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June 5, 2008
Robert Plant/Alison Krauss at Mohgan Sun
It seemed unlikely that the pairing of angelic-voiced Alison Krauss with former Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant would work, but with a Grammy Award and sales figures in the hundreds of thousands for their album, Raising Sand, it’s safe to say the collaboration was a success.
Raising Sand isn’t a duets album. This is not George Jones and Tammy Wynette. It’s more like one singer would be out front and the other would provide harmonies.
So it was Wednesday night when Plant and Krauss brought their tour to the Mohegan Sun Arena, thrilling the near-sellout crowd with selections from the album and more.
The “more” part of the concert came from some dramatic re-workings of Led Zeppelin songs — a slowed down “Black Dog” that sounded almost menacing, as well as versions of “Black Country Woman” and a show-stopping “The Battle of Evermore.”
That “Evermore” was a highlight for the Zeppelin fans in attendance shouldn’t have been too big a shock, as the song was mandolin-based to begin with. What put it over the top was the singing of Plant and Krauss, who traded lines throughout on a rare duet for the duo.
If there’s a better female singer than Krauss working today, I don’t know of her. You can keep the vocal histrionics of the Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera; Krauss can evoke more feeling with a whisper than they can with a shout.
When Krauss was in the spotlight, the crowd would go practically silent, waiting to hear each note she would sing. Her version of “Down to the River to Pray,” which she sang on the soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” was stunning. It started a cappella before Krauss was joined by the trio of Plant and multi-instrumentalists Buddy Miller and Stuart Duncan on harmonies.
Plant also was in fine voice, although the material from Raising Sand and the other songs chosen for the tour aren’t nearly as taxing as his Zeppelin scorchers. He seems to enjoy digging back into American music from decades ago, much like he did on The Honeydrippers project of the early ’80s.
Plant gave a standout performance on his solo hit “In the Mood,” which was wrapped around Krauss’ take on the traditional “Mattie Groves.” He also nailed Johnny Horton’s “I’m a One-Woman Man” in the encore.
T Bone Burnett, producer of Raising Sand and the tour’s bandleader, performed two songs of his own midway through the two-hour-plus concert, though neither was from his new album, Tooth of Crime.
Opening act Sharon Little was a revelation. The lanky blonde belted out her roots music with conviction during her seven-song set. Little brought a lot of soul to her numbers, but it might serve her well to harness some of her vocal power. If she learns anything from watching Krauss night after night, it’s that volume doesn’t equal power.
But we can cut her some slack. After all, as she pointed out, it was only three months ago that she was working as a waitress.
The set list
Rich Woman/Leave My Woman Alone/Black Dog/Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us/Through the Morning, Through the Night/It’s So Long and Goodbye to You/Fortune Teller/In the Mood/Mattie Groves/Black Country Woman/Shut It Tight (T Bone Burnett)/Bon Temps Rouler (T Bone Burnett)/Trampled Rose/Green Pastures/Down to the River to Pray/Killing the Blues/Nothin’/The Battle of Evermore/Please Read the Letter/Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)
Encore: You Don’t Knock/I’m a One-Woman Man/Your Long Journey
Posted by Sean on June 5, 2008 6:21 PM
