The album met with critical acclaim, earning an average score of 87 from reviews compiled by
Metacritic.[9] It ranked at #24 on Rolling Stone's December 17, 2007 listing of the year's top 50 albums.[10]Being There called it "one of the year’s very best".[11]Allmusic hailed it "one of the most effortless-sounding pairings in modern popular music", but stated that some songs "(felt) like (they were) tossed off".[2]
JamBase called the album "subtle, focused and full of life" and said that it was "highly recommended".[12]Village Voice described it as "powerfully evocative" and "utterly foreign, oddly familiar, and deeply gratifying."[13]
The songs on Raising Sand were handpicked by producer
T Bone Burnett. Entertainment Weekly described the selection as "eclectic",[14] while Village Voice said, "Burnett flaunts his typical curatorial genius with a whole set of 'have we met before?' tunes."[13]
The musical quality was also praised. The
BBC described Krauss's fiddle as "coruscating" and "raw",[15] while The Music Box said Krauss "exceeds all expectations".[16] The BBC said the musicians "make this a stunning, dark, brooding collection, comparable in tone to
Daniel Lanois' masterful job on
Dylan's Time Out of Mind."[15]
Critics praised Krauss and Plant's vocals; one critic saying that the "key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo".[17] Various critics described Krauss's vocals as "spellbinding", "honey-sweet", "weepy", "saccharine", and "haunting".[15][17][18] Plant's vocals were described as "orgasmic" and "slithering".[13][18]
The album was nominated for the 2008
Mercury Prize in the UK.
In December 2009, Rhapsody ranked the album #2 on its "Country’s Best Albums of the Decade" list.[22] The online music service also called it one of their favorite cover albums of all time.[23]
"Raising Sand is my album of the century," said singer
Lily Allen. "I love the whole folky and
bluegrass sound. There's one track called
'Sister Rosetta Goes Before Us', which sounds like an epic
funeral march: it's haunting and spooky, and Alison Krauss's voice can just make you shiver. Then there's 'Please Read the Letter', which just has such an honest and open sentiment, it's disarming. I'd love to do an album like that."[24]
Chart performance
The album debuted at number two on the
Billboard 200, selling about 112,000 copies in its first week, the highest chart position for either artists' solo work, although Plant had previously reached #1 several times with
Led Zeppelin.[25]Raising Sand was certified
platinum by the RIAA on March 4, 2008.[26][27] After the album's success at the
2009 Grammy Awards, the album topped the BillboardTop Rock Albums chart and
Top Internet Albums chart for the first time on the week of February 28, 2009. The album also hit the top of Canadian Top Country Albums, and also peaked at #2 in Billboard Top Country Albums, being stuck behind part of 35 weeks non-consecutive chart topping Fearless by country singer
Taylor Swift. Selling 77,000 copies on a 715% increase, Raising Sand jumped 69–2 on the
Billboard 200.[28]
The album entered the Top 5 on the
UK Albums Chart, going on to reach #2 on January 2, 2008.[29]
Follow-up album
According to Ken Irwin of Rounder Records, and producer Burnett, the duo started work on a second album in 2009.[30]
"To be 61 and faced with the 'difficult second album' is quite a phenomenon…" Plant observed in 2009. "We'd finished everything in ten days in Nashville, and I rented a car and went down the
Natchez Trace to
Oxford, Mississippi, across to
Clarksdale and down into
Helena, Arkansas, looking for those ghosts… and thought to myself, 'How can this be? I've just been with complete strangers, recorded 12 amazing tracks, had a fantastic time, and now I'm headed for the
Mississippi Delta.'"[31]
In a 2010 interview, Plant indicated that the follow-up sessions were unsuccessful.[32]
Krauss and Plant released a new album produced by Burnett, Raise the Roof, on November 19, 2021.[33]