Robert Plant honored

Robert Plant is getting a new kind of rock-star tribute in 2026: not a hall of fame speech, but a record-shop honor tied to a new vinyl release arriving on Saturday, April 18, the date of Record Store Day 2026. (recordstoreday.com) Record Store Day is the annual event where independent shops sell limited-run records that are usually made just for that day, and the 2026 edition is set for April 18. Organizers say this is the 19th annual celebration, with thousands of stores worldwide taking part. (recordstoreday.com, goldminemag.com) Plant was named the 2026 Record Store Legend, an award jointly presented by Record Store Day in the United States and the United Kingdom. Record Store Day says Elton John received the first one in 2017, and Johnny Marr received it in 2025. (goldminemag.com, recordstoreday.co.uk) The ceremony was tied to Spillers Records in Cardiff, Wales, which Record Store Day and Billboard both describe as the world’s oldest record shop. Plant visited Spillers to oversee the installation of the official plaque there. (billboard.com, recordstoreday.com) That shop choice fits Plant’s public image better than a red carpet would. Record Store Day’s announcement says he has spent decades showing up in independent stores across North America and Europe, still digging through bins for records the way collectors do. (recordstoreday.co.uk, goldminemag.com) He is also not being honored for nostalgia alone. On the same Record Store Day, Plant and Saving Grace are releasing a four-track 12-inch vinyl extended play record called *Saving Grace: All That Glitters... with Suzi Dian* through Nonesuch. (recordstoreday.com, nonesuch.com) Record Store Day lists 3,500 copies of that extended play record and says it contains four new studio recordings. The songs listed are “Blackest Crow,” “Poison,” “Orphan Girl,” and “She Cried.” (recordstoreday.com) The release also shows where Plant’s music has moved in his seventies. Nonesuch says Saving Grace includes Suzi Dian and musicians from the English countryside around Plant’s home, and the songs lean into folk and Americana material rather than Led Zeppelin-style hard rock. (nonesuch.com, recordstoreday.co.uk) Plant’s record is landing in a crowded Record Store Day field built for collectors. UNCUT’s guide highlights releases from Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, Joni Mitchell, and Bruce Springsteen, while other Record Store Day coverage says Springsteen’s set comes from his 2024 Sea.Hear.Now performance in Asbury Park, New Jersey. (uncut.co.uk, enidlive.com) So the 2026 story is unusually neat for vinyl fans: one of rock’s most famous singers gets a shop-centered honor, at the world’s oldest record store, while putting out a scarce new record on the same day the bins fill up with exclusives from other legacy artists. (billboard.com, recordstoreday.com, uncut.co.uk)