Plant/Krauss tour 2008

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LED ZEPPELIN frontman Robert Plant has told Rolling Stone magazine that he plans to hit the road in early 2008 with bluegrass star Alison Krauss to promote the pair's collaborative CD, "Raising Sand". In addition to the "Raising Sand" material, they'll perform songs from their catalogs — including LED ZEPPELIN's "When the Levee Breaks" and "Black Dog".

A disc of tender, mostly acoustic duets, "Raising Sand" — which was produced by T Bone Burnett — debuted at No. 2 n The Billboard 200 chart in late October, becoming an unexpected hit.

"Raising Sand" includes versions of the EVERLY BROTHERS' "Gone, Gone, Gone (Done Moved On)", TOM WAITS and KATHLEEN BRENNAN's "Trampled Rose" and "Please Read the Letter", first released on the 1998 PLANT/JIMMY PAGE album "Walking Into Clarksdale".

According to Billboard.com, Plant and Krauss first performed together in 2004 at a Leadbelly tribute at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, but it took several years before they found time to team up in the studio with Burnett in Nashville and Los Angeles.

Tennessean.com reported that Plant and Krauss taped an episode of "CMT Crossroads" in October at The Mill at Lebanon in Tennessee that will air at a later date

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An update;

Plant and Krauss hitting the road in April

NEW YORK (Billboard) - Robert Plant's world tour with Alison Krauss -- a key obstacle to a Led Zeppelin reunion trek -- will kick off in Louisville, Ky., on April 20.

The bluegrass queen and the self-proclaimed "golden god" will be promoting their album "Raising Sand," which opened at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 last fall.

Other stops include Knoxville, Tenn., on April 22, Chattanooga, Tenn., on April 23 and Birmingham, Ala., on April 26. The tour's 11-date run in Europe follows in May.

The duo will be joined on stage by T Bone Burnett, who produced their album. A longer run of North American shows is planned for June and July, but dates and details have not yet been announced.

"Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)," the single from "Raising Sand," was nominated for a Grammy in the pop field.

After Led Zeppelin's triumphant benefit show in London last month, speculation swirled about a full-scale reunion. But Plant's commitment to the Krauss tour was cited as an impediment to any immediate trek.

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Plant, Krauss "in no hurry" to end collaboration

DETROIT (Billboard) - Robert Plant and Alison Krauss are hoping to turn their platinum-certified, Grammy Award-winning "Raising Sand" into a going concern.

"I'm in no hurry to go anywhere," Plant told Billboard.com during a teleconference with reporters Thursday (June 12). "I want to stay very close. This is a font of knowledge, and I'm sticking as close to it as I can."

Krauss concurred. "We're all having a wonderful time, and I hope and I think all three of us (Krauss, Plant and producer T Bone Burnett) are hoping to continue this and that it go on and on." But she added that the central duo's association shouldn't bring the curtain down on any of their other projects.

"That doesn't mean we've lost any love for who we've played for and play with," she said. "The guys in Union Station, that's like home. So I hope to continue this and go back home, too."

And while no firm plans are in motion yet for a "Raising Sand" sequel, Burnett, who's also the musical director for the Plant-Krauss concert tour, said in a separate conversation that he hopes to get another shot at the collaboration.

"I feel like we're just starting to know what we can do with it," Burnett said. "The two of them are so incredibly good that I would hate to not continue to work with both of them."

Plant and Krauss are working together through July 19, when the tour wraps in Nashville (they also stop at the Bonnaroo Music Festival on Sunday). And both said that they're enjoying the opportunity to expand and enhance their musical partnership on the road.

"I'm surprised at the varying of the performances show to show," Krauss said. "Because of the personalities within the band, it has changed the show night to night -- not only the show overall, but each tune takes on a different character. Everything has its own identity from night to that. That's very exciting for all of us."

Plant, meanwhile, said that performing the album's rootsy music, as well as revamped versions of some Led Zeppelin songs, has "become quite an illumination, really. What has been created with the chemistry between the three of us has its own kind of genre, really. I'm a very fortunate man. I couldn't wish for anything better than this."

[Summer]

Since I do like some country music, I like Raising Sand, and it is a part of my collection. The last song on it actually made me cry the first time I heard it, because it was so moving. I think that Plant and Krauss have a LOT of chemistry together that really comes out in their music personally.