The Musicians and Vocalists of the Robert Plant/Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand. Left to Right: T Bone Burnett, Gregory Liesz, Norman Blake, Alison Krause, Robert Plant, Dennis Crouch, Marc Ribet, Riley Baugus.
Raising Sand
Allison Krauss and Robert Plant
Rounder Records
4 teaspoons of Bosco
By Allen Bacon
Editor
Bosco: The Blog
I love Robert Plant when he is raring back and letting his powerful and unique voice belt out songs like “Trampled Underfoot” and “Dye’r Maker”.
I enjoy Allison Krauss with Union Station, playing bluegrass fiddle and singing with that sweet angelic voice especially when they are on Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor and friends Saturday evenings on National Public Radio.
Robert Plant and Allison Krauss together? I would never have put those two together. That would be like Grease and Water getting together. Right? Apparently T Bone Burnett didn’t think so. For the uninformed, Burnett is one of the most influential producers and musicians in history. He has been responsible for producing the likes of the great Roy Orbison and wonderful movie soundtracks like Where Brother, Art Thou? and "Walk The Line". Burnett's latest project is the Krauss/Plant collaboration, Raising Sand.
First of all, before I go any further, this is an album you can listen to in it’s entirety on their website www.robertplantalisonkrauss.com . They are also the featured artists on both Bosco TV: Music Channel and Bosco Radio: Music Channel. (Links in the Bosco Sidebar).
Many times when great distinct and divergent styles get together it is a good thing. The sum of the whole is better than each of the parts. A case in point is Crosby, Stills, and Nash. David Crosby is good. Steven Stills is good. Graham Nash is a little better than good. Put them all together though you have greatness. I can’t say this about this collaboration.
An understated Robert Plant is not great here. It’s like having a high performance V-8 engine and being told you can only run it in second gear. I want Robert Plant hitting on all cylinders and in fifth gear.
An overstated Allison Krauss is not that great either. Ok, kudos for trying to stretch her horizons but Krauss without her usual people around her is like a fish out of water.
The only reason why I listened to this album a second time really was due to T Bone Burnett and his music sensibilities. After a 14 year absence from recording, Burnett is back and that is a good thing. My four favorite tunes, “Rich Woman”, the 1950’s La Bostrie and Millet composition, has Burnett’s stamp on it as he teams with Marc Ribot. His signature style is also prevalent on Naomi Neville’s “Fortune Teller”, the Everly Brother’s “Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)” and “Let Your Loss Be A Lesson”. And you know why I like these four songs?…They’re all up tempo and T Bone Burnett-ish!
Krauss exhibits her fiddle-playing abilities on this album in songs like “Nothin’”. While being an extremely talented fiddle player, she’s never quite been a Papa John Creech or even a Charlie Daniels. But again, who is?
Some of the choices on who takes the lead on some tracks is puzzling to me. And I guess that's producer Burnetts fault and that would be his only flaw on the production of this album. Why, for instance, is Krauss singing lead on songs obviously written to be sung by a man on “Through the Morning, Through The Night” and “Let Your Loss Be A Lesson”. It’s not like they didn’t have a decent male singer standing around. Or at least modify the lyrics.
The other by-product of this is that Robert Plant is going to be touring most of the year with Krauss through America and Europe which means that any ideas of a Led Zeppelin reunion tour anytime soon after the big show in London is going to be on hold for a while. And that's not a good sign for LZ fans.
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