Robert Plant And Alison Krauss Raise Sand Together

In what may be the most unlikely musical pairing of recent years, Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant and bluegrass sensation Alison Krauss will release a collaborative album called Raising Sand via Rounder on Oct. 23.

Plant and Krauss first sang together as part of a Leadbelly tribute at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame several years ago. Realizing their collaborative potential, they enlisted the help of producer T Bone Burnett (Elvis Costello, Bruce Cockburn) to help them translate that into an album.

Recording took place in Nashville and Los Angeles, and every song was chosen by Burnett with input from Krauss and Plant. The songs cover a wide range of musical territories — including R&B, country and folk — and include covers of tunes by Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Sam Phillips, Mel Tillis and The Everly Brothers, among others. There's also a cover of the Plant-Jimmy Page collaboration "Please Read The Letter," which first appeared on the 1998 album, Walking Into Clarksdale.

The album features supporting turns from a number of stellar musicians, including guitarists Marc Ribot and Norman Blake, multi-instrumentalist Mike Seeger, drummer Jay Bellerose and bassist Dennis Crouch.

Plant has been in the news recently as rumours of a Led Zeppelin reunion were confirmed with the announcement of their appearance at a Nov. 26 memorial concert to honour Ahmet Ertegun, the late founder of Atlantic Records.

Here are the songs on Raising Sand:

"Rich Woman"
"Killing The Blues"
"Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us"
"Polly Come Home"
"Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)"
"Through The Morning, Through The Night"
"Please Read The Letter"
"Trampled Rose"
"Fortune Teller"
"Stick With Me Baby"
"Nothin'"
"Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson"
"Your Long Journey"