Dan Dunn

Last year I got a catalog from Rounder Records and saw the new Allison Krauss record with Robert Plant on the cover. I thought it was an odd pairing and threw the catalog away. I heard a single off the record – “Gone Baby Gone” and was interested. Then I heard “Fortune Teller’s Daughter,” and I bought a copy. I listened. And then I gave it away as a Christmas present to everyone I could think of!

Fast forward to Friday with Krauss and Plant on the stage at JazzFest. It was even better than I expected. They performed the songs from the album well, but it was the extras that blew me away:

• From the record, I thought it was Krauss taming Plant, and making it all work. Seeing them on stage, I know realize the glue that binds this unlikely group together is T. Bone Burnett. He’s the mad scientist that puts this all together.
• “When the Levee Breaks” is a totally different song in a post-Katrina New Orleans.
• “The Battle of Evermore” was a totally unexpected gift. Sure we have Led Zeppelin’s version to listen to. And Ann and Nancy Wilson did a good version too, as heavily produced as it was for the “Singles” soundtrack. But to get it live? And so well done? It was musical bliss.

There was lots of good music this year, but this act was my favorite by far.