1. Rich Woman 2. Killing the Blues 3. Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us 4. Polly Come Home 5. Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On) 6. Through the Morning, Through the Night 7. Please Read the Letter 8. Trampled Rose 9. Fortune Teller 10. Stick with Me Baby 11. Nothin 12. Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson 13. Your Long Journey

Perhaps only the fantasy duo of King Kong and Bambi could be a more bizarre pairing than Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. Yet on Raising Sand, their haunting and brilliant collaboration, the Led Zeppelin screamer and Nashville s most hypnotic song whisperer seem made for each other. This, however, is not the howling Plant of Whole Lotta Love, but a far more precise and softer singer than even the one who emerged with Dreamland (2002). No matter that Plant seems so subdued as to be on downers, for that s one of the keys to this most improbable meeting of musical galaxies--almost all of it seems slowed down, out of time, otherworldly, and at times downright David Lynch-ian, the product of an altered consciousness. Yet probably the main reason it all works so well is the choice of producer T Bone Burnette, the third star of the album, who culled mostly lesser-known material from some of the great writers of blues, country, folk, gospel, and R&B, including Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Milt ...

#Hypnotic (2008-08-19) I was hesitant about this purchase but once I listened to it. . WOW!! Very relaxing and the 2 voices were ment to sing together. It s a perfect cd for a romantic night or a diner party. Robert Plant is a man of many talents. . from ROCK GOD OF THE 70 S to a mature and mello Rock God!!!

#GREAT CD (2008-01-22) Being a Zep fan it was hard to imagine how this work would turn out but it is fantastic. It may take a bit to get used to a more mellow Robert Plant but the more you listen the more addictive it becomes. A great addition to any cd collection regardless of your taste in music.

#Superb! (2008-01-08) I recommend this album to all music lovers regardless of your genre leanings. Krauss voice is simply stunning (I cannot think of a female vocalist with a more pure, subtle or beautiful voice) and Plant has finally learned to sing properly!!! Don t get me wrong -- I am a dedicated Zep fan -- but this is the first time I have heard his voice truly shine. Love this album s version of Please Read the Letter and Sister Rosetta gives me goosebumps. Highly, highly recommended. It s too bad the immature and vacuous review by Jean-pierre Falardeau Jeeparoo had to scar t...

#Borefest (2008-01-03) Boring. . . . . Boring. . . . . . . . Why did plant do this I don t know. . . . He must be gettin old. Good CD if you are an insomniac !!! zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

#Quite Over-Hyped, But Still Pretty Good! (2007-12-30) This album has received a ton of hype, and in some senses it is warranted. The combination of Plant and Krauss is in itself something of a spectacle that is guaranteed to get attention. But I m struck with the fact that they actually go together pretty well musically! It sounds like they ve been together for a long time. Throughout, this CD is soothing and composed quaintly. The entire thing has a nice, smooth cohesion to it. But yet, the individual tracks are generally not all that impressive on their own. Only 3 tracks real...

1. Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer 2. The Truck Got Stuck 3. Always Keep An Edge On Your Knife 4. The Rodeo’s Over (featuring Ian Tyson) 5. Hurtin’ Albertan 6. Big Butch Bass Bull Fiddle 7. All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards 8. The Truth Comes Out 9. Counterfeiters’ Blues 10. Good Copenhagen 11. Trouble In The Country 12. Little Foothills Heaven 13. The Truck Got Stuck Talkin’ Blues (featuring Ramblin’ Jack Elliott)

Lacking a little down-home country music in your life? Corb Lund is the kind of Canadian cowboy who can fill the hole in your hurtin heart. This born-and-raised Alberta musician is best known for his unique songwriting stamp, mixing his cheeky sense of humour with a love of historical storytelling, such qualities definitely can be found on his fourth CD Hair In My Eyes Like A Highland Steer. With more than a nod to Stompin Tom s whimsical charm, Lund s current collection tackles everything from tales of mud-stuck vehicles (The Truck Got Stuck) to grandfatherly lore (Always Keep An Edge on Your Knife) to cowboys killed by cocaine (Good Copenhagen). Along with his great backing band, Lund has earned both respect from the Canadian music industry (winner two years running of the Canadian Country Music Association Award for Artist/Group of the Year) and from Canadian country legends (including Ian Tyson and Ramblin Jack Elliott who both appear here as guest vocalists.) Admittedly, there ...

#Best Yet (2005-12-21) It seemed like Corb Lund was everywhere in 2005, touring Australia with Willie Nelson, playing for the Queen in Edmonton, and as part of Alberta s centennial celebrations in Ottawa, not to mention a rodeo in France and gigs in the UK. This album is infectious from the opening ",Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer", to the closing ",Truck Got Stuck Talking Blues", with Ramblin Jack Elliott. In between there s some grandfatherly advice ",Always Keep An Edge on Your Knife", and a nostalgic odeabout the Alberta landscape ",Little Footh...

#Much worse than 5 Dollar Bill (2005-11-02) I bought this CD hoping for more of the magic that Corb Lund had on his previous disc, which I really love. Unfortunately I was very disappointed. This album is far less accessible to the non-country music listener, such as myself. In one word, I would call it ",hokey",. The first half of the album flat out sucks. Things bottom out with ",All I Wanna Do Is Play Cards", in which he sings about deadlines and which sounds like a case of writing straight through writer s block, which never works. It recovers to mediocre in...

#Fantastic music from a true cowboy (2005-10-15) I bought this CD within a week of its release and it has a constant place in my vehicle CD player. Corb Lund knows how to take the traditional country rhythyms and put a bit of a twist to them to make them irrestible. My favorite is ",Truck Got Stuck",. . . I crack up every time I hear it. He manages to evoke longing for the West of old with tunes like ",The Truth Comes Out", and ",My Little Foothills Heaven",. I m not an Ian Tyson fan, but the duet between these two is just magical. Corb Lund is a fantasti...

1. Po Lazarus - J. Carter & Prisoners 2. Big Rock Candy Mountain - Harry McLintock 3. You Are My Sunshine - Norman Blake 4. Down In The River To Pray - Alison Krauss 5. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow - The Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Dan Tyminski 6. Hard Time Killing Floor Blues - Chris Thomas King 7. Man Of Constant Sorrow (Instrumental) - Norman Blake 8. Keep On The Sunny Side - The Whites 9. I ll Fly Away - Gillian Welch & Alison Krauss 10. Didn t Leave Nobody But The Baby - Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss & Emmylou Harris 11. In The Highways - The Peasall Sisters 12. I Am Weary - The Cox Family 13. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (Instrumental) - John Hartford 14. O Death - Ralph Stanley 15. In The Jailhouse Now - The Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Tim Blake Nelson 16. I Am A Man Of Constant Sorrow (With band) - The Soggy Bottom Boys featuring Dan Tyminski 17. Indian War Whoop (Instrumental) - John Hartford 18. Lonesome Valley - The Fairfield Four 19. Angel Band - The Stanley Brothers

Joel and Ethan Coen have long established themselves as film stylists without peer: from Blood Simple to Fargo, their movies have never been less than fascinating, and there has never been any question that their films could not have been made by anyone else. In T-Bone Burnett, the producer of the soundtrack for O Brother, Where Art Thou?, they have finally met their match: Burnett s work in assembling a collection of pieces for the Depression-set film is as skilled and entrancing as the film itself.Despite the presence of Emmylou Harris, Gillian Welch, Alison Krauss and bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, the stars here are the songs themselves, a host of traditional songs augmented by archival recordings. The collection is also a showcase for a host of lesser known and forgotten bluegrass masters: The Cox Family, collaborators with Krauss, Norman Blake, a sideman for Bob Dylan and June Carter Cash, country gospel group The Whites, who once counted Ricky Skaggs as a member (and who, here,...

#what a dissapointment (2006-03-30) This is the worst example of bluegrass -- where I have come to expect great musicianship and songwriting. my concern with this CD is that people bought it because it is so well known, and think this is top BlueGrass stuff. It',s not -- its a crappy soundtrack for a crappy movie.

#Music the way is should be (2004-06-17) This is perhaps the best soundtrack ever made. It is a stunning mix of mostly acoustic tracks by most of the best bluegrass artists ever. There is work on here from Ralph Stanely, Allison Kraus, and Emmelou Harris, to name a few. This CD won a lot of Grammys the year that it came out, and that is because it was the best CD of that year. Highlights include the Big Rock Candy Mountains, Man of Constant Sorrow, In the Jailhouse Now and O Death. If you have ever wondered what bluegrass sounded like but have been afraid to try, this is the CD ...

#Great but..... (2004-06-14) This CD is fantastic, with songs that will leave you humming and tapping your feet. I would have given it 5 stars except for the fact that the primary song I wanted featuring the artists from the actual movie was not featured on the album. The version of ",I ll FLy Away", from the actual movie is done by the Kossoy Sisters and is featured on their album ",Bowling Green",. I hope this helps anyone else who will end up trying to hunt down that origianl version.

#O Brother (2004-06-10) This is the soundtrack to the Coen brothers film based loosely on Homer s The Odyssey. This soundtrack takes the movie from good to great. The tracks follow the progression of the movie. Nearly an hour of blue-grass music, even if you haven t seen the movie, this is worth having if you like Old-Time Country music and blue-grass. The legend, Ralph Stanley, appears a couple of times here, although his Man of Constant Sorrow is here too, but covered by Dan Tyminski. Stanley s O Death is a haunting tune sung without accompaniment. His voice is sorrowful and fu...

#Wonderful! (2004-05-05) My husband and I listen to this cd all the time, and we never tire of it. You should purchase this cd. It is really good.

1. I Can t Be Satisfied 2. I Feel Like Going Home 3. Train Fare Blues 4. Rollin and Tumblin , Pt. 1 5. Rollin Stone 6. Louisiana Blues 7. Long Distance Call 8. Honey Bee 9. She Moves Me 10. Still a Fool 11. Standing Around Crying 12. Baby Please Don t Go 13. I Want You to Love Me 14. (I m Your) Hoochie Coochie Man 15. I Just Want to Make Love to You 16. I m Ready 17. Young Fashioned Ways 18. Mannish Boy 19. Sugar Sweet 20. Trouble No More

One of the best recordings in Chess Records 50th Anniverary series is the first of two bookend Muddy Waters collections, His Best 1947-55. Documenting Waters s most creatively and commercially successful years at Aristocrat/Chess, this collection begins with his formative years and ends with Waters at his peak. So you re in for a lot of terrific bottleneck slide guitar work as well as electric Chicago blues, what s to criticize? Superb remasterings of I Can t Be Satisfied, Rollin and Tumblin , I m Ready, and Mannish Boy are simply beyond reproach. With simple bass accompaniment from Ernest Big Crawford, Waters s bottleneck tracks are spare, haunting and, quite frankly, perfect country blues. And listening to Waters, Little Walter, Willie Dixon, and Jimmy Rogers piece together (and perfect very quickly) the classic Chicago sound is pure blues epiphany. At the very least, this collection shows you why Waters s rollicking stop-time classics like Mannish Boy and I m Your H...

#Blues from heaven (2004-04-27) This album blew my mind and is essential listening for any lover of blues, rock or any form of music(interested listeners are requested to also check out Howlin Wolf His Best CD issued simultaneously by Chess Records). Nearly 50 odd years later the music sounds as fresh as yesterday. If this isn t where all the rock maestros of later years got their sonic ideas, it should have been.

#Great Classic Music (2004-01-03) These are the seminal years of the second, the electric wave of Chicago Blues. Muddy Water s collaborations, especially with Willie Dixon here, created the modern Chicago blues which replaced the older acoustic style represented best by Tampa Red and Big Maceo, and by Lil Hardin Armstrong and Lonnie Johnson collaboration. The older smaller tighter, more person (and it is hard to talk about anything more personal than even the least well prepared Muddy sides),blues. The performances are breathtaking in their strength. You know this man, and you k...

#Excellent compilation (2003-12-08) Excellent compilation, eh? So why only four stars?Well, the track selection is really good, bringing together almost all the best of Muddy Waters rough, muscular blues. Or rather, the best of 1947-55, which is why this is only a four star-compilation: It s not a career spanning retrospective, and it doesn t work all that well on its own. But get this CD along with its companion volume, His Best: 1956-1964, which also features 20 tracks, and you ll have a really fine career overview, second only to the three-disc Chess Box set (and perhaps the 50-tr...

#There is not a finer collection... (2003-08-06) . . . of Muddy s earlier works out there to my knowledge. It features such essentials as Can t Be Satisfied, Hoochie Coochie Man, and Mannish Boy, showing Muddy s transition from the raw Delta blues to Chicago blues style. An excellent album. Highly recommended.

#5-stars ...OBVIOUSLY (2003-06-20) B. B. King called Muddy Waters the greatest of the great and this CD demonstrates why. Rough. Raw. Filled with emotion. Performed by the greatest blues band ever assembled: Muddy, Jimmy Rogers, Otis Spann, Little Walter, Fred Below and on many cuts, Willie Dixon on bass. And some people thought that Cream was a supergroup! This is the Book of Revelation when it comes to the blues, but check out Muddy s ",Folksinger", as well to get another side to this giant of American music, right up there with the Duke, Satchmo, Hank Williams, etc. A...

1. Dust My Broom 2. Sun Is Shining 3. Hawaiian Boogie 4. Sho Nuff I Do 5. Please Find My Baby 6. TV Mama - James Elmore, Elmore James, Big Joe Turner 7. My Best Friend 8. Madison Blues 9. Cry for Me Baby 10. Sky Is Crying 11. Sunnyland 12. I Can t Hold Out 13. Look on Yonder Wall 14. I Need You 15. Done Somebody Wrong 16. Shake Your Moneymaker 17. 12 Year Old Boy 18. It Hurts Me Too 19. Rollin and Tumblin 20. Something Inside Me 21. Standing at the Crossroads

Other post-WWII Chicago bluesmen are better known, but the work of Elmore James holds up as well as any of theirs. If he never had the technical accomplishment of, say, Earl Hooker, he did have as much depth of emotional expression as Muddy Waters, just listen to the sweetness of I Need You or the pain of It Hurts Me, Too. The Sky Is Crying: The History of Elmore James contains some of the most important work of a man who still reigns as the king of slide guitar, anyone who wears a bottleneck today owes a debt to James. Highlights include Robert Johnson s Dust My Broom, which James made his signature tune, as well as the title track, which contains some of the sweetest licks in blues history. --Genevieve Williams

#Enough Elmore for all but the most serious collectors. (2004-05-14) Elmore James was on at least a few labels, so it s not that too hard to dig up lots more if you want to, but for most of us, this is a whole lot of great blues from one of the most talented and important artists. For some strange reason , not nearly enough guys out there now are playing this slide style now. To check out a modern-day Elmore, still playing the joints, look for Lil Ed and the Blues Imperials.

#See also, Earl Hooker (2003-12-16) Easily, the best Elmore James compilation!

#A Great Collection of some of the Best Blues Ever (2003-08-30) With the success of Dust My Broom, Elmore James found himself recording numerous varients of this masterpiece due to its proven commercial appeal. Thus, many collections of Elmore James sound like the same song over and over again. Such a collection of Dust My Broom variations would rate a 4-star rating. However, this collection shows that James was certainly no one-hit wonder, with a broad range of guitar playing and singing talent. For those keeping score, there are about 4-5 Dust My Broom variations in this colle...

#The best Elmore-collection on the market (2003-03-10) If you re wondering which Elmore James-album to purchase, look no further. This is the definitive single-disc collection. The CD starts off with James first waxing, his lone 1951 single Dust My Broom with Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) backing him up on harmonica. And all the best stuff is here. The Sky Is Crying, It Hurts Me Too, Shake Your Moneymaker, Sho Nuff I Do, Talk To Me Baby (I can t hold out) and fifteen more. James rocked harder than most other bluesmen, his voice was huge and intense, and his guitar playing ...

#Elmore James: Underrated Blues Immortal (2002-10-28) Although he lacked the technical facility of other great blues artists like Ray Charles or Freddie King, James ranks with these immortals. His recordings were rarely matched for their haunting and searing emotional intensity coupled with impeccable rhythmicity and raucous, reverberating instrumental voices. Get these classic recordings, and you ll hear some of the best blues that will ever be heard.