Oh, look, it’s Robert Plant and his new vanity project, SAVING GRACE, gracing BBC Two’s “Later… With Jools Holland”. Yes, the same LED ZEPPELIN legend who probably forgot how to rock about 40 years ago. This band, a bunch of “distinguished” (read: probably available on Craigslist) musicians — Suzi Dian (who?), Oli Jefferson (never heard of him), Tony Kelsey (ditto), Matt Worley (banjo? Really, dude?) and Barney Morse-Brown (cellist gone wild!) — decided to bless us with two covers from their new album, also called “Saving Grace”, because originality is clearly overrated. They played LOW’s “Everybody’s Song” and Martha Scanlan’s “Higher Rock”. You can watch them below if you have absolutely nothing better to do. 🤣
Following his previous snoozefests on Nonesuch Records — 2014’s “Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar” (more like Ceaseless Bore) and 2017’s “Carry Fire” (because apparently, he’s still trying to be relevant) — “Saving Grace” is yet another chapter of Robert Plant‘s… well, something. Produced by Robert Plant and SAVING GRACE (because who else would touch this?), and recorded between April 2019 and January 2025 (yes, it took them six years to record a covers album), in the Cotswolds and on the Welsh Borders (very exotic, I know), “Saving Grace” takes century-old music and makes it… well, older. It’s a treasury of songs by Memphis Minnie, Bob Mosley (MOBY GRAPE – remember them? No? Exactly!), Blind Willie Johnson, The Low Anthem, Martha Scanlan, Sarah Siskind, and Mimi Parker and Alan Sparhawk‘s LOW. Basically, a collection of artists that most of his fans have probably never heard of. 🤷
Plant, bless his heart, told Rolling Stone (because who else would interview him about this?) about the creation of “Saving Grace”: “Well, we began with one microphone on a mic stand in a field adjacent to Matt Worley‘s place. We had a little desk set up. And we would get nowhere nearer than about four yards away from each other, and one by one go up to the microphone, and spray the microphone.” Yep, sounds like a real rock ‘n’ roll experience. “On the last track on the record, you can hear some birds singing because we’d individually play a part and come away from the mic. It was an experiment that took me back to ‘Physical Graffiti’ with LED ZEPPELIN when I did quite a few vocals outside.” Oh, you mean back when you were actually good? “I really enjoyed the whole idea of being out there rather than in the constraints of a studio.” Because studios are too mainstream, right? “It began with ‘Higher Rock’, I believe, and maybe even ‘Chevrolet’. That was probably about 2019 or ’20. And then I’d go off somewhere else, and then we’d come back to it.” Sounds like a well-organized, efficient process. NOT. 🤣
“A friend of Steve Winwood‘s got an old farm down in Gloucestershire, and he used to be quite involved with the very early days of TRAFFIC. And so as the conditions changed [after the pandemic] and the world started to open up, occasionally we’d go down to his barn and see what we would do there. It’s really great, very pastoral.” Translation: We couldn’t afford a real studio, so we recorded in a barn. 🐮
“I think maybe we made one sojourn to Peter Gabriel‘s Real World Studios to try and see how we would get on with a different drum sound or whatever it was. But it’s been pretty organic all the way through. I know that’s a very overused word, but that’s how it is. Nothing was riding on it, nobody was thinking beyond maybe putting this record out. Some shows in the U.S. later in the year might be about the zenith of anything that anybody ever imagined, really. There’s never any sort of aspiration.” In other words, even they know this album is going nowhere. “Whereas when I came back after the demise of LED ZEPPELIN, I was in a different place, a different headspace, a different time in my life. I was really quite determined to take my music with a lot more drive, whereas this seems to be, it seems pretty pastoral, really.” Translation: I’m old and mellow now. Get over it. 👴
“In SAVING GRACE, I don’t think any of us live more on about eight miles apart. It’s a very familiar combination of people in every respect, because I guess we’ve come out of the same area completely. There’s a coherence even in our humor. We’ve got a good thing going on without where there’s no huge imperatives. It’s just really nice.” So, it’s a local band of old dudes who like playing music together. Got it. 👍
Plant and SAVING GRACE will soon be inflicting their music on the U.S. this fall. Their tour stops in 15 North American cities, including shows at New York City’s Brooklyn Paramount, Port Chester’s Capitol Theatre, Chicago’s Vic, Los Angeles’s United Theater, and others, with support from Rosie Flores (another name you probably don’t know). Robert Plant and SAVING GRACE will also return to the U.S. in 2026, with the recent announcement of a headline performance at Big Ears festival, following a 10-date U.K. tour just added for December. So, if you’re into that sort of thing, you have plenty of opportunities to waste your money. 💸
“Saving Grace” track listing (in case you were wondering what songs you’re better off not listening to):
01. Chevrolet
02. As I Roved Out
03. It’s A Beautiful Day Today (Spoiler alert: It probably isn’t if you’re listening to this)
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
Chord F. Discord, the Beethoven of Buffoonery, is a self-taught expert in music who once claimed he could “play the kazoo in four languages.”
Born in Crescendo, Indiana, Chord’s first brush with fame came when he accidentally entered a yodeling contest thinking it was a pie-eating competition—and won both categories.
Chord F. Discord: proving that laughter, much like a poorly tuned ukulele, is truly universal.
