AUSTIN, Texas (by Greg Barr) - After a stirring set from gospel singer Mavis Staples, who led a mostly hung over capacity crowd inside the Austin Convention Center ballroom in a stirring sing-a-long rendition of "Let the Circle Be Unbroken," the man once proclaimed as the Golden God of Rock showed that in a way, he has left his own circles of rock unbroken for decades.

Gently prodded by an interviewer on stage, former Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant officially opened the 2005 South by Southwest music conference Thursday morning with a series of reminiscences about his early exposure to the great black blues artists of the Mississippi Delta, his life on the road with Led Zep and, most important, how he relates his passion for his current project and new album, "Mighty Rearranger," back to his roots.

Now in his mid-50s, Plant may not have youth on his side, but he has integrity, which a lot of sell-out artists - not to mention the ones who tried unsuccessfully to rip off Zeppelin riffs - in today's musical milieu cannot claim. For Plant - who was surprised at the beginning of the session by an official from the Recording Industry of America, who presented a lifetime Grammy Award to the singer that he was unable to collect in person at this year's Grammys - the bottom line is that today, with his new band of youthful musicians known as The Strange Sensation, his music still elicits the authoritative and familiar feel of his best work with Led Zep in the 1970s. He spoke of being at the same crossroads now as he was when he first jammed with former Yardbirds guitarist Jimmy Page, where "your music has to keep pushing and opening up new arenas. Pop music can't stand still."

Plant received a standing ovation at the end of his session, after explaining why he has resisted the mega-million-dollar payday that a reunion tour with the three remaining Led Zeppers, a prospect that has been dangled in front of his face numerous times since the death of drummer John Bonham in 1980. Basically, he said that Led Zeppelin had its moment, and as amazing as that moment was, it is over.

Sure, like any rock star through the ages, Plant had a new album to plug. But here's the thing. During the discussion, the interviewer stopped the proceedings and asked the sound tech to play a track from the new record. From now on, after hearing that track, I will no longer refer to Plant as the lead singer on the Geezers of Rock tour. The song kicked my ass, along with the butts of the hundreds of other hung over writers, musicians and industry executives in the room. How does it sound? Think Led Zep meets Portishead in a Moroccan casbah. It had that echo-laden heavy Led Zep backbeat, and all the techno-heavy effects that modern ProTools recording sessions bring to the table, but most of all, it had that bluesy, ballsy voice, sounding better than I ever imagined it could.

But, there were plenty of images Plant recreated about the old days, about when Led Zep got to meet Elvis, where according to Plant, the hotel room was "full of second-hand Ann Margarets, and the temperature, cosmetics and feral content of the room had to be just right for Elvis to make his entrance." It was the sound of Elvis' voice on the radio in Britain when Plant was about 10 that made him realize what music was all about. Of course, he was referring to Elvis' knowledge and respect of the black blues artists whom he emulated. Plant then told a hilarious story of how the first time he played an old blues record in his house, his parents cut the electrical cord on his record player.

And, of course, there were the groupies. He brought the house down with several references to Led Zep's jamming during its live concerts, saying that Bonham's drum solo in "Moby Dick" was so long that the rest of the band members had time to go back to the dressing room, bonk some hottie chicks and still have time to get back up on stage to finish the song. What did you expect, dudes? They don't call it friggin' sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll for nothing.

Labels: Led Zeppelin, Robert Plant, SXSW