He also performed four songs from Saving Grace's recently released self-titled album: "Gospel Plough," "Higher Rock," "Everybody's Song" and "It's a Beautiful Day Today."
In addition to Plant, Saving Grace consists of Suzi Dian (vocals, accordion), Matt Worley (guitar, banjo, cuatro, background vocals), Tony Kelsey (guitar), Barney Morse-Brown (cello) and Oli Jefferson (drums).
Before playing the song, which appeared on 1970's Led Zeppelin III, Plant took a moment to acknowledge where he first heard of the traditional tune: via the American blues singer Lead Belly.
"His memory has lived on in all of the music that I've ever been near and been touched by," Plant said.
In a letter to the iconic rock singer, PETA notes that the short-term name change would make more people aware of plant-powered yarns, including those made from hemp, cotton, orange waste, and more. It also would help the push to have people turn away from animal wool and cashmere industries, which it criticises as environmentally-destructive and sometimes abusive.
“Plant Wool Month celebrates animal-free and plastic-free yarns that promote sustainable fashion while lowering greenhouse gas emissions, and protecting the animals with whom we share this precious planet,” said PETA Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen.
“PETA is asking Robert Plant to sing the praises of plant wool with a temporary name change that reminds everyone that nothing compares to soft, natural, and eco-friendly plant wool.”
In its reasons to avoid animal wool, PETA highlights ethical reasons including lambs facing routine mutilation – such as having their tails and testicles removed – and in terms of the environment, it shares how sheep produce large amounts of methane, a planet-warming greenhouse gas.
The latter, it shares, along with the industry’s energy use, the land clearing undertaken to house sheep, the animals’ waste, and the use of chemicals to clean their shorn hair, “has led the Made-By Environmental Benchmark for Fibres to rank sheep’s wool as a “Class E” material – the worst possible category”.
