Review of June 28, 2008–Lake Tahoe

originally appeared on rgj.com

By JASON KELLNER

When Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant teamed with bluegrass star Alison Krauss last year to make an album of folk songs, it didn’t seem like something that would stick around as strong and as long as it has.

The album, “Raising Sand,” has sold more than a million copies and won a Grammy award.

Then Krauss and Plant took the songs on tour along with T Bone Burnett, the man who produced the album and assembled the band of amazing musicians who made all the songs come alive.

And on Saturday at Harveys outdoor amphitheater in front of a near-capacity crowd, the seven musicians took a 55-minute album and molded it into a 2-hour show without a moment feeling padded. Of course, the band threw a lot more into the show than just songs from “Raising Sand.”

The few people in the crowd wearing Led Zeppelin shirts? They got their wishes when Plant and Krauss ran through excellent bluegrass-stained versions of songs including “Black Dog,” “When the Levee Breaks,” Plant’s “I’m in the Mood” and Zeppelins “Battle of Evermore,” a song tailor-made for the Krauss-Plant-Burnett treatment with its mandolin backbone.

This was not a rock show, but a laid-back affair of Americana music played by a fine-tuned group of musicians that played to a crowd that preferred to sit through most of the show.

Plant, still wearing a shoulder-length mop of curly hair, fit perfectly into the songs. Rather than struggle to belt his way through old songs on a Led Zeppelin reunion tour, the 59-year-old chose to return to work with Krauss after a one-shot Zeppelin show last November. The music he’s performing now, along with the stripped-down old songs of his own, seems a perfect fit for this late phase of his career.

Krauss played the low-key bluegrass star, with a subdued stage presence and nary a flash of skin to be seen under her large, white polka-dot coat and black pants. But she sang her parts in her sweet country voice and played a little bit of fiddle during her times in the spotlight.

Krauss did a couple of her own songs, including some pulled from the Grammy-winning surprise hit of 2000, “O Brother, Where Are Thou?,” also a Burnett production.

The rest of the band brought the rootsy sound to life with guitars, mandolin, banjo, pedal steel, stand-up bass and an unconventional drum sound from Jay Bellerose, whose kit had only two cymbals, boomy drums and barely a snare drum ever heard. And they played on a relatively sparse stage, devoid of flashy effects. They instead let their music and excellent harmonization carry the show.

Plant explained that he listened to Mississippi Delta music and Chicago blues growing up, messed with it, and, well, you know what happened. But as for the Americana sounds he’s been immersed in working with Krauss, he said he didn’t realize that this had been going on until now.

Krauss, who didn’t say much during the show, seemed to forget she was in Nevada when she introduced a guitarist from “your home state.” He actually was from California. Still, it was nice to hear the artists give a shout out to the crowd.

If anything, hearing these songs performed live, in addition to hearing what they did to some of the old Led Zeppelin songs, begs the question: Will they put out a live album? They’ve got me as a potential customer.

review of June 27, 2008–Berkeley, CA

Originally appeared on mercurynews.com

By Shay Quillen

The names Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were on the tickets, but the featured act at a sold-out Greek Theatre on Friday night was no duet. It was a band, one with so many weapons that Stuart Duncan, Nashville’s top fiddle man, was often reduced to strumming a third guitar.

This remarkable electric-acoustic septet delivered a sprawling two-hour set, interpolating rockabilly, gospel, country, Led Zeppelin cuts and Appalachian balladry, all filtered through the urbane-rustic sensibility of guitarist and musical director T Bone Burnett, who produced the pair’s debut album, “Raising Sand.”

The music was like a savvy old boxer, bobbing and weaving until it unleashed a devastating combination, then quickly retreating before it could be caught in a clinch. There was no crowd-pleasing “Stairway to Heaven” or “When You Say Nothing at All” to deliver a knockout punch. But it was a clear victory nonetheless.

Krauss played a key role in Burnett’s biggest hit as a producer, the old-timey “O Brother, Where Art Thou” soundtrack, and Duncan, lead guitarist Buddy Miller and acoustic bassist Dennis Crouch are all steeped in the down-home musical traditions that album celebrated. (Drummer Jay Bellerose, a Burnett favorite, completed the ensemble.)

The odd man out, of course, was former Zeppelin front man Plant, known for wailing and keening against Jimmy Page’s Gibson on supercharged, oversexed blues anthems, not for pitching in on bluegrass trios. But what he lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm, and a healthy reserve of weathered rock-star charisma.

Nearly half the show was devoted to “Raising Sand” material, which left plenty of room for semi-obscure oldies and reworked Zeppelin material. A slow, ethereal reinterpretation of the chaotic rocker “Black Dog” was OK, but a version of Plant’s forgettable solo hit “In the Mood,” featuring twin fiddles by Duncan and Krauss and a detour into the English folk ballad “Matty Groves,” was a stunner.

Though Plant is the biggest name, Krauss was the true star. On her own, Krauss sometimes retreats into soft-focus prettiness. But with her favorite fiddler behind her and a rock god to her left, Krauss let it rip, tearing into her fiddle breaks and then raring back and belting with Plant on “Black Country Woman.”

With at least four first-rate singers on stage, two songs by Burnett was too much. But Krauss got the show back on track with a string of breathtaking vocal performances, peaking with a glorious “Down to the River to Pray.”

Zep’s “Battle of Evermore” was an obvious choice for the duo, though not a particularly inspired one. However, two more standout album tracks, “Please Read the Letter” and “Gone Gone Gone,” ended the set on a high note.

During a three-song encore, Plant introduced the old Johnny Horton hit “I’m a One-Woman Man” as a song from the “next” album, a welcome bit of news. Miller took the mike on one verse and killed.

God, what a band.

review of June 27, 2008–Berkeley, CA

Originally appeared on mercurynews.com

by Shay Quillen

Just got back from a chilly night iat Berkeley’s Greek Theatre, watching Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and their amazing band, led by T Bone Burnett. The combo played for two hours, including nearly all of the “Raising Sand” album, reworkings of Led Zeppelin and Plant solo material, some old country and gospel, and even a couple of Burnett numbers. The band? Wow. For the tour they’ve assembled a bunch of Nashville cats, including the city’s finest fiddler, Stuart Duncan — who also showed his mastery of guitar, banjo and mandolin — and guitar ace Buddy Miller. And there was the bluegrass novice, the old English dude from Led Zeppelin, gamely pitching in on trios and quartets alongside folks who have been doing it their entire lives. And having a blast, apparently. Crazy. I’m going to take a little while to collect my thoughts, but in the meantime, here’s the set list:

Rich Woman / Leave My Woman Alone / Black Dog / Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us / Through the Morning, Through the Night / Goodbye and So Long to You / Fortune Teller / In the Mood (into Matty Groves) / Black Country Woman / Primitives / Laissez les Bons Temps Rouler / Trampled Rose / Green Pastures / Down to the River to Pray / Killing the Blues / Nothin’ / The Battle of Evermore / Please Read the Letter / Gone Gone Gone // You Don’t Knock / One-Woman Man / Your Long Journey

Review of June 23, 2008–Greek Theater

Originally appeared on laist.com

by Joey Maloney

Robert Plant & Allison KraussIt was hard to know what to expect from the live performance of the “Raising Sand Revue” As named by Mr. Plant but one thing was for sure is that two of the strongest and most unique voices would be on display in full force. One a bluegrass belle, with a chilling and, at times, ethereal voice and the other a bona fide rock god who, if you closed your eyes and just heard his voice, you wouldn’t think him to be 60 years old. When their album came out last fall it was much lauded and praised and this seemingly odd pairing was proven to actually work. Now on tour the pair are solidifying the pairing and allowing it to further grow and become something more than even the two of them imagined. ||Continue reading||

originally appeared in the Tahoe Daily Tribune

Tim Parsons

A conference phone call with Robert Plant, T Bone Burnett and Alison Krauss left reporters with a most obvious observation: The three are having a blast.

“Sometimes I want to pinch myself and say, ‘Am I really in the middle of this?’ ” Plant said. “There is such a great cacophony of sounds and style. I couldn’t wish for anything better than this.” ||Continue reading||

Review of June 24, 2008, Greek Theater, LA

Originally appeared in LA Weekly
the Greek Theater, June 24.
By John Payne
Photos by Timothy Norris

It wasn’t all that strange when Led Zep’s iconic hip-swiveler Robert Plant chose to do the duo thing with bluegrass-country diva Alison Krauss. Their musical connections make easy sense, first of all – Plant’s Celtic roots and Krauss’ in Appalachian music were long ago tightly intertwined, and obviously form the basis for much American popular song. And Plant’s a notorious student of roots Americana, which formed the building blocks of Led Zep and much of his solo material. The way I hear it, Plant is the one who sought out a meeting with Krauss, with the idea of collaboration. Whatever the case, it was an inspired and, as it turns out, quite resonant notion, as their recent duo album, Raising Sand, and performance at the Greek Theater demonstrated. ||Continue reading||

Review of June 23, 2008–Greek Theater, Los Angeles

Originally appeared in Variety

By STEVEN MIRKIN

Robert Plant and Allison Krauss entered the Greek Theater stage from opposite sides Monday night, stepping toward centerstage in time to the slinky blues of “Rich Woman”; nearly two hours later, following the mournful farewell of “Your Long Journey,” they bowed and walked offstage together, giving the aud a ravishing lesson in harmony, or how opposites attract. The two songs also bookend Rising Sand” (Rounder), the hauntingly beautiful album that the two released together last year. The live show went deeper in exploring much the same territory. ||Continue reading||

Review of June 23, 2990–Los Angeles, CA

Originally appeared in the Los Angeles Times

By Richard Cromelin

The genre of pop standards is a bit out of bounds for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, whose high-profile collaboration excavates a more traditional sector of America’s musical geography. But when the singers and their band came to the Greek Theatre on Monday, there was something of “The Wizard of Oz” about it.

The roles are a little scrambled, but picture Plant as an English rock-star version of Dorothy, a noble, curly-maned lion who has entered the swampy heart of American blues and country after decades of flirting with it from afar, both as the singer of Led Zeppelin and as a solo artist.

The pilgrim is accompanied by a muse of singular voice and vision in country/bluegrass star Krauss, and a tall, eccentric scarecrow who’s actually pulling the strings — guitarist and bandleader T Bone Burnett, whose selection of songs and musical concepts helped transform what began as a tentative teaming into a fertile enterprise. ||Continue reading||

Review of June 23, 2008–Greek Theater, Los Angeles, CA

Originally appeared on ocregister.com

By BEN WENER

Review: Led Zeppelin can wait – this is one dream duo that is passionately enlivening the past.

There has been much needless grumbling among Led Zeppelin acolytes about Robert Plant’s decision not to trudge the Hammer of the Gods around the globe immediately after the band’s celebrated one-off reunion in London last December. Rather, he has devoted much of this year to touring behind “Raising Sand,” the acclaimed, atmospheric roots excavation he undertook with bluegrass queen Alison Krauss and producer/preservationist T Bone Burnett.

As if his intentions should ever have been in question. Not only had the album (one of last year’s finest) arrived less than two months before Zep’s storied performance, thus allowing zero time for live promotion, but it’s a work Plant has been justifiably proud of and eager to show off, as he and his collaborators did superbly Monday night in the first of two performances at the Greek Theatre, an ideal location for music that often sounds as if beamed in from a lost satellite stuck on mid-’50s transmissions.

One of Plant’s greatest post-Zep accomplishments – not to mention the first indication that the angelic-voiced but sometimes one-dimensional Krauss is capable of breaking her own mold – “Raising Sand” is something of a rarity among rock artists whose heyday predates “Thriller.” Whereas so many of his peers have struggled to stay relevant while succumbing to big-money nostalgia (Elton John, the Rolling Stones, the Who) or simply sold their souls for sustained commercial viability (that cash-cow crooner Rod Stewart), Plant has taken significant steps this decade to keep from turning moldy while revisiting the past. ||Continue reading||

Review of June 21, 2008, Red Rocks Amphitheater, Colorado

Originally appeared on westword.com

By Jon Solomon

As the electrifying frontman of Led Zeppelin nearly three decades ago, Robert Plant was the epitome of the über-rockstar. But Saturday’s show with bluegrass queen Alison Krauss proved that the singer could be equally as compelling in a completely different musical environment. Page and Krauss opened the set with “Rich Woman” without a lot of theatrics. Then again, though, there didn’t really need to be. The pair simply stood behind the mikes and sang brilliantly, while drummer Jay Bellarose laid down the tom-tom beat and T Bone Burnett, dressed like a country preacher, and Buddy Miller laid down the vibrato-drenched guitar parts. ||Continue reading||