Robert Plant has been named a Record Store Legend by Record Store Day US and UK, joining Elton John (2017) and Johnny Marr (2025) as recipients of the honour. A special plaque has been unveiled at Spillers Records in Cardiff, Wales, the world’s oldest record shop, recognizing Plant’s lifelong connection to independent record stores and his ongoing support for the communities they represent. “Record stores have always been a part of my life,” Plant says. “Once you get to the physical record it’s because you really want to know and be a part of what the artist was considering.” It’s a fitting tribute for a man who has been crate-digging since before most record shops’ current staff were born.
The connection runs deep and it’s well documented. Plant was famously photographed digging through crates at Bleecker Bob’s in New York with Jimmy Page in 1970, and the habit never left him. He’s turned up at West Virginia’s Nail City Record in 2025, Kansas City’s Mills Record Company in 2023, Raleigh’s Schoolkids Records in 2011, and has been a regular at Waterloo Records in Austin for years. These aren’t PR stops. Plant shops like a fan, because that’s exactly what he is.
Spillers Records owner Ashli Todd put it perfectly. “Record shops of the world will know first-hand that above all, Robert Plant is a connoisseur of his craft whose appetite for musical discoveries has not waned with the passage of time,” Todd said. The plaque at Spillers also highlights Plant’s deep connection to Wales and the country’s ongoing influence on his songwriting, a relationship that stretches well beyond the occasional visit and into the music itself.
Plant celebrates Record Store Day 2026, taking place April 18th, with an exclusive EP on Nonesuch Records. ‘Saving Grace: All That Glitters’ features four tracks with his Saving Grace band, including arrangements of the traditional “The Blackest Crow,” Gillian Welch’s “Orphan Girl,” and Bert Jansch’s “Poison.” It follows his critically acclaimed 2025 album ‘Saving Grace’, recorded in the English countryside with singer Suzi Dian and the band. Head to your local independent record shop on April 18th to find it.