Robert Plant and Saving Grace Play NPR Tiny Desk

Robert Plant, the legendary frontman of Led Zeppelin, and his band Saving Grace delivered an intimate acoustic performance for NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series this week, blending folk traditions with covers from their recent album. The five-song set, recorded at NPR's Washington, D.C., office, featured Plant's reimagined takes on classic material, showcasing his ongoing evolution as a musician at age 77.

Joined by vocalist and accordionist Suzi Dian, multi-instrumentalist Matt Worley on guitar, banjo and cuatro, guitarist Tony Kelsey, cellist Barney Morse-Brown and drummer Oli Jefferson, Plant opened with an arrangement of the traditional gospel spiritual "Gospel Plough." The group followed with Martha Scanlan's "Higher Rock," Low's "Everybodys Song" and Moby Grape's "It's a Beautiful Day Today," all drawn from their self-titled debut album released in September on Nonesuch Records. The performance closed with a fresh rendition of "Gallows Pole," a folk tune Plant first recorded with Led Zeppelin on their 1970 album III, rooted in the work of American blues pioneer Lead Belly.

In the series' signature minimal setup, with artists performing behind a small desk amid office clutter,...