Description
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raise The Roof – Compact Disc
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss’ Raise the Roof is the duo’s second collaborative album, released on November 19, 2021 via Rounder Records. It arrives 14 years after their first project, Raising Sand (2007), and it keeps the same core idea: Plant and Krauss don’t treat roots music as a museum—this is a curated, studio-crafted set of songs that link folk, country, blues, soul, and rock through mood, arrangement, and vocal chemistry rather than genre purity.
A key factual point is that T Bone Burnett again serves as producer, and his approach is central to why the record works. Burnett builds these songs around space, texture, and restraint: acoustic instruments are close-miked, drums are often understated, and the arrangements emphasize atmosphere and interplay. The focus is on the way Plant’s weathered, expressive voice contrasts with Krauss’ clear, controlled soprano. They rarely sing “over” each other; instead, they trade lines, overlap gently, and use harmony like an emotional amplifier. That balance is one of the album’s signatures—Plant brings grit and history; Krauss brings precision and calm; the blend lands somewhere eerily timeless.
Unlike a standard “duets album,” Raise the Roof is almost entirely built from covers, and the song choices are intentionally deep-cut and eclectic rather than obvious classics. The material ranges from well-known writers to cult favorites, pulling from multiple decades of American and British songwriting. The album includes songs associated with artists such as Merle Haggard (“Going Where the Lonely Go”), Randy Weeks (“Can’t Let Go”), Geoffrey Oryema (“The Crow”), Allen Toussaint (“Trouble with My Lover”), and Brenda Burns (“High and Lonesome”), among others. The point isn’t to “update” the originals—it’s to reframe them with Burnett’s sonic world and the duo’s specific vocal dynamic, often making familiar emotions (regret, desire, resignation, loyalty) feel newly shaded.
Musically, the record leans into a roots-and-soul palette with subtle rock weight rather than big riffs: pedal steel and dobro colors drift in and out, guitars and bass sit low and warm, and the groove often feels like it’s moving in slow motion. That pacing is deliberate—many tracks are mid-tempo or slow, letting the lyrics and vocal phrasing carry the drama. When the album does pick up energy, it tends to do it through rhythmic tension and arrangement detail rather than volume. For listeners who liked Raising Sand, the continuity is obvious, but Raise the Roof generally feels darker and more nocturnal, with a slightly heavier sense of atmosphere and fewer “bright” moments.
In terms of impact, Raise the Roof was a major critical-and-commercial event for an Americana-leaning collaboration: it debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums and Top Americana/Folk Albums charts, and it reached the Top 10 on the Billboard 200—a strong showing for an album that’s essentially a carefully sequenced set of covers. It was also nominated for major awards (including Grammys), reinforcing that the Plant/Krauss partnership wasn’t a one-off success but a long-term format they can return to with real purpose.
Packaged in a gatefold cardboard sleeve, with a 16-page insert booklet with lyrics, credits and pictures
Brand new, never played and still in the factory plastic sealed
Track Listing
Quattro (World Drifts In)
The Price Of Love
Go Your Way
Trouble With My Lover
Searching For My Love
Can’t Let Go
It Don’t Bother Me
You Led Me To The Wrong
Last Kind Words Blues
High And Lonesome
Going Where The Lonely Go
Somebody Was Watching Over Me
