It took 14 years for the musical partnership of Alison Krauss and Robert Plant to bear fruit for a second album. That’s longer than the history of Led Zeppelin and the same amount of years Krauss had lived on Earth before the fiddle prodigy recorded for the first time. Raise the Roof finds producer T-Bone Burnett once again providing exquisitely designed domiciles for Krauss’ bell-clear soprano to coinhabit and commingle with Plant’s misty mountain mastery.
There has been chatter about a third album, but for now there’s a tour to focus on. While the collaboration doesn’t take Krauss far out of the bluegrass and country lanes she’s navigated, picking up 27 Grammys along the way, Plant had to prepare for the delicate nuance of harmonizing with Krauss on the road by recalibrating his voice and getting into an Americana state of mind.
This time, he may consider staying in that zone after the tour to re-create that magic. Krauss is arguably Plant’s most significant collaborator after Jimmy Page, and he took similar approaches to entering partnerships with both. Plant first met with Page in 1968 and found common ground by playing records that revealed shared musical tastes from the blues to Joan Baez.
Plant had a similar meeting at the dawn of his partnership with Krauss, with both artists expanding each other’s musical awareness and jointly moving in the direction that would lead to 2007’s Raising Sand. That album was destined to be recorded once Plant met Krauss at rehearsals for a tribute to Lead Belly. Krauss had provided vocals for “Down to the River to Pray” and “I’ll Fly Away” for Burnett’s soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou? and brought him into the picture.
The result was a beautiful album rich with instrumental textures. Plant’s shimmering vocals entwine with Krauss’ celestial singing on songs such as “Please Read the Letter,” a scintillating arrangement of a Page/Plant composition, and “Killing the Blues.” “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” brought twangy rockabilly flavor into the mix as only Burnett can conjure, while Gene Clark’s mournful “Through the Morning, Through the Night” proved to be the album’s standout track and its most enduring.
Raise the Roof doesn’t stray far from the blueprint established with Raising Sand, which took top honors in five categories at the 51st Annual Grammy Awards in 2009, including Album of the Year. The followup album, released in November 2021, was recognized with three Grammy nominations. Songs such as “Can’t Let Go” and “Trouble With My Lover” effectively evoked the vibe of Raising Sand without sounding like retreads. As songs are mostly covers, there was no danger of unconsciously reincarnating songs.
Standout tracks include lead-off “Quattro (World Drifts In)” by Southwestern duo Calexico and Everly Brothers composition “The Price of Love,” while the presences of Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, Bert Jansch and Lucinda Williams are deeply felt in a bountiful musical yield that could easily lead to a third harvest season.
7 p.m. June 14, starting at $89.95 plus tax and fee. ticketmaster.com
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