Robert Plant’s New Band of Joy Plot Album Summer Tour

Robert Plant’s New Band of Joy Plot Album, Summer Tour

Led Zeppelin have been turning down festival reunion offers left and right, and now we know why: Robert Plant will hit the road with his resurrected Band of Joy project this summer — and he’s currently recording a new album slated for release in early summer or late fall. The first leg of the 12-date tour kicks off July 13th in Memphis before wrapping up July 31st in Miami; a second leg is scheduled for the fall. As Zep fans probably know, Plant and drummer John Bonham were members of Band of Joy prior to joining Led Zeppelin.

For his new record and tour, Plant has rounded up an ace group of roots musicians and session players: Patty Griffith on vocals, multi-instrumentalist Darrell Scott, guitarist and co-producer Buddy Miller, drummer Marco Giovino and bassist Byron House. “It’s been a blast working on these new songs… and I’m enjoying such creativity and vitality,” Plant said in a statement. “It’s been a remarkable change of direction for all of us and as a group we all seem to have developed a new groove.”
The upcoming release will be Plant’s first LP since 2007’s Raising Sand, his multiplatinum, Grammy-winning collaboration with Alison Krauss. With Krauss busy working on recording and touring with her own band Union Station, Plant doesn’t plan to tour or record with her this year, although he does promise there will be an eventual follow-up to Raising Sand. “Alison and I get together quite often… and sometimes we dance,” Plant added.

Ticket info and on-sale dates for the trek can be found at Ticketmaster. Check out the dates tour below:

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy
July 13 – Memphis, TN @ The Orpheum Theater
July 15 – Little Rock, AR @ Robinson Center Music Hall
July 16 – Tulsa, OK @ Brady Theater
July 18 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sandia Casino Amphitheater
July 20 – Phoenix, AZ @ Dodge Theater
July 21 – Tucson, AZ @ Anselmo Valencia Amphitheater
July 23 – Dallas, TX @ Meyerson Symphony Hall
July 24 – Houston, TX @ Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
July 26 – Austin, TX @ Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheater
July 28 – Mobile, AL @ The Saenger Theatre
July 30 – Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall
July 31 – Miami, FL @ Bayfront Park Amphitheater


Source: Rolling Stone

(Looks like the tour is a southern one and possibly the Fall one would be for up north? I'm interested to see if he's going to rock harder than he did with Allison Krauss. You got to wonder why Robert just doesn't want to work with Jimmy Page or John Paul Jones but is willing to work with everybody's brother & cousin hmm...could it be he just doesn't want to step into those shoes of yesteryear. Is it that Jimmy is hard to work with, what IS the real reason behind it? Fear of not living up to the legend? In anycase I'm glad he's at least keeping creative but would really love to hear him with Jones and Page at least in album form creating new music, doesn't have to be a tour but create some magic!!)