Krauss And Plant Play In The Sand

When my friend told me that Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are doing an album together I thought he was full of shit. I mean two interesting and dynamic musicians and vocalists. Both come from different worlds. Alison from Folk, and Bluegrass and Roots music. Robert from the biggest Rock acts in the world. I thought after talking to my friend that it might work. My first thought it was a Robert Plant solo album and she was going to do backup singing. The same vain as when she sang back up on two Phish tunes on Hoist. She did not do a lot, but you can hear her wonderful voice. I been a fan of great collaboration between two wonderful musicians. This is no exception and something if true would be a great thing to hear.

When I got this news it was early in 2007. I gave it some thought about what they would do together. I even thought it would be interesting if they both decided to do an album of Led Zeppelin songs with a new twist. A stripped down roots versions of the album. It got me excited to think of some great ideas they could do together. My curiously started when I realized that Alison Krauss was a fan of Led Zeppelin through her brothers. Her brothers were older and used to bring home the albums and crank them up. It made quite an impression on her and what she knew about Rock and Roll.

I have seen both artists in many occasions and none of them had a hint of each others musical genres. The music of Robert Plant was still Rock and Roll. The music of Alison Krauss was still Bluegrass and some Country and Folk mixed in. The only question how would they do it together. Would this be an album of all those genres together with a "Roots" type album. I really did not know what to expect or what would be done. The excitement was about to come to realization with more stories being told what they were doing. The internet flooded with information on who was on the project and who was putting the project together. When I got the phone call from my friend who told me about the project that our friend Marc Ribot was going to play guitar on it. I got really excited. I had this idea that it was a dirty Tom Waits record. Marc has played on many Tom Waits records and each album he is on makes the album perfectly rough around the edges. Other people involved were T. Bone Burnett and Buddy Miller. Once again these people do some really great things to artist that they work with. It's like a magic spell that they cast over them and bring out some great stuff that we are not used to.

During the summer of 2007 I was flipping through the radio stations when I heard Robert Plant's voice on something that was not easy to recognize. When the disc jokey mentioned it was from the forthcoming duo project of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss I was ready to get the album that day. The song was a cover of the Everly Brothers. The song was full of roots and soul and and had that Marc Ribot punch to it. This indeed was something that I know by hearing just one song I needed to pick up. The music was better then I heard in recent years. The music was stuff that just made sense for me. It was music that just was a better then what I heard on the radio at that time. I was ready for the CD to come out.

When the CD came out I quickly picked it up. I wanted to know what others songs they decided to remake. The music of Tom Waits was on it as well as Townes Van Zandt and Gene Clark and even a song Jimmy Page wrote for the album. What was even cooler was a song that The Who used to play in their early career. The album was full of surprises everywhere I listened. The guitar is nasty and distorted, and the brush touches with their metallic sheen are a nice complement to the bass drums. It doesn't rock; it struts and staggers on its way.

This is the album that you need. The music and the two great voices are just thing you need. I like this album a bit more then I really thought I would. These two voices meld together seamlessly; they will not be swallowed even when the production is bigger than the song. They don't soar, they don't roar, they simply sing songs that offer different shades of meaning as a result of this welcome collaboration. (AM) Enjoy!!