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Buddy Miller as co-producer should be given just as much credit as T-Bone Burnet (one listen to "Cindy I'll Marry You One Day," should make that evident). "Band of Joy" is not as pristine as "Raising Sand." It's grittier, messier, more joyous - and well worth the purchase. Plant's versions of Low's "Silver Rider" and "Monkey" finds something that the original material doesn't have, Patti Griffin. Her vocals on these songs seem almost unhinged and otherworldly, the polar opposite to Krauss' ethereal vocals on "Raising Sand." Griffin gives both of these songs a raw grit that the originals didn't dig into. She slides in and out on some of these songs like a gentle breeze, barely noticeable. And on others, she's jostling Plant, giving him an expected run for his money ... I mean, it is Patty Griffin after all.

There are a few faster numbers here such as "Angel Dance," and they are well worth listening to. But the disc belongs to the more slower, contemplative songs. "The Only Sound That Matters" seems to sums up the album as a whole, there is an obsession with sound, from the harmony to melody, everything seems as if it were designed to be where it is, not an easy feat for an album full of covers. On "The Only Sound that Matters," Plant's voice is so alive and present that he transfers the lyrics into something spiritual, almost mystical.