Alison Kraus discussed attending the Grammys with Led Zeppelin frontman Robert Plant a decade ago in a new Grammys interview. She said Plant had good advice for her as she was having a wardrobe malfunction.
How did you feel going into the awards ceremony that night?
Well, Robert [Plant] is just so much fun, just silly and so sweet. He is such a great personality and person, and I had a lot of fun doing all that stuff with him. T Bone was funny, too. I know people liked the record and we had a great time. Really the funny thing with that album in the first place, when we got together, Robert was like, “Let’s give it three days, and if it doesn’t work and we don’t like it, we can just move on.” But T Bone said, “Oh, we’ll record the full time.”
I’ve always said that every record you make is like your last and your first. You’ll never do another one and you’ve never made one. [Laughs.] It was like that for me, and I think it was that way for Robert too. That night was fun—but I was mostly concerned about my dress staying up. [Laughs.] I was stepping on it and getting really frustrated. And Robert was like, “Now watch it, because people will see you getting mad!”
He may have a really expansive career, but was there something that you brought that Robert had never experienced? It sounds like he wouldn’t work with anyone if he isn’t learning and growing as well, just like you.
Well, he’d never done harmony to that point. The kind of harmony that I grew up with is very consistent. You’re doing a very stacked trio, and it’s very consistent. Everybody knows where to come in, and the plan is to always come in at the same time. There’s not a lot of improvising within that harmony. The high part may do some, but the lead stays straight on those choruses so that everybody has their part to showcase the trio. With Robert, his singing was always so free and changed all the time. It would be really funny for him to have to keep doing it the same way twice. But when we sang together, the more different we were, the more it worked. I just enjoyed my time with him and with T Bone.
