Robert Plant has announced plans to tour this summer with his band — and, no, it’s not Led Zeppelin. The acclaimed rock frontman has pulled together a new lineup for the Band of Joy, which he will showcase on a dozen-date trip across the South this summer.

The band’s one-month calendar opens with a July 13 gig at Orpheum Theatre in Memphis, TN, and wraps a couple short weeks later on July 31 at Bayfront Park Amphitheater in Miami, FL. While the summer schedule is limited to two weeks and 12 concerts, a second leg of dates is expected to follow later in the fall.

Highlights on the first round include events on July 16 at Brady Theater in Tulsa, OK; July 23 at Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center in Dallas, TX; and July 30 at Ruth Eckerd Hall in Clearwater, FL.

Onsale dates and ticket prices vary from venue to venue for the upcoming summer jaunt. Select shows have general onsales coming up this week, including a July 26 show in Austin (on sale March 31), and engagements on July 15 in Little Rock and July 28 in Mobile (both on sale April 2). More ticketing information is available on Plant’s official Web site.

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Plant’s touring Band of Joy comprises the same group of musicians who accompany him on a new album, to be released in late summer or early fall. Those musicians are vocalist Patty Griffin, multi-instrumentalist Darrel Scott, bassist Byron House, drummer/percussionist Marco Giovino, and co-producer/guitarist Buddy Miller.

“It’s been a blast working on these new songs…and I’m enjoying such creativity and vitality,” Plant said in a statement about his new material and band. “It’s been a remarkable change of direction for all of us and as a group we all seem to have developed a new groove.”

The name of the upcoming album has not yet been announced, but record label Rounder will distribute the disc. Rounder also released Plant’s award-winning 2007 collaboration with bluegrass chanteuse Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand.”

Plant was involved with several Band of Joy incarnations in the late 1960s, though no studio albums were released during that time. Future Zeppelin bandmate John Bonham participated in the Band of Joy’s 1967-1968 era, but the group folded shortly thereafter and gave way to the formation of Led Zeppelin.

Robert Plant and the Band of Joy itinerary:
(Dates are subject to change.)

July 13 Memphis, TN Orpheum Theatre
July 15 Little Rock, AR Robinson Center Music Hall
July 16 Tulsa, OK Brady Theater
July 18 Albuquerque, NM Sandia Casino Amphitheater
July 20 Phoenix, AZ Dodge Theatre
July 21 Tucson, AZ Anselmo Valencia Tori Amphitheatre
July 23 Dallas, TX Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center
July 24 The Woodlands, TX The Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
July 26 Austin, TX Stubb’s Bar-B-Q / Waller Creek Amphitheater
July 28 Mobile, AL Saenger Theatre
July 30 Clearwater, FL Ruth Eckerd Hall
July 31 Miami, FL Bayfront Park Amphitheater