Robert Plant has released “Chevrolet,” the opening track of his forthcoming album, Saving Grace. On this record six years in the making, Saving Grace, out September 26 on Nonesuch Records, Plant and this group of distinguished musicians—vocalist Suzi Dian, drummer Oli Jefferson, guitarist Tony Kelsey, banjo and string player Matt Worley, cellist Barney Morse-Brown—explore the evolution of roots music both vintage and modern. “Chevrolet” is their rendition of Donovan’s 1965 “Hey Gyp (Dig the Slowness),” which itself is an adaptation of Ed and Lonnie Young’s take on Memphis Minnie and Kansas Joe McCoy’s 1930 Delta blues classic, “Can I Do It for You.” You can watch the official video by Manu Viqueira here:

“Chevrolet” follows the release of two other tracks from Saving Grace: the African-American spiritual “Gospel Plough” and Low’s “Everybody’s Song.” Plant and the other band members were drawn together by a shared love of roots music—of blues, folk, gospel, country and those tantalizing sounds that lay in between. While Plant had already received great acclaim for his GRAMMY Award-winning foray into American roots music with singer and fiddler Alison Krauss—and alongside Patty Griffin and Buddy Miller, in his 2010 GRAMMY-nominated Band of Joy—Saving Grace began at his home on the Welsh borderlands. First united in 2019, Plant and this new collective of like-minded collaborators had been experimenting for barely a year, even serving as an unheralded opening act on a handful of dates for Fairport Convention, when the pandemic intervened and any formal plans were temporarily shelved.

Once protocols permitted, Robert Plant and Saving Grace began to record informally in a barn setup and sometimes outdoors, and then booked themselves in small venues without fanfare. Until recently, there were no press releases, only the image of the lone bison used on the cover of the self-produced album, which also breathes fresh life into songs by Bob Mosley (Moby Grape), Blind Willie Johnson, The Low Anthem, Martha Scanlan, Sarah Siskind and more, incorporating elements of hypnotic, droning grooves, Malian desert blues and psychedelic folk, with sounds that can seem alluringly mysterious, melancholic and foreboding.

Robert Plant and Saving Grace will perform for the first time in the US this fall. Their tour stops in fifteen North American cities and includes shows at NYC's Brooklyn Paramount, Port Chester's Capitol Theatre, Chicago's The Vic, Los Angeles' United Theater, and others, with support from Rosie Flores. Details/tickets at nonesuch.com/on-tour.