Robert Plant honoured Priscilla Presley in Memphis on September 15, calling her a longtime friend and acknowledging her work preserving Elvis Presley’s house Graceland.

Plant gave the induction speech for Priscilla Presley at the 2022 Memphis Music Hall of Fame induction ceremony just one day after giving a similar speech honouring Buddy Miller in Nashville.

Graceland, Plant said, is “a hallmark and a touchstone for the many millions of that extended family, that never-ending worldwide family of which I’m a part,” according to The Commercial Appeal.

“I’m British, and we have a fascination with the music of this specific city and its environs and further down in the Mississippi Delta,” he reportedly continued.

“Here in Memphis, excitement and unparalleled expression rose above the constraints and the infamy of the times. Here in Memphis, the sounds of Clarksdale, Jackson, Tunica and the Delta collided with unholy abandon, with the hillbilly two-step. Here in Memphis, where trailblazing Blacks and whites worked under cover of night at Sam Phillips to forge the beat that created a new world of music…”

“Like so many people from all walks of life, tonight I feel like a part of one big extended family,” Plant said, according to NewsBreak. “We’re bound together by the energy of the beat from long ago that was driven with stunning conviction and abandon by the man that you, Priscilla, knew so well.”

“Once upon a time many years ago I shared a little time and space with Elvis,” Plant reportedly continued. “He was interested, which is something special, funny, and deep into the roots from whence he arrived from the blues, the Blacks and the whites. I’m sure, like I am, tonight he would be pleased and honoured to see you recognised by 21st century Memphis.”

Plant was photographed backstage at the event and also at an airport on his way there earlier in the day: