Robert Plant praises band ‘brothers’

Robert Plant says his band The Sensational Space Shifters are like ‘brothers’ to him.

They worked together on his latest album Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar, which launched this month via Nonesuch Records.

And Plant reveals that while he was “inspired” working on 2010’s Band Of Joy, he was excited to get back to the UK to hook up with his group to work on the new record.

He tells CBS This Morning: “To be inspired is a wonderful thing and I spent time in Nashville and made a record with Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller. I was always doing covers, beautiful American pieces, songs I could never have written because they came from their vision of music. So to go back to the UK and actually create something really fresh and new was fantastic.

He continues: “I’m with these guys I’ve played with before I met Alison Krauss. I went back to Britain and teamed up with my old friends and there’s a great ethnic and musically intense combination of West Africa and British trance music.

“I’ve got a very powerful band, very humorous, very funny – they’re like a bunch of brothers.”

Plants reveals the lyrics for album track Turn It Up were inspired by visits to the Mississippi Delta and that hearing the blues for the first time in the 60s gave him “goosebumps.”

He adds: “I had spent a lot of time over the years visiting the Mississippi Delta. My heroes were the black singers from those days. They visited the UK in the mid-60s – the most amazing singers I ever saw.

“I had goosebumps and tears. Everything I saw from this area I wanted to visit. When I had time on my hands, I really started to try and feel what was coming out of the past.”

Plant previously said Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar could be his last and also urged Led Zep guitarist Jimmy Page to write new material rather than concentrate on his past efforts.

The singer has lined up 13 live UK dates in November.

Tour dates

Nov 09: Newport Centre

Nov 10: Bournemouth O2 Academy

Nov 12: London Roundhouse

Nov 14: Hull City Hall

Nov 15: Glasgow O2 Academy

Nov 17: Leeds O2 Adademy

Nov 18: Newcastle O2 Academy

Nov 20: Cambridge Corn Exchange

Nov 21: Wolverhampton Civic Hall

Nov 23: Belfast Ulster Hall

Nov 24: Dublin Olympia

Nov 26: Blackpool Tower Ballroom

Nov 27: Llandudno Venue Cymru Arena

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent more than 30 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving to the e-commerce team in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, scouts out the best deals for music fans and reviews headphones, speakers, books and more. He's written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog and has previous written for publications including IGN, the Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.