Robert Plant honored

Robert Plant named 2026 Record Store Legend ahead of April 18 release Robert Plant has been named the 2026 Record Store Legend, putting one of rock’s most recognizable voices at the center of this year’s Record Store Day celebration on Saturday, April 18, 2026. Record Store Day’s official announcement ties the honor directly to a new exclusive vinyl release from Plant: a four-track EP titled *Saving Grace: All That Glitters… with Suzi Dian*. (recordstoreday.com) The award comes from the organization behind Record Store Day, the annual event created to celebrate independent record stores and the culture built around them. According to Record Store Day, the event began after a 2007 gathering of independent store owners and employees, with the first Record Store Day held on April 19, 2008; the 2026 edition is scheduled for April 18. (recordstoreday.com) Plant’s new EP is being positioned as one of the event’s exclusive titles, meaning it is part of the limited-run releases that help drive Record Store Day traffic into local shops. The official release listing says *Saving Grace: All That Glitters… with Suzi Dian* will arrive as a 12-inch vinyl EP on April 18 through Nonesuch and will be limited to 3,500 copies. (recordstoreday.com) The four-song collection extends Plant’s recent work with Saving Grace, the collaborative group he has been performing with in recent years. Record Store Day describes the EP as a continuation of Plant’s *Saving Grace* project and his collaboration with singer Suzi Dian, featuring four new studio recordings. (recordstoreday.com) Those four tracks show Plant continuing to work in the folk, roots, and reinterpretation-heavy lane that has defined much of his later career. The official track list includes “Blackest Crow,” a traditional song arranged by Robert Plant and Saving Grace, along with covers of Bert Jansch’s “Poison,” Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl,” and “She Cried,” written by Ted Daryll and Greg Richards. (recordstoreday.com) Saving Grace is not just a title on the sleeve but an active band built around Plant and a small ensemble of players. Plant’s official site describes Saving Grace as a co-operative featuring Suzi Dian on vocals, Oli Jefferson on percussion, Tony Kelsey on mandolin and guitars, and Matt Worley on banjo and guitars. (robertplant.com) That lineup helps explain why this release feels different from a standard solo archival drop. Rather than leaning on Led Zeppelin nostalgia, Plant has spent recent years reshaping old folk, blues, and acoustic material with a band format that gives Suzi Dian a major vocal role and emphasizes texture over volume. This is an inference based on the personnel and the song choices listed for the EP. (recordstoreday.com) Record Store Day’s announcement also frames Plant’s recognition as more than a one-off trophy. The organization published a feature on Plant’s “Record Store Legend” status and highlighted his visit to Spillers Records to oversee installation of an official plaque, linking the award to the brick-and-mortar stores that the event was created to support. (recordstoreday.com) That setting matters because Record Store Day has always been built around physical retail rather than streaming-first promotion. The organization says there are nearly 1,400 independently owned participating stores in the United States and thousands more internationally, all tied to an event designed to celebrate the culture of the record shop. (recordstoreday.com) For fans, the immediate takeaway is simple: Plant’s new music will arrive first as a collectible Record Store Day exclusive, and the window to find it may be narrow. The official listing gives the release date as April 18, 2026, the format as 12-inch vinyl EP, and the quantity as 3,500 copies, which suggests demand could outpace supply at many stores. (recordstoreday.com) For Record Store Day, Plant is an especially fitting honoree because he bridges classic-rock star power and the collector culture that still drives people into independent stores. For Plant, the honor doubles as a spotlight for a current project, with *Saving Grace: All That Glitters… with Suzi Dian* turning an award announcement into a launch for new music rather than a retrospective alone. (recordstoreday.com)