We approach Raise the Roof with a favorable prejudice. Raising Sand, the previous collaboration of Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, was of high quality – the disc released in 2007 had also been awarded several Grammy. Once again, the harmony flows naturally between the ex-Led Zeppelin and the figure of the bluegrass revival, whose voices always marry with an amazing naturalness.
On this new disc, the two artists do not set foot very far from the musical territories they surveyed ten years ago. Folk tinged with bluegrass, mostly acoustic blues, country roots, rock reminiscences from the middle of the last century, they are doing something new with old on this album once again produced by T-Bone Burnett.
Raise the Roof shines in half-tone and finesse, even in a more rock-driven song like High and Lonesome, one of the rare moments imbued with tension on a record made mostly of bluesy laments. The atmosphere is mostly nocturnal, at the same time peaceful and a little mysterious, in particular on Going Where the Lonely Go, beautifully transported by the lap steel. No matter the tone or the colors, there is often an electric guitar or a dobro to add a touch of adventure or drama (on The Price of Love, among others).
We sometimes feel more the presence of one or the other – Somebody Was Watching Over Me is clearly more Plant -, but the beauty of Raise the Roof is mainly due to the fact that it testifies to the perfect musical harmony, almost spiritual, between the American singer and the venerable English rocker. They elevate each other.
Folk / rock / country
Raise the Roof
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss
Rough Trade