Robert Plant to collect Americana lifetime honor in Nashville
The former Led Zeppelin frontman will be honored at the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards at the Ryman Auditorium on Sept. 16.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
Robert Plant is heading back to the Ryman Auditorium for a big Americana salute: a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association.
Rolling Stone reported that the former Led Zeppelin frontman will receive the honor at the 2026 Americana Honors & Awards in Nashville on Sept. 16. The award places Plant among past honorees including Buddy Guy, Elvis Costello, Patty Griffin, Don Henley, Los Lobos and Bonnie Raitt.
Plant’s connection to the Americana ceremony goes back nearly two decades. In 2008, he appeared at the Ryman with Alison Krauss after their T Bone Burnett-produced album Raising Sand won Album of the Year. The Plant-Krauss pairing also took Duo of the Year honors that night.
He returned to the Album of the Year winner’s circle three years later, when his Band of Joy album was named the year’s top record at the Americana Honors & Awards, according to Rolling Stone.
Plant’s Americana road keeps rolling
The honor arrives while Plant is touring behind Saving Grace, the album he released last year with English singer Suzi Dian. Rolling Stone reported that Dian has also been joining him on the road.
Plant spoke to Rolling Stone last year about how working with other vocalists changed his approach after his time with Strange Sensation. He said collaborations with Krauss and Griffin had taken him into “this world of sharing vocals and working around another singer,” adding that he wanted to find out whether there was another voice that fit.
Plant told the magazine he was introduced to Dian and her husband, drummer Oli Jefferson, and was drawn to Dian’s “plaintive style” and the energy she brought to the songs he showed her.
The Saving Grace tour has already passed through the Ryman once this year, with a Nashville stop in March. According to Rolling Stone, the tour is scheduled to resume Sept. 18 in Missouri, two days after Plant returns to the Ryman for the Americana Honors ceremony.
Album of the Year field is set
This year’s Album of the Year nominees at the Americana Honors & Awards include Tyler Childers’ Snipe Hunter, Kathleen Edwards’ Billionaire, S.G. Goodman’s Planting by the Signs, Ken Pomeroy’s Cruel Joke and Margo Price’s Hard Headed Woman.
For Plant, the Nashville award marks another step in a long-running second act far from Led Zeppelin’s thunder. The Ryman crowd saw the crossover take hold in 2008. In September, the Americana world will make the relationship official with one of its top career honors.
This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.