The Year in Music 2021: From ‘Raising Sand’ to ‘Raise the Roof’: Robert Plant reunites with Alison Krauss

Rounder Records

Led Zeppelin‘s Robert Plant reunited with acclaimed country-bluegrass artist Alison Krauss in 2021 to record a new collaborative album titled Raise the Roof, a follow-up to their Grammy-winning 2007 duets collection, Raising Sand.

Like its predecessor, the 12-track Raise the Roof collection was produced by T Bone Burnett and features mostly cover songs.

The album includes renditions of tunes by Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers, British folk legend Bert Jansch and many others. Raise the Roof also features a new original tune called “High and Lonesome” that Plant co-wrote with Burnett.

Among the contributors to Raise the Roof were a few musicians who also appeared on Raising Sand — drummer Jay Bellerose, guitarist Marc Ribot and bassist Dennis Crouch. Other collaborators on the record included Los Lobos guitarist David Hidalgo, lauded jazz guitarist Bill Frisell, and Robert’s Band of Joy collaborator Buddy Miller.

Raise the Roof was released on November 19 and debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200. Plant and Krauss have promoted the album by appearing in pre-recorded in-studio performance segments that have been shown on a variety of television shows, including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, CBS Saturday Morning and PBS NewsHour. They also shot an episode of NPR’s popular online performance series Tiny Desk Concert.

The duo also announced that they’ll hit the road together next year, starting with a U.S. tour leg that kicks off June 1 in Canandaigua, New York, and runs through a June 16 show in Atlanta.

Raising Sand, Plant and Krauss’ first duets album, won five Grammys in 2009, including Album of the Year.

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