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Raising Sand is the first collaborative studio album by rock music singer Robert Plant and bluegrass music-Country music singer Alison Krauss. It was released in October 2007 by Rounder Records. Raising Sand won Album of the Year at the 2008 Americana Music Honors & Awards and at the 2009 Grammy Awards.
The songs on Raising Sand were handpicked by producer T Bone Burnett. Entertainment Weekly described the selection as "eclectic", "Raising Sand (2007) Alison Krauss, Robert Plant" . Entertainment Weekly. October 26, 2008. Retrieved March 8, 2008. while Village Voice said, "Burnett flaunts his typical curatorial genius with a whole set of 'have we met before?' tunes."
The musical quality was also praised. The BBC described Krauss's fiddle as "coruscating" and "raw", "Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand". BBC. October 29, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2008. while The Music Box said Krauss "exceeds all expectations". "Robert Plant/Alison Krauss - Raising Sand". The Music Box. October 23, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2008. The BBC said the musicians "make this a stunning, dark, brooding collection, comparable in tone to Daniel Lanois's masterful job on Bob Dylan's Time Out of Mind."
Critics praised Krauss and Plant's vocals; one critic saying that the "key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo". "Raising Sand". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2008. Various critics described Krauss's vocals as "spellbinding", "honey-sweet", "weepy", "saccharine", and "haunting". "Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raing Sand ( sic)". Blender Magazine. October 23, 2007. Retrieved March 8, 2008. Plant's vocals were described as "orgasmic" and "slithering".
"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 Stones list of the 100 Best Songs of 2007. "The 100 Best Songs of 2007" Rolling Stone. December 11, 2007. Retrieved December 21, 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 four country albums to win Album of the Year, following Dixie Chicks's Taking the Long Way and preceding Taylor Swift's Fearless and Kacey Musgraves' Golden Hour.
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. "Country’s Best Albums of the Decade" Retrieved 12 January 2010. The online music service also called it one of their favorite cover albums of all time. Rhapsody’s Favorite Covers Albums Referenced August 1, 2010
" Raising Sand is my album of the century," said singer Lily Allen. "I love the whole folky and Bluegrass music sound. There's one track called 'Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us', which sounds like an epic funeral march: it's haunting and spooky, and Alison Krauss's voice can just make you shiver. Then there's 'Please Read the Letter', which just has such an honest and open sentiment, it's disarming. I'd love to do an album like that."
The album entered the Top 5 on the UK Albums Chart, going on to reach #2 on January 2, 2008.
"To be 61 and faced with the 'difficult second album' is quite a phenomenon…" Plant observed in 2009. "We'd finished everything in ten days in Nashville, and I rented a car and went down the Natchez Trace to Oxford, Mississippi, across to Clarksdale and down into Helena, Arkansas, looking for those ghosts… and thought to myself, 'How can this be? I've just been with complete strangers, recorded 12 amazing tracks, had a fantastic time, and now I'm headed for the Mississippi Delta.'"
In a 2010 interview, Plant indicated that the follow-up sessions were unsuccessful.
Krauss and Plant released a new album produced by Burnett, Raise the Roof, on November 19, 2021.
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