Anybody else have "Raising Sand" - CD by Allison Krauss and Robert Plant?

[CTyankee]

I got it for Christmas from my son, who knows I am a classical music and opera person. But I really like it! It reaches some very rich moments. Their voices are quite good. I don't know quite what to make of it. Is it considered some kind of modern country style music?

[LynneSin]

1. I have it but I'm the resident Robert Plant groupie

I love the CD!!

[CTyankee]

2. Good! What canyou tell me about this music. I am woefully out of date as you can see.

I appreciated the artistry of their music, even if I don't know anything about it. As someone who loves opera, I can tell you what does appeal to me on this CD. It's the clarity of voice and the dramatic use of the instruments. Melody is sweet and sad but carried nicely. A well put together effort, very affecting...

[LynneSin]

3. Ok here's what I know

Robert Plant is the lead singer of Led Zeppelin whose voice is normally a very loud wailing "Baby Baby Baby"

Allison Krauss is Bluegrass - vocals AND fiddle.

I'm not sure how they hooked up, I read a story somewhere about it; however, the songs are all remakes of some 50s obsurce classic. The song currently getting some airplay "Gone Gone Gone" is a former Everly Brothers song.

They will be touring

[CTyankee]

4. That pairing is interesting. It reminds me of hearing Nora Jones and Jerry Lee Lewis

sing some sweet, sad country/western song (I forget which one) on a Jerry Lee Lewis special on Public Broadcasting. IT was lovely, but not lovely enough for me to pay $100 for it (it was a promo for a fundraiser).

[speedoo]

6. The album was produced by T-Bone Burnett, and it really bears his stamp.

Burnett also produced the music for the film "O Brother Where Art Thou" which featured Alison Krauss along with many bluegrass greats. So if he did not already know Alison, he certainly knew her after that work.

And he's been around a long time, doing a lot of producing as well as his own albums so I am sure he has known Plant for some time.

My guess is the album idea was either Plant's or Burnett's. They've both been around a lot longer than Alison.

I've had the album for about a month now. It's the best album of any kind in years, IMO. My favorite tracks are "Killing the Blues" and "Please Read the Letter".

If you like the unusual sound of Raining Sand, check out Burnett's recent album from 2006 "The True False Identity".... you will like it as well.

[taterguy]

5. Rolling Stone says that Led Zep's bass player went to a bluegrass festival on a whim

I'm not sure if that's how Plant and Krauss got together but he discovered a kinship between the two genres of music.

Here's a pic that a friend of mine took of him:

[GenDem]

7. I have it, and really like it.

I think that it's a great combination of two completely different genres.

[Momgonepostal]

8. I got for Christmas also and love it

They are not a duo I would thought to put together myself, but IMO it works! One of my favorite songs on the CD is Please Read the Letter, which is not a remake, but something Robert Plant (and others?) wrote.

I don't think most would consider the CD "modern country" but who knows.

I'd be curious to know from the people down thread who have heard it on the radio, what kinds of stations are giving it airplay?

[CTyankee]

10. I like "Killing the Blues." It's a nice bit of whimsy.

AS for genre, I have no vocabulary for it. My musical vocabulary is in terms of era's (baroque, classical, romantic, etc, etc)and subcategories of opera. Since I spend a lot of time listening to operatic voices delivering arias, duets and the like, I am used to nuance and the perfection of style. So perhaps my ear is more attuned to those attributes, while being pretty ignorant of genre of modern music, whatever the category. I find this CD fascinating...

[julski]

9. I bought it from Amazon download

. . . and would LOVE to see the liner notes!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

11. It all started because Plant listens to Public Radio and called

in to a DJ who made a derogatory remark about "Stairway to Heaven" pledging to never play the song again on that station...

http://www.prx.org/pieces/3955

[Madrone]

12. I've got it too.

:hi:

[RetroLounge]

13. I have it and love it...

I've always been a Zep fan and have grown to really love Alison Krause.

Together, they just somehow work...

Sorta like the Honey Drippers of the 80's

RL