ROBERT PLANT To Guest On 'George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight'

LED ZEPPELIN legend Robert Plant will be the featured guest on tonight's (Monday, September 20) edition of "George Stroumboulopoulos Tonight" (formerly "The Hour"). The program, which airs at 11:00 p.m. on CBC in Canada, is hosted by Canadian television and radio personality George Stroumboulopoulos.

"Band of Joy", the new album from Robert Plant and BAND OF JOY — a new version of his pre-LED ZEPPELIN group which also featured the late John Bonham — is likely to sell between 40,000 and 45,000 copies in the United States in its first week of release, according to industry web site Hits Daily Double. The estimate was based on one-day sales reports compiled after the record arrived in stores on September 14.

Plant's first release since recording the six-time Grammy-winning bluegrass album "Raising Sand" with collaborator Alison Krauss in 2007, the "Band of Joy" CD enlists the help of an array of U.S. musicians, all of whom are performing with Plant on tour.

Plant previewed the album at a low-key gig in New York earlier in the summer, and amongst the 12 tracks are covers of a rare TOWNES VAN ZANDT track "Harm's Swift Way", as well as two tracks — "Silver Rider" and "Monkey" — from indie band LOW, both from their 2005 album "The Great Destroyer".

Plant says on his web site of "Band of Joy" that "It's been a blast working on these new songs ... and I'm enjoying such creativity and vitality. It's been a remarkable change of direction for all of us and as a group we all seem to have developed a new groove."

The new lineup of BAND OF JOY includes: Patty Griffin on vocals; Darrell Scott on multiple instruments and vocals; Byron House on bass and vocals; Marco Giovino on drums, percussion and vocals; and co-producer Buddy Miller on guitar and vocals.