Robert Plant

Most of the free world — including Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones, we hear — would probably love to see Robert Plant move past his recent O Brother, Where Art Thou? phase and get on with a full-scale reunion of (what’s left of) Led Zeppelin. No dice. Ol’ Bob seems to have settled nicely into the role of stately English country gentleman, and he much prefers performing rustic, old-timey Americana/bluegrass over attempting to squeal “Whole Lotta Love” in the bombastic manner it and other Zep classics deserve. So Plant returns with Band of Joy. As Led Zep diehards surely know, Band of Joy was Plant’s pre-Zeppelin psychedelic-rock outfit. In many ways, with his current Band of Joy, Plant has returned to the music that inspired Led Zeppelin in the first place, and his latest explorations sound terrific. Embrace it, because the likelihood of a Zep reunion is over the hills and far away.