Robert Plant shares the story behind a track from his 2007 Grammy Award-winning album with Alison Krauss, “Raising Sand”, on the latest episode of his podcast series Digging Deep.
“Nothin’” was originally written and recorded by Townes Van Zandt for his 1971 record, “Delta Momma Blues.”
“I’d seen the otherworld of what you’d literally called folk music – but I didn’t really know too much about the underbelly of folk and European-esque American music," explains Plant. "I didn’t know what was going on at the fireside, around the hearth, in country America.”
Working alongside Krauss gave Plant both a musical history lesson and a new appreciation for vocal teamwork.
“’Is there any chance you can sing the same thing twice, so I could find out how to sing a harmony on it?’” Krauss asked the rocker. “I said, ‘Oh!’,” recalls Plant. “A light came on – ‘so, to harmonize, everybody’s got to know the part!’ I’d spent all my time up at the sharp end. ... With Alison, who’s the queen of duets, I had to learn to sing with somebody else.”
“Raising Sand” debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the US Billboard 200 on its way to sales of more than one million in the country; the project went on to win five Grammys at the 2009 event, including Album Of The Year.
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