At the request of the label, mp3 downloads are not available for this
particular track. However, we are permitted to offer a stream. Check out
the stream of Gone,
Gone, Gone.
From its embryonic, conceptual stages – well before any music materialized
– the mere idea of Raising Sand held infinite fascination for both
its creators and those around them. As word spread of an impending musical
collaboration between Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, imaginations ran wild.
Two artists, each at the pinnacle of their respective pantheons, Robert
and Alison have seemingly little in common. But just below the surface,
an elemental understanding flowed between them, waiting to be tapped...
Mutual admirers for some time, Plant and Krauss first performed together
at a concert celebrating the music of Leadbelly. That great man’s sound
– spry and playful, yet marked by an undercurrent of torment and loss
– is a keyhole into the sound world unlocked on Raising Sand. After
their initial collaboration proved promising, Plant and Krauss brought producer
T Bone Burnett into the fold to help them investigate a more sustained,
full-scale project. Charged with selecting both supporting musicians and
material that would illuminate the connection between these two unique artists,
Burnett succeeded wondrously. Built on a shared core of modal blues and
country soul, filtered through alternating layers of unadorned tenderness
and thick, shifting textures, the sounds on Raising Sand extend well beyond
anyone’s expectations.
It all began quietly, in Alison’s Nashville home.With Burnett quietly
lining out chord changes on guitar, Plant and Krauss sang. There were no
microphones, no effects – nothing to hide behind or escape into. “The
idea was to take them both out of their comfort zone,” Burnett reflects.
Burnett had assembled an intriguing group of musicians, with a core of guitarist
Marc Ribot, bassist Dennis Crouch, and drummer Jay Bellerose occasionally
augmented by guitarist Norman Blake and multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger.
Burnett nurtured the music endlessly and the sound gelled quickly, as a
roomful of strangers became an empathetic, organically telepathic band in
a matter of hours.
The material selected by T Bone is the fulcrum on which Plant and Krauss’s
delicately disarming harmonies balance and pivot gracefully. Roly Salley’s
underground folk gem “Killing the Blues” is as bittersweetly chilling
as a grunge rockabilly race through the Everly Brothers’ “Gone
Gone Gone” is invigorating. Surprises abound, from a darkly grooving
take on Brit-beat standard “Fortune Teller” to the closing “Long
Journey,” a timeless country standard beautifully performed in a strict,
solemn Carter Family style.
As much as Raising Sand is a revelation for the listener, the artists involved
were even more profoundly affected. “When we got seventy-five percent
of the way down the line,” Plant explains, “I realized we’d
created something that I could never have dreamt of.” Krauss shares
his enthusiasm and wonder. “There’s so much romance in contrast,”
she summarizes. “It was a real life-changing experience.”
At the request of the label, mp3 downloads are not available for this
particular track. However, we are permitted to offer a stream. Check out
the stream of Gone,
Gone, Gone.
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