Raising Sand

Background

The two songs written by Gene Clark—"Polly (Come Home)" and "Through the Morning, Through the Night"—were originally recorded by Dillard & Clark for their 1969 album, Through the Morning, Through the Night. In fact the Gene Clark & Carla Olson album "So Rebellious A Lover" was the blueprint for Raising Sand.

"Rich Woman" was first recorded by McKinley Millet (as L'il Millet) and his Creoles in 1955, for Specialty Records. "Please Read the Letter" was first recorded for the Page and Plant album, Walking into Clarksdale, in 1998. "Gone, Gone, Gone" was originally written and recorded by the Everly Brothers for Warner Music in 1964. They also recorded "Stick With me Baby" in 1960, for A Date with The Everly Brothers. "Trampled Rose" was originally written and recorded by Tom Waits, and was featured on Real Gone in 2004.

Apart from the influence of Plant and Krauss' vocal styles and talent, the album's producer, T Bone Burnett, is credited with giving the album its skeletal musical style.

Critical reception

The album was met with critical acclaim, earning an averaged score of 87 from compiled reviews on Metacritic. This album was #24 on Rolling Stone's list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007. "The Top 50 Albums of 2007". Raising Sand received positive reviews from contemporary music critics. Being There called it "one of the year’s very best", and Allmusic called it "one of the most effortless-sounding pairings in modern popular music", but stated that some of the songs "(felt) like (they were) tossed off". JamBase called the album "subtle, focused and full of life" and said that it was "highly recommended". Village Voice commented on the album, saying it was "powerfully evocative" and "utterly foreign, oddly familiar, and deeply gratifying". .

The compilation of songs on Raising Sand were hand-picked by the producer, T Bone Burnett. Entertainment Weekly described the cover songs that make up the album as "eclectic", and Village Voice said that "T Bone Burnett flaunts his typical curatorial genius with a whole set of 'have we met before?' tunes". The instrumental quality of the album was also praised; BBC described Krauss's fiddle as "coruscating" and "raw", and Music Box said that Krauss "exceeds all expectations". The guest instrumentalists were also praised, with BBC saying that the guests "make this a stunning, dark, brooding collection, comparable in tone to Daniel Lanois' masterful job on Dylan's Time Out Of Mind."

Critics praised Krauss and Plant's vocal harmonization, with one critic saying that the "key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo." Various music critics described Alison Krauss's vocals as being "spellbinding", "honey-sweet", "weepy", "saccharine", and "haunting". On the other hand, Robert Plant's sometimes "wailing" vocals were described as "orgasmic", and "slithering", in regard to his lead roles.

"Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)" was released as a single and won the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals at the 50th Grammy Awards and was nominated for the Americana Award for "Song of the Year". The song "Killing the Blues" was #51 on Rolling Stone's list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007.

On February 8, 2009, the album won all five awards for which it was nominated at the 51st Grammy Awards: Album of the Year; Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album; Record of the Year (for "Please Read the Letter"); Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (for "Rich Woman"); and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals (for "Killing the Blues"). Raising Sand was the second of three country albums to win Album of the Year, after Dixie Chicks's Taking the Long Way and followed by Taylor Swift's Fearless.

The album was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize in the UK.

In December 2009, Rhapsody ranked the album #2 on its "Country’s Best Albums of the Decade" list. The online music service also called it one of their favorite cover albums of all time.

Chart performance

The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling about 112,000 copies in its first week, the highest chart position for either artists' solo work, although Plant had previously reached #1 several times with Led Zeppelin. Raising Sand was certified platinum by the RIAA on March 4, 2008. After the album's success at the 2009 Grammy Awards, the album topped the Billboard Top Rock Albums chart and Top Internet Albums chart for the first time on the week of February 28, 2009. The album also hit the top of Canadian Top Country Albums, and also peaked at #2 in Billboard Top Country Albums, being stuck behind part of 35 weeks non-consecutive chart topping Fearless by country singer Taylor Swift. Selling 77,000 copies on a 715% increase, Raising Sand jumped 69-2 on the Billboard 200.

The album entered the Top 5 on the UK Albums Chart, going on to reach #2 in January 2008.

Follow-up album

According to Ken Irwin of Rounder Records, and producer Burnett, the duo started work on a second album in 2009. In a 2010 interview, Plant indicated that the follow-up sessions were unsuccessful.

Personnel

Charts