Alison Krauss & Robert Plant Rule Grammys

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss at the 51st Annual GRAMMY Awards - Press Room , Staples Center, Los Angeles, CA USA February 7, 2009 B) Sara De Boer / Retna Ltd.

Feb. 9, 2009 — Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Sand-bagged the 51st annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, taking five trophies with music from an Americana album, which managed to claim honors in three different genres while snapping up two of the Big Four all-genre awards.

Raising Sand took Album of the Year, while "Please Read The Letter" swiped Record of the Year in the overall categories. Sand claimed Best Contemporary Folk/Americana Album, "Rich Woman" collected Best Pop Collaboration and "Killing The Blues" netted Best Country Collaboration. Making it all the more impressive, Robert and Alison had already won a pop-collaboration Grammy last year with another track from the album, "Gone Gone Gone (Done Moved On)."

"This project has been spectacular from the beginning, [all] the way through," Robert said during one trip to the podium.

"When we started this project together, the whole gang was a mystery," he added on a return visit.

In claiming the Album of the Year to close the night, Alison cited "the band, who played so beautifully on this record, and especially Robert who, there’s never a dull moment."

Producer T Bone Burnett had won the Album award before. He oversaw the soundtrack to O Brother, Where Art Thou?, a 2002 Album of the Year honoree that also featured Alison’s input.

While their trophy haul was impressive, Alison and Robert were not the only artists with a hand in the country genre to take multiple awards. Brad Paisley was a double winner. "Letter To Me" brought Best Country Male Vocal Performance while "Cluster Pluck" — which teamed him with seven other guitarists — picked up Best Country Instrumental Performance.

Sharing the instrumental win were Steve Wariner, former Elvis Presley sideman James Burton, session stud Brent Mason, ex-Desert Rose Band member John Jorgenson, English player Albert Lee, Merle Haggard musician Redd Volkaert and Vince Gill, who now owns 20 Grammys total.

Jennifer Nettles also won twice as the songwriter of Best County Song victor "Stay" and as a member of Sugarland, which rode the same song to Best Country Performance by a Duo or Group.

"I told myself I was gonna be cool because Paul McCartney and Coldplay are here, but I’m not cool," Jennifer said when she and bandmate Kristian Bush collected their reward. "Freak out, super excited!"

George Strait won the first Grammy of his career when Troubadour was named Best Country Album. Carrie Underwood claimed her fourth Grammy in three years when "Last Name" was cited as the Best Female Country Vocal Performance before the telecast.

She was incredulous in her acceptance, thanking "everybody for voting and supporting and for allowing me to be a part of the Grammys, which I never thought I’d be in the audience as a seat filler at. Now I get to perform, and I get to take some of these babies home."

Ricky Skaggs won his lucky 13th Grammy as Honoring The Fathers Of Bluegrass: Tribute To 1946 And 1947 took Best Bluegrass Album. The project celebrated the edition of Bill Monroe’s Blue Grass Boys that gave the genre its kick start. That lineup included Earl Scruggs, whose own The Ultimate Collection / Live At The Ryman was among the CDs Honoring The Fathers defeated.

"Earl Scruggs is here tonight," Ricky told the pre-telecast audience. "If you get a chance, go by and shake his hand because he is the only surviving member of those five men and he deserves honor tonight."

When it comes to honors, it’ll be a long time before any woman ever catches Alison Krauss at the Grammys. Thanks to the awards she collected with Robert Plant, Sand has raised her career total to a whopping 26 Grammys — more than any female in the history of the Recording Academy.

Click here to browse our photos from the 2009 Grammys!