Robert Plant has made three appearances in Tucson over the last 12 years, yet he finally made his first appearance with bluegrass icon Alison Krauss, a frequent collaborator. The two vocal all-stars were welcomed by a sold-out crowd at the University of Arizona’s Centennial Hall on June 15th.
Krauss, twenty years Plant’s junior, has been a country, bluegrass fiddle player and singer from the early age of eight years old and she did her first recording at the age of 14. Krauss’ performances have resulted in a renewed interest in bluegrass music that started at the start of the 21st century. Pairing Rocker Plant and Krauss seemed like an unlikely move, but sometimes it’s the deviation from what is expected that helps make magic. 2007’s Raising Sand album won them five Grammy Awards that included the two highest honors, Album of the Year and Record of the Year for “Please Read The Letter”.
Their sophomore album, 2021’s T-Bone Burnett produced Raise the Roof, felt very much like a belated sequel. The follow-up has not achieved the same heights of the Raising Sand, but the magic hasn’t worn for Plant/Krauss.

The two singers quietly took the stage at Centennial Hall with drummer Jay Bellerose, Dennis Crouch on the upright bass, multi-instrumentalist, on second fiddle, and mandolin and dobro, Stuart Duncan. Krauss’ brother, Viktor Krauss played guitars and some keyboards during the show as guitarist JD McPherson filled out the band, on guitar.
A second fiddle means there must be a first, and needless to say that speaks to Krauss. Krauss doesn’t actually have credits for violin on a lot of the songs on the two albums she’s done with Plant. Krauss is a world-class violinist and that counted tremendously during the concert. With Duncan, Krauss formed a string section for what probably counted as the highlight of the show for many, a version of Memphis Minnie & Kansas Joe McCoy’s “When the Levee Breaks” – made popular by Led Zeppelin. Anyone can name “Levee” as a peak moment, but the real high point was “The Battle Of Evermore,” the Zeppelin cover that immediately preceded it.

Plant was the primary lead singer on most of the material in the show, especially with three Zeppelin original songs being part of the setlist. They opened with the opening song off Raising Sand, the slow brooding “Rich Woman,” with the throbbing rhythm and the duo singing the sweet harmony lead vocals about how “she got the money, and I got the honey.” Duncan opened the Calexico cover “Quattro (World Drifts In)” playing a twangy nylon stringed guitar, and the two singers found another unique harmony to carry the lead – cleverly paying homage to the TucsonLindie/Latin fused band. This Calexico tune is also the song Krauss said in an interview that convinced her they needed to sing together again,
Plant and Krauss worked steadily through “Last Kind Words Blues,” with Duncan supporting on acoustic dobro and electric mandolin. Both Duncan and Krauss’ violin playing sounded just mellifluous together on “You Led Me to the Wrong.” Allen Toussaint’s “Trouble with My Lover” got a bit of the New Orleans backbeat, with Krauss taking more of a lead on the vocal. Unlike the faithful attitude taken on the other two Zeppelin numbers, “Rock and Roll” deviated to be turned into a country hoedown, Plant indeed carried the weight of speaking to the audience giving the perception that he was the leader of the duo.
The main set closed with the prementioned version of “When the Levee Breaks.” They dove into the bluesy son with Krauss and Duncan both on violins, leading into the hottest jam of the evening. The Everly Brothers’ influence was felt during the night with “The Price of Love” and “Gone Gone Gone” (saved for the encore), giving Tucson a clinic in Americana from an unlikely duo gone classic.





















One Response
More power to them…. personally, I find it difficult to age as gracefully as Plant. He finally got his wish to be a mere “singer of songs” as opposed to the magnificent vocal instrument paired with exciting sounds of true electric devices he was once a part of. Oh well. Everything changes…. little by little