Robert Plant - Band of Joy

Robert Plant
Band Of Joy

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While other survivors of his generation do fun things like undergo high-profile divorces, languish in obscurity or snort their father’s ashes, Robert Plant has managed to perform that most difficult of manoeuvres over the last few decades, The Post-Mega-Success Reinvention; honouring the Led Zeppelin legacy by becoming, well, Robert Plant.

To get this one together, Plant utilised the momentum from last year’s sessions for the abortive follow up to Raising Sand – his lauded collaboration with country goddess Alison Krauss. Band Of Joy sees him resurrecting the spirit of his first group of the same name – pressing his fingerprints all over songs that come from a diverse range of sources. While the aura of the Krauss alliance hangs around the edges in a ragged shroud, Band Of Joy also recalls Led Zeppelin III – it’s a heady blend of rock, country and half a dozen varieties of folk.

There are some wicked moments here. Plant pays homage to selected sixties fellow travellers, with a leanly electric version of Richard Thompson’s ‘House of Cards’, and a deceptively easy-going rock-rendering of Townes Van Zandt’s devastating ‘Harm’s Swift Way’. Less successful is the early sixties pop of ‘You Can’t Buy My Love’, which sits uneasily alongside the cleanly pure lines and spine-itching harmonies of Low covers ‘Silver Rider’ and ‘Monkey’.

Plant has an excellent production and arranging partner in Buddy Miller, while the new ‘Band of Joy’ seems to consist of a cherry-picked best-of Americana session musicians – including a more than adequate Krauss-replacement in the form of Patty Griffin.

This is a warmly generous collection that suggests Plant’s best days are by no means behind him.


First published in The Brag, Iss. 381, September 27th 2010