Robert Plant - Band of Joy

Robert Plant's first full-length since 2007's Grammy-winning blockbuster Raising Sand with Allison Krauss (and T-Bone Burnett), the masterful Band of Joy (September 14, Rounder) explores a similar stylistic path: bluesy Americana, dark Appalachian folk and barstool roots rock but with a darker, grimier streak. Plant's vocals, a raspy instrument of nuance and unleashed power, binds it all together with producer and in-demand guitarist Buddy Miller aptly filling Burnett's role with moody intensity. In the end it is a uniquely American project shepherded by one of classic British rock's most revered and recognized singers.

"In America," says Plant, "whether it be Woody Guthrie, Fats Domino, the early Elvis, all those guys up in the mountains, music was coming out of the churches and from around the fireplaces, off the steam radio, onto the street, and it gambolled out." With Miller, vocalist Patty Griffin and a seasoned crew of Nashville's best session players, Plant makes sure that Band of Joy is, well, joyous: a celebration and glorious collision of various U.S. styles and one of the most remarkably truly soulful albums you'll hear this year. Lead track, a deep voodoo version of Los Lobos' "Angel Dance" is, we've opined, "a piping hot rhythmic shuffle steeped in dirty blues water...(with) Miller's Keith Richards-meets-Bo-Diddley muddy bed of rumbled riffs, Plant's restrained vocal soul and a gunshot backbeat from drummer Marco Giovino that practically blows a hole in the proceedings." Watch the 10-minute EPK here..."Angel Dance" video after the jump.

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Robert Plant - "Angel Dance" (from the album Band of Joy)

Robert Plant - Band of Joy full album sampler