Performer: Robert Plant Alison Krauss
The CD: “Raising Sand”

The idea of Robert Plant, the aging rock god of Led Zepplin, teaming up with the darling of new bluegrass, Alison Krauss, just looks wrong on paper. Thank God this is music, not paper. The two sang together at a tribute concert to Blues legend Leadbelly, and hit it off. Their voices blend in one of the most wonderful, if unlikely combinations I’ve heard in years.

Much of the credit has to go to producer T Bone Burnett (producer of the “O Brother Where Art Thou” soundtrack as well as Tony Bennett, kd lang, Elvis Costello and many others). Burnett has collected an amazing set of songs by Tom Waits, Roly Salley, The Everly Brothers, Gene Clark and more. He also assembled a first-rate backing band that includes cult guitar hero Marc Ribot.

Plant demonstrates a vocal range that isn’t always on display with his harder-rocking music. His phrasing has a subtlety and maturity that really anchors this collaboration. More than anything, he sounds like the late Roy Orbison. This may be his strongest vocal performance since the early days of Led Zepplin.

Krauss is no slouch either. Her lovely vocals provide the perfect silken counterpoint to Plant’s world-weary voice of experience. Krauss reportedly taught Plant new ways to harmonize, and the end result is nearly flawless. They don’t just interpret the songs on this CD. They inhabit them.

The musical blend is remarkable. This is not Robert Plant stepping into a new genre and totally immersing himself in it the way he did with the Honeydrippers. This CD runs the gamut from rockabilly to British pop to country psychedelica to the indescribable.

Krauss shines on Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose.” Plant revisits his Honeydripper days somewhat with the Everly Brothers’s “Gone Gone Gone.” Both voices lead an amazing cover of the Page/Plant tune “Please Read My Letter.”

“Raising Sand” is a great mellow CD–fine Sunday Morning listening. It’s one of the most satisfying offbeat collaborations I’ve heard in some time.

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