UPDATE: March 6 at 11:00a.m. EST
Advance tickets for our May 17 Mountain Stage at the Clay Center sold out in just under one-hour. Thank you for the support. This show will hit airwaves later this year via NPR Music.
Original Post: Tuesday March 3, 9:30a.m.
Debut North American Performances Include Mountain Stage At The Clay Center On May 17.
Tickest Go On Sale Friday, March 6 at 10 AM EST.
On Sunday, May 17 Mountain Stage with Larry Groce, the long-running live performance public radio program, will welcome Saving Grace, the latest project from music icon Robert Plant.
With Saving Grace, Robert Plant comes back to the North American shores in extreme transcendental form bringing new faces, a new sound, and another way of looking and listening. The band’s tour begins on May 12 in Minneapolis, MN and ends in Washington, DC on May 23. Tickets go on sale on Friday, March 6 at 10am local time. For complete details and ticket availability, please see www.robertplant.com.
A new cooperative comprised of Suzi Dian (vocals), Oli Jefferson (percussion), Tony Kelsey (mandolin, baritone and acoustic guitars), Robert Plant (vocals), and Matt Worley (banjo, acoustic and baritone guitars, cuatro), Saving Grace made its debut in early 2019 with a series of surprise gigs in small venues across England, Wales, and Ireland and later, a trio of UK dates supporting Fairport Convention. The intimate performances saw the band drawing from a repertoire of “music inspired by the dreamscape of the Welsh Marches,” songs that span Plant’s diverse tastes and influences, notably his lifelong passion for British and American folk, spirituals, and traditional blues, including a number of beloved standards and longtime favorites by Doc Watson, Donovan, Moby Grape, and Low, among others.
WATCH A SNIPPET OF SAVING GRACE’S LIVE PERFORMANCE OF LOW’S “EVERYBODY’S SONG”
Saving Grace will perform an extended set on Mountain Stage with host Larry Groce on Sunday, May 17 at The Clay Center in Charleston, W.Va. The show is recorded for broadcast later this year via 240 NPR Music stations.
Limited tickets will be available online to Clay Center members and current Mountain Stage Members starting Thursday, March 5 from 10a.m. to 10p.m. Members should check their e-mail to obtain their access code. Because of the pre-sale’s limited timeframe, we can only offer it to current Mountain Stage Members.
General on sale begins this Friday at 10a.m., online via TheClayCenter.org and by phone at 304.561.3570.
All seats are reserved; $25, $35 and $45 plus applicable fees. Also appearing will be Maryland blues artist Catfish Keith, and more guests to be added as they are confirmed.
Saving Grace’s unprecedented performances were met with rapturous applause from all who were lucky enough to witness them:
“The sound (Saving Grace) create is glacial and throbbing, drenched in reverb and delay…But, despite their excellent playing, this set is all about the vocals…The night is given a spiritual quality, not just by the lyrical content of the bluegrass songs, but by Plant’s truly transformative delivery. He lives and dies for every note, more so now in his quieter years than when he was screaming to thousands in the 70s.”
–Wales’s BUZZ
“Plant showed that not only does his voice seem to have acquired even more depth but his collaboration with other Midland musicians as part of the band Saving Grace is set to soar…His harmonies with Suzi Dian, who has an outstanding voice, are so well suited they bring a magic and beauty to the stage.”
–Wolverhampton’s Express & Star
“Plant has been the one to continue to carry the creative flame, consistently searching out like-minded souls to fuel his musical fire and keep his bar set high. And with Saving Grace he seems to have raised that bar yet again…The approach and delivery suggest a performance of wholly original songs such is the attention to detail and care in which they are played.”
–The Stratford-Upon-Avon Herald
“Herein lies part of what makes Saving Grace so special. It’s the songs. In a word, they’re great. They’re great songs to start with, but this band (and it is very much a ‘band’, in no way a ‘victory lap’ platform for Plant) takes them to new places… While you could hear the swampy origins, the magical thing is the way this set is rocked up and reworked with a mix of acoustic and electric guitars, banjo, mandolin and cuatro, all delivered with great depth and colour.”
–Cork’s Irish Examiner
“The energy and appreciation that is flowing between the musicians is palpable. When Dian or Plant are singing they are intently watching the others play with nothing but elation in their eyes and a natural movement in their bodies…These five musicians have produced a supreme ninety minutes of music with considered interpretations of others’ compositions, ensuring they present an innovative exploration of the songs whilst maintaining their true essence. Furthermore, this odyssey has been undertaken in the spirit of appreciation, musicianship, and exultation: they truly are a band of joy!”
–Americana UK
“Say what you like about Robert Plant, but he goes where the muse takes him…He has become some sort of living embodiment of the explorations made by both authors into the music of the past and how its vitality is still with us. And that’s not even to mention Plant’s connection with the music of other places…I have watched Plant live in many incarnations but I’ve never heard his voice sounding as comfortable as it did tonight, at home in the family he has created with these master musicians…Almost entirely alone amongst his peers, Plant’s questing seems far from over. This is an artist to be treasured.”
–Dublin’s Hot Press
