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Led Zeppelin frontman Robert and bluegrass crooner Alison
Krauss may not be the likeliest of musical combinations. But on
this welcome collaboration album, they work beautifully together,
wringing a kind of magic from other peoples songs. The key to
the album is its versatility. Between them, Krauss and can
handle a vast repertoire on their own, and here they take on the
lot, from folk laments and country soul to searing blues and
upbeat rock & roll. Overseen by Elvis Costello producer T
Burnett and backed by high caliber musicians like guitarist Marc
Ribot and multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, Raising Sand sees
the duo create stellar covers of songs by Tom Waits, Townes Van
Zandt, Mel Tillis and The Everly Brothers, among others.
Highlights include a killer version of Roly Salley's "Killing the
Blues", and a cover of the -Page collaboration "Please Read
the Letter," though in truth, its difficult to find a weak spot
on the whole album. --Danny McKenna
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BBC Review
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What on paper looks mis-matched can often be utterly right.
Raising Sand has to be one of the best ever examples of this.
Most people would have bet on 's ex-band mate, John Paul
Jones, as being the one to have forged this big league bluegrasss
pairing. After all he's worked with Chris Thile and Nickel Creek
as well as Uncle Earl, and plays a mean mandolin himself. But no,
it's the grizzled, leonine king of c*ck rock who gets to get
up-close and personal with the Union Station legend. And thank
goodness it was, because Raising Sand has to be one of the
releases of the year.
The first thing you notice about Raising Sand is how the pair's
vocals compliment each other. Krauss' honey-sweet chords can be
saccharine on her own work at times, but here she's balanced by
the mature grain of 's almost whispered delivery. On Killing
The Blues or Gene Clark's "Polly Come Home" they nudge up against
each other, buoyed up by Greg Leisz's floating pedal steel. And
this from a man reknowned for going 'baybeeee, baybeee'. Phew...
The selection of songs proves to be just as inspired as the
pairing. With material by the Everlys ("Gone, Gone Gone"), Townes
van Zant ("Nothin'") and even one from 's last collaboration
with Jimmy Page ("Please Read The Letter" - completely improved
from its original incarnation) it would be hard to go that wrong,
but the best of an embarrassment of riches has to be Krauss'
rendition of Tom Waits "Trampled Rose". Spellbinding doesn't even
come close to describing this.
The album's other main star has to be T Burnett. His
production adds a veneer of authenticity and his choice of
musicians is spot on at every turn. Marc Ribot (guitar) along
with Dennis Crouch, Mike Seeger, Jay Bellerose, Norman Blake,
Greg Leisz, Patrick Warren, and Riley Baugus make this a
stunning, dark, brooding collection, comparable in tone to Daniel
Lanois' masterful job on Dylan's Time Out Of Mind. It captures a
gothic southern vibe effortlessly.
Hearing Krauss emote so bluesily on tracks like "Rich Woman" is a
revelation, while her coruscating fiddle on "Nothin'" is rawer
than you'd ever expect to hear from such a pillar of the new
bluegrasss community. Raising Sand is proof that even with such
dynamite raw material sometimes things really do add up to far
more than the sum of their parts. Superb, in every way! --Chris
Jones
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