“We Were Shocked”: The Painful Experience That Sparked Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ Musical Partnership

When it comes to voice timbre, style, and presentation, it doesn’t get much more contrasting than Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. In a rare turn of musical alchemy, the pair teamed up for their first studio album, Raising Sand, and five Grammy Awards for each artist, including Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, Record of the Year, Best Pop Collaboration, and Best Country Collaboration with Vocals. Suddenly, “opposites attract” took on a whole new meaning.

A series of fortunate occurrences brought the former Led Zeppelin leader and crystalline soprano bluegrass icon together. Plant had to listen to Krauss on the radio during a tragic late-night journey home from a pub.

The two had to meet in person during a Lead Belly tribute in 2004. Finally, they had to determine if going through the “painful” experimentation of a few days in the studio was worth it. Fortunately, they determined it was.

The “Painful” Experiment Of Robert Plant And Alison Krauss’ Collaboration

Rock ‘n’ roll and bluegrass are two opposing sides of the same fast-paced, exhilarating coin. Both genres place an emphasis on instrumental speed and agility, particularly with stringed instruments. Unlike rock ‘n’ roll, which thrives on the unpredictable and chaotic, bluegrass takes a far more regulated approach. In bluegrass, singers follow the melody in their individual harmony parts with airtight precision, giving the impression of a single voice. In rock, particularly the style popularised by Led Zeppelin in the 1960s and 1970s, vocalists can and frequently did throw caution to the wind.

If the obvious contrast between their musical upbringings wasn’t enough to be a hurdle for Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, the gap in their natural timbres was. Plant famously shouts, moans, and bellows into the microphone. Krauss, equally famously, does not. Her vocal delivery is gentle, delicate, and calculated. No matter how much each artist respected the other, if they couldn’t find a way to mix their individual voices, the project was unlikely to continue. Thus, the three-day trial began.

In a 2021 interview with PBS NewsHour, Plant and Krauss talked about their initial collaboration at Nashville’s legendary Sound Emporium recording studio. The former Led Zeppelin singer claimed that their first attempts at singing together were “painful,” while Krauss added, “The way you grow up singing in bluegrass is very regimented and planned out.” I always tell a joke. You had no other life since you were constantly singing harmony and attempting to perfect it so that it sounded like one voice. [Robert’s] entire musical career has been improvisational. It seemed like I was hanging off the edge of a cliff, attempting to equal him.

Two musical worlds colliding eventually paid off in droves.

The fundamental disparities between Robert Plant’s and Alison Krauss’ musical backgrounds created plenty of potential conflict in their cooperation. But it also provided amazing learning opportunities for both musicians. Krauss was able to take her cut-and-dry bluegrass education and blur the boundaries, stretch her legs, and push against the music to a greater extent than she had previously. On the contrary, Plant learnt how to control his performances such that they were precise and intentional. “I was basically tutored by Alison,” Plant explained in a 2017 interview with The Guardian. “She’d hit the talkback button from the control room, lean into the microphone, and say, ‘Robert, why don’t you sing the same thing twice?'”

This push and pull acted as the primary creative force behind their odd yet incredibly effective collaboration. “We’ve got a kind of personality which we could pursue as two singers, a neat place that we made for ourselves,” Plant told the New York Times. “I really liked the notion of singing together for an entire show, more or less with someone. Concentrating, listening, and occasionally going free-form. Letting it all out, then being very controlled and organised, and following her instructions. Then, sometimes, I let go so she couldn’t catch me.”

Ultimately, the public’s response to their teamwork would speak for itself. Their debut album, Raising Sand, was a massive success. While their follow-up, Raise the Roof, did not get the same level of critical acclaim, it did achieve significant success, topping the Billboard Independent Albums chart, reaching No. 3 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart, and peaking at No. 5 on U.K. Albums.

Not bad for one of the most unlikely musical partnerships of the twenty-first century.