recommended listening: Raising Sand

This is the best disk I've heard in a very long time. T Bone Burnett is a musical alchemist, melting Alison Krauss and Robert Plant into something lustrous and sublime.

Funny thing: I almost didn't pick this one up. I felt the pangs of middle age while contemplating the purchase. Jeez, I thought. I mean, I love 'em both, but together? This is either going to be really cheesy or really brilliant. It was T Bone that finally sold me -- you really can't go wrong when he's involved. It's not middle aged; it's mystical, magical, mesmerizing: mmm.