musicbriefs
9:47in productionCh. 1 · Who made it and where it came from/ 9:47 · ceiling 15 min
Folk & singer-songwriter

Raising Sand

A Grammy-swept collaboration with zero sonic documentation — celebrated for what it won, not what it sounds like.

Raising Sand is a 2007 collaborative album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, produced by T Bone Burnett and released on Rounder Records. It won the 2009 Grammy Award for Album of the Year, 'Please Read the Letter' won Record of the Year, and 'Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)' won Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals. No detail about its sound, arrangements, performances, or production methods appears in the source.

Chapters & takeaways4
  1. 0:54
    Who made it and where it came from

    It was made by two artists under T Bone Burnett’s production, released on Rounder Records.

  2. 2:13
    What it won

    It won three Grammys in 2009: Album of the Year, Record of the Year, and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals.

  3. 4:30
    Why it matters (in the record)

    Its Grammy wins anchor its public significance — not its sound, which goes unmentioned.

  4. 6:44
    What the record does not say about itself

    No detail about instrumentation, arrangement, studio, or vocal approach appears anywhere in the source.

Running order13
  1. 01
    Rich Woman4:05
  2. 02
    Killing the Blues4:17
  3. 03
    Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us3:25
  4. 04
    Polly Come Home5:39
  5. 05
    Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved on)3:34
  6. 06
    Through the Morning, Through the Night4:03
  7. 07
    Please Read the Letter5:55
  8. 08
    Trampled Rose5:34
  9. 09
    Fortune Teller4:32

    Heard in Lagaan

  10. 10
    Stick With Me Baby2:51
  11. 11
    Nothin’5:35
  12. 12
    Let Your Loss Be Your Lesson4:02
  13. 13
    Your Long Journey3:55

Film placements are the ones described in each film's own entry, so the list is partial rather than complete.

Worth your time?

Yes. Hear the whole thing.

3/ 5
What works
  • as a factual milestone
  • as a citation in a career chronology
  • as proof of institutional recognition
What does not
  • describe sound
  • name instruments
  • identify studio or room
  • characterise vocal interplay
Hear it if
  • Grammy historians
  • Plant or Krauss discographers
  • label archivists
Skip it if
  • listeners choosing based on sonic texture
  • producers studying arrangement choices
  • critics assessing stylistic synthesis
The written brief1 min read

What the record is and where it came from

Raising Sand is a 2007 studio album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, their first collaboration, released on Rounder Records and produced by T Bone Burnett.

How it sounds, and how it was made

The document provides no information about how Raising Sand sounds or how it was made. It names no instruments, musicians, studio, room, tempo, arrangement, vocal technique, or production choice. No detail about sound, texture, space, or process is stated.

What lands

What lands is that Raising Sand is a 2007 collaborative album by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, produced by T Bone Burnett for Rounder Records, and awarded three Grammy Awards in 2009: Album of the Year, Record of the Year (for ‘Please Read the Letter’), and Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals (for ‘Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)’).

What does not

What does not land is any claim about musical style, genre synthesis, vocal interplay, instrumental texture, or atmospheric effect — because the source offers zero description of the music itself.

The ideas inside it

The document contains no statements about ideas, themes, narratives, emotions, or concepts inside the record. Nothing is asserted about subject matter, lyrical content, cultural commentary, or artistic intent.

Who should hear it, and who should not

Who should hear it is anyone tracking Grammy-recognised cross-genre collaborations between major artists — not those seeking insight into sound, performance, or recording craft, as none is provided.

Is it worth your time

It is worth your time only if you value a Grammy-winning collaborative album whose reception is documented but whose sonic character is not described in the source material.

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