The singer Robert Plant said was sent from heaven
The legacy of Led Zeppelin was never that big of a concern for Robert Plant.
There had been plenty of bands that had taken up their mantle ever since they decided to call it a day, but even if the death of John Bonham cast a dark shadow over them, Plant wasn’t looking to live in the ‘Percy’ persona forever. He wanted the chance to spread out, and sometimes the greatest collaborators have a divine charm to them before they even sit down to write music.
But whatever Plant was going to be doing after Zeppelin, it was going to have to go in a different direction. He liked the idea of continuing to innovate, and since his old band never stayed in one spot for very long, he knew that he would have a lot more fun trying out every crazy idea that popped into his head. Then again, that didn’t mean every single one of those experiments went over all that well.
His turn towards new wave was a novel idea at the time, but no one was expecting the same person who made the brilliant lyrics of ‘Kashmir’ to suddenly write his own version of ‘Burning Down the House’. There were much bigger things for him to focus on, but when he started working with Jimmy Page, there must have been a little bit of trepidation when Plant saw everyone flock to his new project.
After all, he had struggled trying to find the right sound when working on his own, but hanging out with his old mate again was never going to reflect that well on how he was being perceived as a solo star. Unledded was a great idea that happened to become larger than life, but if people enjoyed the more lowkey take on classic Zeppelin tunes, maybe they would go for a version of Plant that was more downbeat.
And the frontman found his new partner in crime the minute that he heard Allison Krauss. Despite her coming from the world of bluegrass and pure folk music, her voice always sounded immaculate playing off more organic instruments, and when they worked together on Raising Sand, Plant actually seemed to be getting the acclaim that he always wanted to get away from Zeppelin’s shadow.
Even years later, Plant admitted that Krauss was a divine gift half the time, saying, “I’ve been really fortunate because it was such a formative time in my life when Led Zeppelin came to a screeching halt and I had to keep moving and find a new place to do what I do and challenge myself. … This woman sitting next to me is manna from heaven.”
Although he does throw in the odd Zeppelin tune every now and again during his shows with her, it does help that he sticks to the more downbeat tunes. Everyone that’s expecting him to go out there and sing a version of ‘Rock and Roll’ might be a little disappointed, but ‘Gallows Pole’ will always be a favourite for him to throw into the set, and Krauss is a fantastic substitute for Sandy Denny whenever they launch into ‘The Battle of Evermore’.
Going on a solo venture was never going to be easy for Plant, but this feels like the best middle ground between doing justice to his past and opening the door to a new future for him. It may have involved years of him fumbling around in the dark to get the right sound, but like all good Zeppelin tunes, albums like Raising Sand always come back to the quality of the music rather than some bold leap forward.
