Alison Krauss & Robert Plant — ‘Raise the Roof’
Label: Rounder Records

Alison Krauss and Robert Plant (that’s the order I put them in) have reunited for another album more than a dozen years after their collaboration “Raising Sand” became a hit. The 12-track Raise the Roof, on Rounder Records, is a collection of covers like its predecessor. It was produced in Nashville just before the 2020 lockdown and is again produced by T-Bone Burnett.

It was worth the wait. It’s a very reassuring listening experience.

The new album has Krauss and Plant singing songs by Merle Haggard, Allen Toussaint, The Everly Brothers, Anne Briggs, Geeshie Wiley, Bert Jansch, Betty Harris and the band Calexico, among others. There is also a Plant-Burnett original. It relies on the tried and true roots music rhythms of their first collaboration, and it delves even deeper, emotionally. It is a musical conversation between two artists who make an art out of listening to each other. Together, they create a warm, intimate, otherworldly atmosphere that is worth returning to, time and again.

Even more exciting is the news that Plant and Krauss will tour together in 2022.