The Price of Love was written by Don and Phil Everly (The Everly Brothers), and released as a single in 1965. It reached no. 2 on the official UK pop chart. There have been several other versions of the song, too – notably, one by Bryan Ferry included on his 1976 album, Let’s Stick Together. But I find this one, by Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, particularly enthralling.

The Everly original has the brisk rock & roll beat of the typical 60s pop song and is disappointingly brief at just over 2 minutes long. The Plant/Krauss version ambles along at a slightly more sedate pace, and extends it to a much more satisfying 4 minutes 50 seconds. It also replaces the jangly electrified guitars with a full-production backing track; where The Everlys‘ pain is sharp and physical, Plant and Krauss suffer a subtler mental anguish.

Robert Plant came to fame as the flamboyant lead singer of the hard rock band, Led Zeppelin. Alison Krauss is known as a bluegrass-country singer and fiddler. It’s hard to imagine more contrasting styles. And yet, their two voices complement each other beautifully. Their collaboration first bore fruit in 2007 with Raising Sand, which won five Grammy awards in 2009, including Album of the Year.

If you loved Raising Sand, you would have had to wait 14 years for the next instalment from the Plant/Krauss combination. If you ask me, that’s a price well worth paying.