Robert Plant Performs Led Zeppelin’s “Gallows Pole” in Intimate NPR Tiny Desk Concert
via NPR Music / Youtube
Robert Plant and his band Saving Grace delivered an intimate five-song performance for the latest edition of NPR’s Tiny Desk Concert series, offering a raw and revealing look at the group’s musical chemistry. The session pulled heavily from the material on Saving Grace’s 2024 album, emphasizing the band’s deep reverence for American roots music while still showcasing their uniquely British sensibility.
Revisiting Saving Grace’s New Material
The set opened with four songs featured on Saving Grace’s recent release, each chosen to reflect the band’s eclectic musical influences. Their rendition of Low’s “Everybody’s Song” set the tone, followed by a warmly textured take on Moby Grape’s “It’s a Beautiful Day Today.” Martha Scanlan’s “Higher Rock” added a more spiritual dimension, while the group’s arrangement built around the traditional gospel tune “Gospel Plough” reinforced their affinity for timeless folk traditions.
Performed with minimal amplification, the songs took on a broader emotional range than their studio counterparts. The Tiny Desk format—known for placing artists close to the audience and away from the trappings of a full stage setup—played directly into Plant’s sense of humor. Comparing the quiet environment to one of the biggest concerts of his career, he quipped, “Just like Live Aid … I couldn’t hear myself there either.”
Plant also poked fun at common assumptions about the band’s style, noting, “We are in fact not Americana, we are English-cana. We are Saving Grace. This is our very first adventure here in America. We hope you will enjoy us.”
Paying Tribute to Lead Belly
The performance concluded with “Gallows Pole,” a song Plant famously recorded with Led Zeppelin for their 1970 album Led Zeppelin III. Before launching into the track, he reflected on its origins and the artist who first brought it into his life. “Lead Belly, in 1949, he left us,” Plant said. “His memory has lived on in all of the music that I’ve ever been near and been touched by. I treasure the collection of songs that he picked both from Black and White culture. Phenomenal.”
Plant recently spoke with Classic Rock about the organic creative process behind Saving Grace, reinforcing that the band’s evolution continues to be guided by instinct, curiosity, and a deep respect for musical tradition.
