Robert Plant Releasing 'Carry Fire' Album in October, Listen to 'The May Queen' Now

Rock icon Robert Plant will release his firs solo album in three years, Carry Fire, on Nonesuch/Warner Bros. Records on Oct. 13. The album, produced by the former Led Zeppelin singer, is Plant's 11th solo album and the follow-up to 2014's lullaby and... The Ceaseless Roar; as with that effort, Plant is once again supported by his band the Sensational Space Shifters. 

The album features Pretenders singer Chrissie Hynde on a duet of the Ersel Hickey rockabilly classic "Bluebirds Over the Mountain," as well as Albanian cellist Redi Hasa and Seth Lakeman playing viola and fiddle. "It's about intention, I respect and relish my past works but each time I feel the lure and incentive to create new work. I must mix old with new," said Plant in a statement announcing the album. "Consequently the whole impetus of the band has moved on its axis somewhat, the new sound and different space giving way to exciting and dramatic landscapes of mood, melody and instrumentation."

Plant spent time in Texas before returning to England three years ago and as a result, according to the press release, Carry Fire melds "unusual rhythms with naturalism and smoldering power." That blend can be heard on the first single, "The May Queen," which mixes Plant's ethereal vocals with a driving track that is part drone and part folk shuffle (check it out below). The singer will kick off a world tour with the Space Shifters in November starting in the UK and Ireland; check www.robertplant.com for a list of dates to be announced soon. Carry Fire is available for pre-order now here.

Track list for Carry Fire:

1. The May Queen

2. New World...

3. Season's Song

4. Dance With You Tonight

5. Carving Up The World Again... a wall and not a fence

6. A Way With Words

7. Carry Fire

8. Bones Of Saints

9. Keep It Hid

10. Bluebirds Over The Mountain

11. Heaven Sent