Record Store Day Honors Plant

Robert Plant is getting a new honor from Record Store Day less than two weeks before the 2026 event, and the tribute comes with a new vinyl release that only shows up in independent shops on Saturday, April 18. Record Store Day’s United States and United Kingdom teams named him their 2026 “Record Store Legend” on April 8. (recordstoreday.com) This award is not handed out every year to a long list of artists. Record Store Day says Elton John was the first recipient in 2017, and Johnny Marr got the honor in 2025 before Plant was chosen for 2026. (goldminemag.com) The ceremony piece is unusually literal: Plant went to Spillers Records in Cardiff to oversee the installation of his plaque. Billboard described Spillers as the world’s oldest record store, which turns a generic music award into a visit to one of the format’s oldest surviving temples. (billboard.com) Record Store Day itself is now in its 19th year, and the 2026 edition is set for Saturday, April 18, with thousands of independent stores around the world taking part. The event runs on a simple idea: give small shops exclusive records, in-store performances, and one-day traffic that streaming cannot replicate. (goldminemag.com) Plant fits that setup better than a lot of legacy stars because this is not just a Led Zeppelin nostalgia lap. The exclusive release tied to the honor is a new 12-inch vinyl extended play record called *Saving Grace: All That Glitters... with Suzi Dian*, issued through Nonesuch. (recordstoreday.com) (nonesuch.com) Saving Grace is Plant’s current band, and Suzi Dian is the singer featured alongside him on both the recent *Saving Grace* album and this new extended play record. Nonesuch says the group is made up of musicians from the English countryside around Plant’s home, which explains why the project leans toward folk and Americana more than hard rock. (nonesuch.com) (recordstoreday.co.uk) The new record has four studio tracks, and most of them are covers or traditional songs rather than arena-sized originals. Record Store Day lists “Blackest Crow,” arranged by Plant and Saving Grace, alongside Bert Jansch’s “Poison,” Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl,” and “She Cried” by Ted Daryll and Greg Richards. (recordstoreday.com) The release is also deliberately scarce. Record Store Day’s listing says the 12-inch extended play record is limited to 3,500 copies, which means fans who want it are being pushed toward lining up at local stores instead of opening a music app. (recordstoreday.com) That is the whole point of pairing the award with the record. Plant gets honored as a lifelong record-shop regular, and the celebration sends buyers into the exact kind of stores the event was built to protect. (recordstoreday.com 1) (recordstoreday.com 2)