When you saw them together for the first time, you wondered what was this? It even looked a little creepy. A legendary rocker from the 1960s-70s and the much younger violin-playing singer with her roots in the country/Americana genres. What could they possibly have in common? But then you heard sing together. You heard how their voices melded together. You realized their commonality was the music. It was always about the music.

It was fourteen years ago when Robert Plant and Alison Krauss brought their talents to Nashville to record and release their album “Raising Sand.” Here are some of the near-unanimous positive reviews:

“One of the year’s very best”  “Powerfully evocative” “One of the most effortless-sounding pairings in modern popular music” “Key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo”.

The Grammys loved “Raising Sand”, too. It was nominated for five awards and won all of them. Included were Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Album of the Year.

The sales of the album were excellent, also. It sold more than one million units in the United States, which certified it as a platinum record.

So what would Plant and Krauss do to follow up on this unexpected success? They tried again a couple of years later but were unhappy with the results. They each went their own with their own bands. “Raising Sand” and the team of Plant and Krauss looked to be a memorable one-off event.

But then came 2021. Plant and Krauss hooked up again, along with the producer of the first album, T-Bone Burnett. The result is “Raise the Roof” which was released yesterday.

The formula that was so successful in 2007 has worked again. The choice of songs is excellent. The musicianship is top-notch. But, once again it’s all about the voices….oh man, those voices. You hear Alison Kraus sing and her voice takes you in. You hear now seventy-three-year-old Robert Plant sing these songs and you almost forget he was the voice and frontman of Led Zeppelin. But when you hear the two work their harmonies, the sound gets deep into your soul. If you like harmony singing, it’s hard to find anything better than this.

The only issue I have with this album is what the hell took so long. Fourteen years….fourteen long years. Hopefully, we won’t have to wait until 2035 to hear volume three.

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