Queen Elizabeth II’s 2009 New Year Honours list includes Robert Plant. Robert has been named Commander of the Order of the British Empire. The award is for services to music.

There are five grades of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire in decreasing seniority: Knight Grand Cross (GBE), Knight Commander (KBE), Commander (CBE), Officer (OBE), and Member (MBE). Recipients of these awards are nominated by the government and by the public. They are then selected by committees made up of civil servants. The Queen bestows the honors. Only the Knight orders may be called “Sir”. Other orders have no title, but may add the letters after their names.

In another year end best of list, Country Universe’s Blake Boldt adds Please Read the Letter from Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at #9 on his 2008 Top 20 singles list.

Also from Country Universe, Leeann Ward also places Please Read the Letter on her list at #20. She writes:

The album from which this song comes seems like an unlikely collaboration. It, however, somehow works as one of the best albums of the decade and any song from it would make my top twenty singles list this year.

George Varga, in SignOnSanDiego.com, writes about concerts reaching transcendence and lists Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at #2 on his list. He writes:

Whether an audience numbers in the thousands, the dozens or somewhere in between, the best concerts are a thoroughly interactive experience between performer and listener. Each relies on the other to achieve a state of temporary transcendence, whether for a few songs or a few hours…

2. Robert Plant & Alison Krauss, Humphrey’s Concerts by the Bay (June 30)
The genre-leaping musical delights performed by bluegrass queen Krauss and ex-Led Zeppelin singer Plant made the distance between Nashville and London vanish in an instant.