Alison Krauss and Robert Plant duo-up on Gone Gone Gone (playing now). Hit the  button to hear Rich Woman. |
Today, with nothing to prove, Plant breaks new ground with bluegrass superstar Alison Krauss in their new album, Raising Sand. Check out their video, here.
You might think of the beautiful Krauss and the hard-living and timeworn Plant as music’s oddest couple. In reality, the duo shares plenty in common.
For example, they both boosted their respective musical genre to commercial success. Hard rockers and metal and grunge bands owe their livelihoods to Plant and Led Zeppelin. Krauss skyrocketed past the million-copy-sales mark, paving the way for bands like Nickel Creek.
And think of their voices. The first time I saw Plant play live was the first time that I ever considered the human voice as a musical instrument. The first time I heard Krauss sing, I developed a crush.
Together, Plant and Krauss combine their diverse backgrounds and voices in the very creative and album, Raising Sand.
Maybe you’ve heard the first single, Gone Gone Gone. It’s a remake of an Everly Brothers tune that sounds very much like Led Zep’s rendition of Hot Dog on In Through the Out Door.
Plant and Kraus harmonize together extraordinarily well. On their version of Mel Tillis’ Stick With Me Baby, their voices sound as one. The harmonization is also especially evident on Rich Woman and Polly Come Home.Although the harmonization is solid, Plant and Krauss remind us that they come from very different backgrounds.
Plant doesn’t stray far from his love of blues and rockabilly. These influences come forward in Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson, Fortune Teller and Rich Woman. And Krauss gives us a taste of her bluegrass roots in Your Long Journey and Tom Waits’ Trampled Rose.
Here’s the deal. She’s a fiddle player; his lead guitarist used to play with a bow. She plays bluegrass; he smokes bluegrass. They both have long hair.
I smell Grammy nominations and a new level of commercial success that crosses the boundaries of rock and bluegrass – and that’s something we Western Kentuckians can truly appreciate.
