ROBERT PLANT Salutes The Past And Present During 'Austin City Limits' Taping

According to The Pulse Of Radio, Robert Plant mixed the old with the new during Monday's (March 21) "Austin City Limits" taping at ACL Live. Austin360.com posted that Plant and his SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS interspersed recent tunes along with such LED ZEPPELIN classics as "Black Dog", "Dazed And Confused", "Whole Lotta Love", "Babe, I'm Gonna Leave You", "In My Time Of Dying" and "Rock And Roll". Plant only dipped once into his underrated 1980s catalogue, with a rendition of 1983's "The Principle Of Moments" standout "I'm In The Mood". Plant's performance will air during "Austin City Limits"' upcoming 42nd season, which kicks off on PBS in October.

Robert Plant told The Pulse Of Radio that he works hard to maintain a certain level of quality control in everything he does. "Well, you set the bar at a certain height in performance and in mending with your fellow man," he said. "You can’t drop too far down below that. Still, we labor on, but the bar must be kept high and you can't… I don't wish to do anything that's anything below the bar. I keep the bar really high. And the responsibility is, to keep in my own heart, to make sure that I don't waste my gift."

Plant traveled to "Austin City Limits" as part of his "Southern Journey," visiting the "places that gave birth to so much of the music I love," with a select run of live dates with his band THE SENSATIONAL SPACE SHIFTERS dubbed the "Blues… Roots and Hollers" tour. He celebrates the American South as a continuation of the eclectic soulful journey he began since leaving LED ZEPPELIN decades ago.

Plant's Nonesuch Records debut album, "Lullaby And… The Ceaseless Roar", features elven new recordings, nine of which are original songs he wrote with the band. "It’s really a celebratory record," says Plant, "powerful, gritty, African, trance meets ZEP." Q calls it "his best solo album yet … a beautifully moving, soul-stirring, bravely genre-blurring album."

Plant spoke to Relix magazine about his current music and how it connects to his early days in LED ZEPPELIN, explaining, "I want people to know I'm pulling points of reference from other times and other places — incongruous and out of step and kilter — into another world. I've done it with ZEPPELIN lyrics, as well — 'if the sun refused to shine' and 'the road remains the same' and all the shit. There's so many bits like that, because I like the idea of spinning the bottle. And if one or two people pick up on it, that's the justice — that's about right."

Robert Plant will next perform on June 19 at London, England's Meltdown festival.