Samson and Delilah.  

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame singer, Robert Plant joins the most decorated female Grammy winner of all time, Alison Krauss for an album of duets titled “Raising Sand.” It’s Heavy Metal versus Bluegrass, demonic versus angelic, boomer versus gen-xer. It’ll never work, right? Thankfully what looks like an odd couple on paper can sometimes generate magic in reality, and this album does just that.
Producer T-Bone Burnett has assembled the perfect band and turns the burner down to “smoldering” for this set of subdued and swampy covers of songs by Gene Clark, The Everly Brothers, Tom Waits, Townes Van Zant and Mel Tillis and some other forgotten or overlooked gems. The main attraction though is the pairing of their two famous voices into an intriguing, completely new sound. As Plant’s voice spices up the sugary sweetness of Krauss’, their seamless harmonies create a common ground for the collision of their musical worlds. Their influence on each other can easily be felt even on songs in which Krauss goes it alone. Her flat-out imitation of Plant on the Mike Campbell song “Let You Loss Be Your Lesson” is a revelation and bodes well for future solo recordings. Plant’s wordless harmonies on the gypsy arrangement of the Sam Phillips song “Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us” are a perfect bookend to Krauss’ similar treatment to Plant’s delivery of the oldie “Fortune Teller.”  

Evidence that this pairing could work go back to Plant’s work with British folk singer Sandy Denny on Zep’s  “Battle of Evermore” and Krauss’ own cover of Plant’s “Big Log” on one of her brother’s solo albums. Together they have crafted a brooding, understated treasure of southern gothic music.  

Listen for songs from the album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss called “Raising Sand” on Paul Shugrue’s new music show “Out of the Box” on Hampton Roads Public Radio 89.5 WHRV-FM. Monday through Thursday from 7 pm to 9pm, Saturday afternoon from 1 pm to 5 pm and on-demand at www.whrv.org/outofthebox.