saving Grace put together. As far as I’m concerned, Plant could sing excerpts from the local phone book and I’d listen… if we still had phone books? I’ll take whatever new music this legendary singer wants to put out. Whenever he follows his muse, he really puts a lot of passion into it and this album is a good example of that. This has quickly become one of my favorite albums of the year. Check it out soon… this is perfect late night, sitting on the patio watching the sun fade kinda music… perhaps with a tumbler of full of your favorite libation… Cheers!

Review (Brutally Honest Rock Album Reviews) : Hey, I need to issue an important warning, so you all need to pay attention. I know there’s a Buffalo on the front of this new album Saving Grace, but you all need to know, there is no Buffalo related content on the album. There are no Buffalo related songs. Because it is a covers album, you might be thinking that it has some Buffalo Springfield songs on it, but alas, you’d be mistaken. It wasn’t recorded in Buffalo, New York (which, actually, doesn’t have any Buffalo in it either). It has nothing to do with Buffalo Bill, neither actual Western showman Buffalo Bill Cody nor that fictional serial killer Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs what was making the lady suit out of ladies. The Buffalo on the cover in fact seems quite random, in much the way the cow on Atom Heart Mother seemed quite random for an album that wasn’t the least bit cow related. As a matter of fact, I’m no zoologist, but I suspect that animal on the cover of the album isn’t even actually a Buffalo, it looks to me like it is probably an American Bison, which is the scientifically correct term for the species of animal Americans colloquially call “Buffalo” erroneously. So you’ve been warned, if you are buying this album because you like Buffalo, you are going to be severely disappointed. You know, I really want to like Robert Plant’s new album with Susi Dian, Saving Grace, regardless of how much it does or doesn’t actually relate to Buffalo. It’s got charm, it’s got character, it’s got authenticity (not really, but it sounds a thousand times more authentic than anything any other major artist is releasing right now). It’s got exceptional, if understated, musicianship. Robert Plant has learned to adapt his voice to old age better than any of his elderly peers, with the exception of Roger Daltrey. Suzy Dian may not be Alison Krauss, but she’s pleasant enough, and her voice does blend with Robert’s beautifully, if not as distinctively as Alison’s. This album has a lot going for it, and on paper I should be ecstatic about it. I’ve put a lot of thought into figuring out why I can’t warm to it, and I’ve decided that the album has a fatal flaw: song selection. It isn’t that I can’t handle old timey sounding music, although in my estimation the album would certainly benefit from a little more musical diversity (am I even legally allowed to use that word anymore? At the college where I work it’s now illegal per state law to have an office with that word in the title. But that’s America for you, land of the not-as-free-as-we-like-to-think-we-are-and-getting-less-free-all-the-time). The problem with Saving Grace is not the performances or the production or the way-back-up-in-the-holler vibe of the whole thing – for whatever reason Plant picked a lame set of songs to cover this time around. The best point of comparison, I think, is 2001’s Dreamland, wherein Robert Plant proved definitely that he could produce a cover album that is compelling. Essential even. The Honeydrippers Vol. 1 notwithstanding, in that he’d already done it once before, I still found it a curious move on Plant’s part to release a covers album – but it worked. His comment at the time was “My ability and vocal cords are all in good shape, but I haven’t felt substantially relevant as a lyricist for a long time…So, I thought, ‘I’m dry as a bone, but these songs are still relevant.’” I’m glad he took that approach, I’ve always loved Dreamland. And he was right, the songs were still relevant – which cannot be said for the songs on Saving Grace. Unlike Saving Grace, where Robert appears to have almost gone out of his way to pick songs that aren’t relatable, Dreamland was stuffed full of songs that pulled you in, that made your ears perk up, that touched some part of you in ways that made you want to listen to those songs again and again. “Funny in My Mind”, “Morning Dew”, “One More Cup of Coffee”, “Darkness, Darkness”, “Hey Joe” – Plant didn’t just deliver exceptional arrangements and fantastic vocals – these were compelling songs. Songs that were great songs to begin with, songs you felt like singing along to, songs that really moved you somehow. “Skip’s Song” and “Song to the Siren” are two of the greatest songs Robert Plant ever sang on any album he ever had any part in. When I heard “Song to the Siren”, I knew I was hearing something special, something that was the purest, most timeless, most resonant artistic statement I had heard from anybody in years. I’m seriously toying with the idea of having it played at my funeral (right after my kids sing that Idaho funeral classic “Pine Trees in Heaven”: “‘cause it’s Heaven in Idaho”. I’ve heard the song at many an Idaho funeral, and who wouldn’t want it sung at theirs?). Nothing on Saving Grace is even remotely close to those songs. I mean, Robert Plant could have picked any of a gazillion songs, why did he pick the ten he did? His vocal ability is not in question – again, he had adapted to the state of his voice in his advanced years better than almost anybody. His judgment in selecting material to perform is what I worry about. The opening song illustrates this right off the bat. There is no possible universe or dimension in which “Chevrolet” would be considered a great song. It is a mere half step removed from a nursery rhyme. There is nothing fun, clever, catchy or engaging about the song, you will never find yourself singing it to yourself, it is an unsolvable mystery why Mr. Plant thought it worthy of this time and attention. Or take Low’s “Everybody’s Song”, the first single from the album – this one is actually pretty annoying, with its ridiculously melodramatic, herky jerky stop and start nonsense about “breaking everybody’s heart / tearing everyone apart”. Bleh. What a dumb song. I mean, what the hell Robert, you’ve still got the goods vocally, why are you wasting your time with garbage songs like this? Has Robert Plant earned the right to record any dumb song he wants to? Sure – but that doesn’t obligate me to pretend I enjoy listening to it. In my estimation, there exactly two songs in this collection that are really any good. Moby Grape’s “It’s a Beautiful Day Today” is such an appealing, pleasant song, it’s hard not to like it. Great melody, great message. But it’s a little too laid back – there’s some appeal in its unconcerned, laconic, mellow texture, but still a little more energy would have been in order I think. “Too Far from You” is another great song, and Alison Krauss fill-in Suzi Dian does a great job on the lead vocal – she’s not a spectacular vocalist, she doesn’t necessarily wow you, but she sounds great, and her voice blends well with Robert Plant’s. But despite being a great song, it is marred by several minutes at the end of Suzi and Robert going “huh” over and over while not much interesting is going on around them. In other words, we can’t even catch a break with the good songs on this album. Everything else is pretty meh. The traditional “I Never Will Marry” is pretty snoozy, as a song there isn’t enough to hold your interest for very long, and the stripped back arrangement doesn’t make it any more interesting. It does have a gorgeous wordless vocalization section at the end that highlights the potential this album had, and what it could have been with better material. “Gospel Plough” is another snoozer – if you’re going with a spare arrangement, having a good enough song to carry it is a must, and “Gospel Plough” is not that song. Either inject something into the proceedings to make the song worth listening to, or stick with the threadbare arrangement and find a song that can handle it, but for heaven’s sake don’t give a mediocre song a spare arrangement because then nothing about it is going to work. I’m actually pretty annoyed that on Blind Willie Johnson’s “Soul of a Man” Plant becomes a backup singer on his own solo album. I’d have liked to have, I don’t know, maybe heard Robert Plant sing it. Guitarist-banjo player Matt Worley doesn’t do a bad job necessarily, but I didn’t buy a ticket for a Matt Worley album, I bought a ticket for a Robert Plant album. Which reminds me, I can kind of see where the song “Ticket Taker” was going, and the idea for the song had some promise, but then it gets into all of this nonsense about Mary Anne and a stockpile of weapons and ammo, and I think that Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky would have been way better off to keep the song going in the direction it seemed to be when it started. The concept of the ticket taker is an interesting one – it should have been developed more, and the song certainly needn’t have veered into all the survivalist nonsense. Nine out of ten survivalist types I’ve ever known were total whack jobs who gave me the uncomfortable feeling they were kind of looking forward to the collapse of society so they’d have the excuse to use their stockpile of guns to shoot people. That kind of I’m-hoarding-guns-for-the-fall-of-the-government talk is a hell of a red flag in my estimation, so I’m not super interested in a song that inexplicably swerves in that direction. “Higher Rock” gallops along, but gallops along like a riderless horse, just kind of running with no point or purpose. It’s the only song on the album that has much verve to it, but that doesn’t mean it’s a great song. It’s just kind of there. And Plant’s harmonica is so similar to “When the Levee Breaks” – a song that is about a thousand times better than this one – it makes you wonder if those are the only harmonica licks Robert Plant knows. This is a song that a least has a little kick – but it’s not a great song. Side note – notice how many of the songs don’t have choruses? You don’t necessarily have to have a chorus for a song to be interesting, but if all you have are verses they’d better be damn interesting verses. And most of them aren’t on this album. In my review of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Raise the Roof I noted that “The problem is, too often there is an emphasis on mood, atmosphere and texture at the expense of melody and message”. I think that is the case for Saving Grace as well – the musicianship on Saving Grace is much more organic and much less rigidly regimented than Raise the Roof, but while the musicians are given more of a chance to shine on this more recent album, they aren’t given material that really makes it worth their time in my estimation. Does the production meld all kinds of exotic, Eastern musical influences with folk and Americana to produce a unique cocktail of sound? Yeah, sure, but since few of the songs are all that likable, it doesn’t really matter much, does it? I think the production approach has a lot of potential, and I think the musicianship on the album is pretty good – but neither has enough juice to compensate for the utter lack of songcraft in the track selections Mr. Plant made for this project. I don’t actually care if Robert Plant has wandered up the holler for good and has abandoned his restless exploration of the world of music to live in an Americana bubble for the rest of his days – if hillbilly music tinged with Arabic influences is what we wants to do with the rest of his life, I have no qualms with that. I just wish he’d pick some good songs to do it with. Bottom line – I don’t really enjoy listening to this album. The folksy trappings are all right, not really my thing, but I could get past that if Plant had picked ten songs worth my time to listen to. And that’s all on him – I don’t know if maybe old age is finally impacting his musical instincts, but he simply didn’t pick very good songs for this cover album, and this is now the second disappointment from him in a row. Hey, but you know what? I really like Buffalo. Buffalo is my oldest daughter’s favorite animal. So’s I’ll tell you what I’mma gonna do, I’m adding a full point to the score just because I like the picture of the Buffalo on the cover. Because why not, the world is becoming more capricious and unpredictable by the second, and it’s not like anything else makes any sense any more. Plus one for the Buffalo picture it is.