Ed Miles / Submitted photoRobert Plant

Monday night, Robert Plant & The Sensational Space Shifters will cap off a Memorial Day weekend of great music at Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend (see “If you go”).

Depending on how seriously you take your music fandom, you know Plant best as the svelte, flaxen-haired, rubber-limbed, honey-voiced demigod/lead singer of Led Zeppelin, a band that took rock music to new heights of awesomeness in the late ’60s and 1970s before breaking up in 1980 after the death of beloved drummer John Bonham.

Reunions by surviving members Plant, Jimmy Page (guitars, violin bow) and John Paul Jones (bass), with Bonham’s son Jason on drums, have been sporadic — and hugely popular, to say the least.

Plant, meanwhile, has kept busy creatively with a sometimes dazzling, occasionally quizzical solo career.

There were the 1980s hits “Big Log” and “In the Mood,” followed by The Honeydrippers (do you remember “Sea of Love”?). In the mid-to-late 1990s, he teamed with Page for “No Quarter” and “Walking into Clarksdale,” the latter recorded by the indomitable Steve Albini.

In the early 2000s, he recorded with Strange Sensation (more on that in a sec). In 2007, he teamed with Alison Krauss for the excellent, moody affair “Raising Sand.” That record’s related touring obligations have been cited as the reason Plant did not follow Led Zeppelin’s acclaimed December 2007 reunion in London’s 02 Arena with a Zeppelin tour.

In 2010, Plant ventured further, teaming with singer Patty Griffin and other Nashville types for a revival of Band of Joy, the 1960s blues act of which Bonham had also been a member, releasing an acclaimed new record in the process.

In 2012, Plant gathered some of the Strange Sensation folks to form the Sensational Space Shifters: drummer Dave Smith, bassist Billy Fuller, keyboardist John Baggott, guitarists Justin Adams and Liam “Skin” Tyson and Juldeh Camara, who plays the ritti (a one-string African violin). Adams, Baggott, Fuller and Tyson all worked with Plant in Strange Sensation.

Here’s what Plant has said in promotional materials about “Lullaby and … the Ceaseless Roar,” The Sensational Space Shifters’ 2014 record:

“It’s really a celebratory record, powerful, gritty, African, Trance meets Zep,” Plant is quoted in press materials for the record. “The whole impetus of my life as a singer has to be driven by a good brotherhood. I am very lucky to work with The Sensational Space Shifters. They come from exciting areas of contemporary music,” he continued.

“I have been around awhile and I ask myself, do I have anything to say? Is there a song still inside me? In my heart? I see life and what’s happening to me. Along the trail there are expectations, disappointments, happiness, questions and strong relationships,” Plant said, “… and now I’m able to express my feelings through melody, power and trance; together in a kaleidoscope of sound, color and friendship.”

Wow, right? Those thoughts sound like anything but bromides. Rather than rest on his laurels, it sounds a lot like Plant has plenty of soul — and has been doing plenty of soul-searching — at this stage of his considerable career.

If you’re a casual fan or Led Zeppelin lover, you may care most about hearing Led Zeppelin songs Monday evening.

Plant seems happy enough to oblige you. According to Setlist.fm, which keeps track of artist’s setlists, “Babe, I’m Gonna Leave You,” “Black Dog,” “Going to California,” “What Is and What Should Never Be” have frequently turned up at Sensational Space Shifters shows this year. And “Rock and Roll” has often served as the encore.

In other words, it has not been a long time since Plant’s rock ’n’ rolled. While Zeppelin tunes haven’t entirely dominated Plant’s recent sets, they make up a respectable portion of the show.

And considering all the other songs Plant could play after 50 years in music, that’s a pretty satisfying coda for fans.

— Reporter: 541-383-0349, djasper@bendbulletin.com