Last week, Rolling Stone reported that Robert Plant recorded a new album with his occasional collaborator, Buddy Miller. Miller is becoming a familiar name to Plant’s fans: He first worked with Plant on the tour for Plant/Alison Krauss collaborative album Raising Sand in 2008, playing guitar in the backing band.  

The following year, Plant sang on a song on Buddy and Julie Miller’s Written In Chalk album, a cover of Mel Tillis’ “What You Gonna Do Leroy.” Then, in 2010, Miller co-produced Plant’s Band Of Joy album.  That album also featured singer Patty Griffin, a Grammy winning artist in her own right; Miller also produced her 2010 album, Downtown Church. Both Miller and Griffin were part of the band for Plant’s subsequent tour. 

But who is Buddy Miller? A singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer from Nashville, he has been a staple of the Americana scene for years. He’s worked with Steve Earle, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Lucinda Williams, and played guitar in Emmylou Harris’ band for years. He also records solo albums, occasionally records duo albums with his wife Julie Miller (and appears on her solo albums as well). 

More recently, he’s also played in John Fogerty‘s backing band on Fogerty’s most recent solo record, 2009′s The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again. He also collaborates with super-producer T-Bone Burnett on overseeing the music for the ABC hit drama Nashville. 

There’s no word as to when Miller’s latest collaboration with Plant will see the light of day; Plant also has an album he recorded with a different backing band, the Sensational Shape Shifters which is expected to be released in the coming months as well. 

– Brian Ives, CBS Local; photos by Getty