Robert Plant's last album, Raising Sand, featured bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss and was both a critical and commercial success. Taking a gentle, often acoustic approach to material ranging from contemporary covers to traditional country songs to Plant originals, it hit all the right notes as Plant took a very Americana approach to the material. An attempted follow-up with Krauss was shelved, however, as neither felt the magic was present a second time. Plant does not, however, veer far from Raising Sand's formula with his newest release, Band Of Joy. Despite being named after the blues-rock band Plant was in prior to joining Led Zeppelin, Americana-sounding takes on a variety of tunes is still the order of the day. Alt-country songstress Patty Griffin is now his vocal companion instead of Krauss, and guitar virtuoso and esteemed producer Buddy Miller steps into the shoes filled by T-Bone Burnette on Raising Sand. The tunes again range from contemporary covers (Los Lobos, Richard Thompson, Townes Van Zandt, the alt-rock band Low), to Plant originals, to traditional country tunes. And the results are again mesmerizing. Plant's voice is a natural for this type of material, and Buddy Miller's production is outstanding (as is his work on a variety of six-stringed instruments). Band Of Joy opens with the Los Lobos tune, "Angel Dance," sounding more like a celtic-country jig (and acoustic Led Zeppelin) than anything else. Richard Thompson's "House Of Cards" follows, with Griffin's beautiful background vocals lending a large dollop of roots to the bluesy approach taken to the tune. "Central Two-O-Nine," a Plant/Miller original, again recalls acoustic Zeppelin. As the album proceeds, it dips deeper into the country well, with the gospelly "Falling In Love Again," an excellent take on Townes Van Zandt's "Harm's Swift Way," and arrangements of three traditional tunes ("Cindy, I'll Marry You Someday," "Satan Your Kingdom Must Come Down" (wonder what the young Jimmy Page would have thought of that choice!), and concluding with "Even This Shall Pass Away"). In all instances, the combination of Miller's production and Plant's voice propel the tunes to Americana heaven. The two tunes taken from the catalog of the husband-wife band Low, however, are perhaps the two highlights of the album. Low specializes in dark, moody, guitar-heavy epics, often acoustic in nature but, in the case of these two songs ("Silver Rider" and "Monkey"), heavily electric. Plant is very faithful to the original arrangements, but his voice and Miller's axe-work take the tunes into new dimensions of dread and anxiety. With Miller's (and Darrell Scott's) slow, reverb-heavy guitar washing through the open spaces, Plant opens up his voice to convey a menace which one does not usually associate with him. This turns the tunes into very appropriate, more modern compliments, to the darkness that pervades many traditional country tunes (as well as that present in Americana-think Gillian Welch). In sum, Plant has again put out a brilliant album and, to what must be the surprise of many, has become one of the finest purveyors of American roots music working today.

Containing no new Miller originals, one might think that Bingo was just a space filler for the longtime axeman. This is definitely not the case, as this is Miller's finest work in decades, and even harkens back to his pre-Joker days of hooky, rocking Chicago blues. Opener "Hey Yeah" sounds like it could have come straight off his 1969 masterpiece Brave New World, while the rest of the album explores the blues-rock firmament that has always been the bedrock of his style. With tunes by Otis Rush, Lowell Fulson, B.B. King, Earl King, and three Jimmy Vaughan co-writings, the songs are strong and the performances excellent without getting at all flashy or indulgent. Soul singer Sonny Charles also lends his excellent pipes to a number of the tunes on offer. And as with his best work, Miller takes on economical approach to his guitar playing, always incorporating subtle hooks into his solo excursions.