Any artist’s goal should be to keep improving their craft. You may believe you’ve reached your peak when you start playing stadiums all over the world, but there’s always room to push yourself by stepping outside of your traditional comfort zone to create music. While Robert Plant could claim to have gone in 15 different directions with Led Zeppelin over the years, his greatest challenge came when he collaborated with Alison Krauss.
Given Krauss’ approach to music, this should have been a no-brainer for most classic rock fans. Nobody can claim to scream for the rest of their lives, so hearing ‘Percy‘ transition from the feral screeches of songs like ‘Communication Breakdown‘ to something more in line with folk songs like ‘Going to California’ almost feels like the best middle-aged compromise he could have hoped for.
Plant wasn’t exactly new to folk music. Before Zeppelin, The Band of Joy served as a testing ground for genres like this, featuring a more psychedelic version of what Plant would do before deciding that he’d be better off imitating artists like Steve Marriott than James Taylor.
By the time Plant got the call from Krauss, he was practically shaking at the prospect of recording an album. He told Louder, “Sometimes I doubt that I’ve got the chops for the job. It’s a challenge, not physically, but to be honest, I have to remind myself of what Alison has told me to do. I see her eyes flash at me before she bursts out laughing.”
When you consider the various paths Robert Plant had taken, it’s easy to understand why he needed a refresher course. The difficult part of experimenting with different styles on each album is that you have no time to master any of them. So, getting the finer details of the songs on the album Raising Sand was not going to be easy.
The more you listen to the album, the more it becomes clear that Plant is gradually coming into his own. While the singles show him subdued, he branches out as the album progresses. It’s almost as if he’s experimenting with different spaces within his vocal cords to see what works and what doesn’t.
It’s also a refreshing change from what many of the rockers of the past were doing around this time. When you hear about old singers experimenting with different styles, it usually refers to the classic songbook era. Acts like Rod Stewart create songs that range from sophisticated to slightly boring, depending on which song you listen to.
Raising Sand, on the other hand, is the kind of album that many rockers could learn from. Plant takes risks on every single track, expanding on his craft rather than coaxing it along. Plant has always wanted to change with the times since the end of Zeppelin. Hearing him collaborate with Krauss is the kind of innovation that many artists wish they could do at his age.
