Entertainment, Music - Navy Times

Bluegrass legends inspire Plant, Krauss

Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant and modern bluegrass queen Alison Krauss have founded one of the world’s more exclusive mutual-admiration societies.

Talk to the pair about their collaboration on the rootsy “Raising Sand” album and a national tour, and they can’t contain their delight.

“The minute I met Robert, I thought, ‘Oh, my goodness. This is going to be fun,’ ” says Krauss, who, at 36, is more than two decades Plant’s junior.

“We talked about (bluegrass icon) Ralph Stanley and traveling through the Appalachian Mountains and how much (Plant) loved traditional music. I was very taken by him — his personality and his interests in traditional music.”

The overriding allure for Plant, 59, was Krauss’ pure, soaring voice. (She’s also a crackerjack fiddler.)

“Her voice (is) spectacular and beautiful, a sort of sonorous tone that sometimes takes buildings and actually creates its own resonance (in concert),” says the British singer, who has been known to rattle a few rafters on such Led Zeppelin tunes as “Whole Lotta Love.”

The partnership started in 2004, when Plant invited Krauss to join him in a tribute to bluesman Lead Belly at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland.

“He called and was very friendly on the phone. He came down there and we were rehearsing in an Armenian dancehall that looked like it hadn’t been touched for 40 or 50 years,” the Illinois-born Krauss recalled on a recent conference call with Plant and T Bone Burnett.

After the Lead Belly event, the pair met to consider a wider collaboration.

“We sang together. And it worked, but we knew it wasn’t the right tunes yet,” Krauss says. “That’s when T Bone came in and really rounded it up.”

Producer-musician Burnett, who is playing guitar in Plant and Krauss’ touring band, worked with the singer-fiddler on a handful of projects, including the Grammy-winning soundtrack for the 2000 film “O Brother, Where Art Thou?”

Burnett assembled an eclectic collection of tunes, which form the core of Plant and Krauss’ concert set: Tom Waits’ “Trampled Rose,” Townes Van Zandt’s “Nothin’,” the Everly Brothers’ “Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)” and Allen Toussaint’s “Fortune Teller.”

Burnett has pushed both singers to stretch in concert to convey the 2007 album and other material, drawing satisfaction from the result.

“I’m completely surprised by Robert’s singing, on ‘Don’t Knock’ (Staples Singers) in particular — to hear him singing those gospel-blues notes, those free type things. He’s not imitating anybody.

“And I’m surprised by hearing Alison singing as hard as she is singing on some of the tunes. That’s thrilling.”

The pair also has been performing reworked versions of Led Zeppelin songs, including “Black Dog,” “Black Country Woman” and “The Battle of Evermore.” The last song, fueled by mandolin and acoustic guitar in its 1971 incarnation, is a natural for the pair.

Plant sounds thrilled to tackle material drawing from an array of influences, including folk, country, soul, gospel and blues. Much of it is tied to the American South.

“My attraction to Memphis [soul and rock], to the hill areas of north Mississippi, going down to Clarksdale [Miss.] is a part of the DNA of my life,” says Plant, whose early work with Zeppelin was laden with blues.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer dispels any notion that he’s taking it easy with Krauss, avoiding the rock screaming that made him famous.

“Singing in this revue is not easy. In fact, it’s the most challenging event that I can remember, because I’m working with other voices all the time. ... Most of the (past) band members I played with never really wanted to sing.”

The “Raising Sand” album and tour have given Krauss a chance to spread her wings beyond Union Station, the standout bluegrass group with which she has performed for two decades. She has won 21 Grammys, more than any other female performer, largely on her work with Union Station.

“I’m learning about spontaneity within a show ... I’ve always been in a rather controlled environment,” Krauss says. “I’ve worked with the same people forever, and this has been interesting on many levels.”

While Plant, Krauss and Burnett all have plenty of projects going outside this collaboration (including a rumored 2009 Zeppelin reunion tour for Plant), Krauss took the liberty of speaking for the trio about more material down the line.

“I think all of us are hoping to continue this and that it goes on and on. But that doesn’t mean we’ve lost any love for who we play for and with [in other settings],” Krauss says.

Plant adds, “I’m a fortunate man to be learning every day and to be standing on the side of the stage ... and sometimes pinching myself and saying, ‘Am I really a part of this?’

“It’s such a great cacophony of sounds. I couldn’t wish for anything better than this.”