RAPID CITY, S.D. — After more than five decades of making music, Rosie Flores still talks about getting on stage with the excitement of someone who has only just discovered what a guitar can do.

The pioneering singer, songwriter and guitarist is currently on the road as special guest for Robert Plant with Saving Grace and Suzi Dian, a tour that will make its Rapid City stop at The Monument on Sunday, Oct. 11. The show begins at 7:30 p.m.

For Flores, sharing the tour with the legendary Led Zeppelin frontman remains something special even after a career that has taken her across genres, generations and countless stages.

“I’m so excited to be on this tour with Robert Plant,” Flores said in an interview ahead of the Rapid City performance. “This is our third leg with him. We did one in 2025. We did one earlier in the spring, and now we’re catching up with him and doing 16 more shows in the fall.”

Flores is touring with Rosie Flores and the Talismen Trio and said working alongside Plant and his band has been “like a dream come true.”

Five Decades and Still Learning

Flores’ musical story stretches back to her teenage years in San Diego, where she started an all-girl band called Penelope’s Children at 16. After her father saw the group perform at a school talent show, Flores said he took them to a music store and helped them get the equipment they needed to continue playing.

She never really stopped.

“Music is the one thing that has kept me going, and it makes me happy,” Flores said. “I always had a place to land. And that was back in music, playing music, playing my guitar, writing songs.”

Over the decades, Flores has worked with or opened for artists including John Prine, Emmylou Harris, Elvin Bishop and Jerry Garcia.

Her influence on American roots music has also been recognized beyond the stage. Flores became the first Latina artist to reach Billboard’s country music chart when “Crying Over You” charted in 1987. She later helped bring renewed attention to pioneering rockabilly artists Wanda Jackson and Janis Martin, and in 2007 won a Peabody Award for narrating the NPR documentary “Whole Lotta Shakin’.”

Throughout her career, Flores has moved freely between country, rockabilly, blues, rock and jazz rather than allowing herself to settle into one musical category.

She credits Linda Ronstadt as an important influence on that approach.

“If she can trade genres like that, so can I,” Flores said.

That willingness to explore continues today. Flores said she is learning piano, studying jazz guitar and preparing additional projects — including plans for a Spanish-language record.

A New Side of Rosie Flores

Another project will show audiences a different side of Flores.

She has spent roughly 15 years performing with the Blue Moon Jazz Quartet and said she hopes to release a jazz album before spring 2027.

“I’m learning jazz chords that go with the songs that I sing in my jazz group,” Flores said. “I have a jazz record coming out.”

The project grew in part from her work with guitarist Jim Stringer, whom Flores described as a mentor. She continues performing jazz in Austin while balancing a touring schedule that shows few signs of slowing down.

A Special Connection to the Black Hills

The upcoming Rapid City appearance carries an additional personal connection for Flores.

Throughout the tour, she said she has been wearing a Black Hills Gold ring that belonged to her mother, who died in 1975.

“In honor of the Black Hills, I am wearing a Black Hills Gold ring, and that belonged to my mom,” Flores said. “I thought I’d bring my mom on tour with me.”

Flores also said she already has an affection for the region through connections earlier in her life.

“I love the Black Hills,” she said.

As for what Rapid City audiences can expect when Flores walks onto the stage, she kept the description appropriately simple.

“You’re going to hear some rocking rockabilly and some beautiful harmonies and, you know, a couple of cool guitar licks while we’re at it.”

Flores also revealed that Rapid City audiences can expect something more: she plans to perform “So Sad to Watch Good Love Go Bad” with Robert Plant during the Oct. 11 show.

Robert Plant’s “Up the Sharp End” tour with Saving Grace and Suzi Dian runs through Oct. 15 and follows two previous U.S. legs. Flores is appearing as the special guest throughout the fall run.

After more than 50 years, Flores still sounds less interested in looking back than figuring out what she can learn next.

“I’m just not slowing down,” she said. “I’m just doing the same old thing, really.”