Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Led Zep frontman and bluegrass star join forces on Raising Sand CD
Take the legendary frontman from rock's heaviest band. Mix with a 20-time Grammy winning country/bluegrass singer and fiddle player. It's a recipe for one smokin' album.
They may be as unlikely a musical pairing as you'll find. But on Raising Sand, Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant and bluegrass fiddler/vocalist Alison Krauss have created a serious contender for the ultra-cool album of the year.
Plant has set aside his banshee wail, left the Hammer of the Gods at home and made an album of such spooky cool it’s hard to believe he’s the same guy who’s the once and future front man of the world’s heaviest rock band.
T-Bone Burnett at the Console
Helmed by roots producer extraordinaire T-Bone Burnett, Plant and Krauss, a 20-time Grammy winner with her band Union Station and as a solo artist, have come up with a duet album that’s nothing short of a revelation.
From the swampy blues grooves of the disc’s opening track, Rich Woman, to the plaintive longing of closer Your Long Journey, Plant and Krauss take us on a drive down the road less traveled. At least, it’s a road less traveled by fans of Plant’s and Krauss’s more familiar territory.
Raising Sand was born from a one-off Krauss and Plant performance for a 2004 tribute to Leadbelly at the Rock and Rock Hall of Fame in Cleveland. That gave Burnett the idea to record an album in which he wanted to take the pair out of their comfort zones.
Plant and Krauss Dare to be Different
In that, Burnett succeeded. Both Plant and Krauss dared to be different for this outing. Or, maybe they just bent to the will of Burnett. Either way, this album is a departure for both.
Plant has never really worked with another vocalist before. So his willingness to cede some of the spotlight is somewhat surprising. But there’s a bigger surprise. He’s a great harmony singer whose voice has beautifully withstood the ravages of time.
As for Krauss, she’s augmented her pure, sweet soprano with a sexy blues moan tinged every so often with a come-hither whisper.
Unexpected Song Choices
The song selection on Raising Sand is all over the map, ranging from the Everly Brothers’ Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On) through a couple by Byrds co-founder Gene Clark (Polly Come Home and Through the Morning, Through the Night) to Tom Waits’ Trampled Room. The only song Zep fans may be even remotely familiar with is Please Read the Letter, a remade version that originally appeared on “Walking into Clarksville,” Plant’s 1998 disc with Zep guitar god Jimmy Page.
Despite that, Raising Sand holds together as a coherent whole thanks to the production of Burnett. He’s put together a cast of his usual cohorts (Marc Ribot, Norman Blake and Burnett on guitars, multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Dennis Crouch) who create a roots sound that drips with the sweaty sexiness of the bayou, not surprising since most of it was recorded in New Orleans.
Nowhere is that more in play than on New Orleans stalwart Allan Toussaint’s Fortune Teller, featuring Plant’s trademark, though nicely restrained wail or on late, great Texas songwriter Townes Van Zandt’s Nothin’.
It’s not every day you come across an album textured with heavily overdriven guitars that can be considered mood music. At least it can be if your significant other is particularly cool.
