Jam Central Station 11.07.09: Robert Randolph and the Family Band
Posted by Jeff Modzelewski on 11.07.2009
In just a few short years Robert Randolph has gone from obscurity to one of the greatest guitarists of this generation. From the church to clubs to Bonnaroo, Randolph has already made his case as a legend in the making.
Welcome back to your one-stop-shop for jam news here at 411 Mania. Glad to have you for what I hope will be a great column this week. Anyone who knows me though knows I need to start with sports. My favorite dysfunctional football team fired their GM this week, after less than one year on the job. Of course, rumor has it that he was completely out of the loop on any decisions made, so it's probably not a bad thing. If Mangini is close behind on his way out, I'll be happy about that. In basketball, the Cavs started slow but seem to be moving in the right direction. The Lebron/Shaq combo hopefully will begin to show its strength in the near future.
Of course, you didn't come here for my opinions on sports, you came here for some music! I'm happy to oblige, with a look this week at Robert Randolph and the Family Band.
Steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph and his Family Band's rise to prominence didn't come from the typical schedule of incessant recording and touring that most jam bands follow. Robert Randolph, for all of his talent, wasn't even aware of guitar greats like Buddy Guy or Muddy Waters as a teenager. His entire musical knowledge came from his church, a House of God church in New Jersey. Raised as the son of both a minister and a deacon, most of Randolph's early life was spent in the church. However, for Randolph, church music didn't mean organs and old ladies in the choir. Although it's a small denomination, the House of God churches had a musical tradition for Randolph to latch onto, a tradition known as Sacred Steel.
The pedal steel guitar, which is the lynchpin of Sacred Steel music, rose to prominence in House of God churches in the 30's. The black Pentecostal churches of this time couldn't afford costly organs, and the pedal steel guitar was introduced as a replacement instrument. While the instrument itself had been used primarily in Hawaiian and country music, the way that the House of God churches used it bore little resemblance to those other traditions. The energy that this instrument produced was much closer to the high-energy services of the Pentecostal churches, and was quickly accepted as part of their worship. This type of music seldom left the church, however. True to the name "Sacred Steel," church elders believed that the only appropriate place for this sacred music was in the church. Those who didn't frown on playing the music outside of the church still believed that the primary purpose for the music should be evangelism. Few recordings were made of Sacred Steel playing, and only a handful of practitioners played outside of church events.
Sacred Steel was "discovered" in 1992 by Florida musicologist Robert Stone. He began recording the music in the churches. In 1995, he put out the first widely released recording of Sacred Steel music, Sacred Steel: Traditional Sacred African-American Steel Guitar Music in Florida. Stone's recordings of Sacred Steel music struck a chord not only with lovers of gospel and church music, but many guitar music aficionados across the globe.
About the time Stone was "discovering" Sacred Steel music, a Robert Randolph was growing up in urban New Jersey. Randolph didn't just grow up in the church; he also grew up on the streets. He often skipped school and he dealt drugs for a short time. He maintained his relationship with his church, however, and began drumming in the youth choir. The shooting death of a close friend that brought Randolph seriously back into the church, and he left behind the street side of his life for good. He was given a steel guitar, and, at 17, he began playing in earnest. It was at this time that a friend gave him a Stevie Ray Vaughn tape.
This was the first secular music that Vaughn had heard. He was immediately drawn to Vaughn's mixture of the sacred and the secular. He sought out other musical styles, from guitar masters like Hendrix and Clapton to funk and rap. Randolph worked to refine his style to include all of these different elements, while maintaining the sound that he grew up with. He became so proficient with the instrument that he was part of the first Sacred Steel convention in 2000. It was at the convention that Randolph made his recording debut, as a part of Sacred Steel—Live!, which was a collection of recordings made at the convention.
It was also at this event that Randolph would make his initial contacts in the secular music world. Randolph was introduced to John Medeski of Medeski, Martin and Wood. Medeski invited Randolph to play in a new group that he was forming with members of the North Mississippi All-Stars. The Word released their self-titled album in 2001, and subsequently toured. Robert Randolph and the Family Band began their first non-church tour at this time, opening for the North Mississippi All-Stars, and Randolph would join All-Stars members and Medeski to close out the shows as The Word.
The band rose in popularity extremely quickly. Robert Randolph and the Family Band would release their first album, Live at the Wetlands in 2002. They also played the inaugural Bonnaroo Music Festival that year. Their high-energy performances immediately endeared them to crowds. Randolph wasn't afraid to include crowd members in his performances, often passing the microphone to audience members to sing, inviting them to dance on stage, or even bringing audience members on stage to play guitar. He recorded a theme song for NBA telecasts in 2002, and performed at the 2003 Grammy Awards with Earth, Wind, and Fire, Parliament Funkadelic, and OutKast. Also in 2003, Rolling Stone listed Randolph as one of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, despite the fact that he had yet to record a studio album.
That changed in 2004 with the release of Unclassified. The album was a success for the band, and they continued their rigorous tour schedule. Their headlining shows moved from clubs to theatres, and they continued to open for a variety of bands. They collaborated with O.A.R. on a cover of Led Zepplin's "Fool in the Rain," and went on tour with the Dave Matthews Band. Randolph would often join DMB on stage for performances of "Louisiana Bayou" and "All Along the Watchtower." He also went on tour with guitar legend Eric Clapton, and Robert Randolph and the Family Band are featured as part of Clapton's Crossroads Guitar Festival DVD.
Despite their success, the band wasn't entirely happy with Unclassified. The band had focused on capturing sound and energy of their live performances, but had spent little time focused on songwriting. The band took the advice of mentors such as Clapton, Matthews, Steven Tyler, and Carlos Santana and decided to focus on harnessing that live energy as a part of great songs. They brought in a variety of outside songwriters to collaborate with, and the result was 2006's Colorblind.Colorblind crossed a variety of genres, and included both high-energy rockers and mellow ballads. The album includes guests such as Dave Matthews and LeRoi Moore on "Love Is The Only Way" and Eric Clapton on a cover of The Byrds "Jesus Is Just Alright."
Of course, it was touring that has kept Robert Randolph and the Family Band in the spotlight. They played Bonnaroo again in 2006, and the Robert Randolph Revival played the festival in 2008. They've continued to tour, both as a headlining act and as an opener for bigger bands. Over the past few years, the band has found a loyal fanbase among the jam band crowd. The band's penchant for improvisation, their drawn-out songs, frequent covers, fun style, and overall stage presence has made them an easy band to enjoy.
Robert Randolph has often been compared to Stevie Ray Vaughn and Bob Marley for mixing his religious beliefs and music with secular music. In just three albums with The Family Band, Randolph has established himself as one of the premier guitarists of this generation. His music fits Bonnaroo just as much as it fits the church. Randolph has often expressed his desire to provide positive music as an example to kids growing up in the same environment that he came from. With the success that he's had since emerging in 2000, there's no reason to believe that Randolph won't be wowing audiences with his unique brand of Sacred Steel for years to come.
I want to give a quick introduction for this next video. This is a video of "Borealis," a floating balloon sculpture from Festival 8 last weekend. Yeah, this is what everyone that couldn't make it out to Indio missed. Sad…
Phish covers Exile on Main Street
Phish surprised many by not pulling a major surprise out of their bag of tricks for Halloween. All of the conspiracy theories pointing to a "killer 100th album" proved to be false, and Phish instead covered the Rolling Stones classic Exile on Main Street. As you might remember, I initially picked Sticky Fingers as the most likely album. Exile on Main Street was one of my secondary picks, so I think I did pretty good. The band played 95 songs through 8 sets, including an 18 song acoustic set Sunday morning. I've heard quite a lot of music from the festival, and Phish seemed to be on, especially on Sunday. I personally found their Halloween costume to be rather tame, but, other than that, there weren't any disappointments throughout the three days. There'll be more of a recap as more Festival 8 stories come in.
Mule also covers The Stones
Phish wasn't the only band to play a set of The Rolling Stones on Halloween. Gov't Mule played a show that included a variety of Stones classics, including "Gimme Shelter," "Bitch," and a version of "Shattered" that saw members of the band switching instruments and Matt Abts stepping out from behind the kit and taking over vocal duties.
moe. also brings out Halloween covers
moe. celebrated Halloween by performing a number of fan-selected cover songs last weekend. Highlights included Pink Floyd's "Echoes," Phish's "Stash," "You Can Call Me Al" by Paul Simon, and even Miley Cyrus's "We Got the Party." The two set show covered a lot of ground, and hopefully a number of those covers will stick around. I could do without the Miley Cyrus cover, though.
UM mashes up Halloween
Taking their own unique approach to the Halloween season, Umphrey's McGee performed a number of cover songs at Las Tortugas Dance of the Dead. Instead of performing the covers straight, however, the band did a number of mash-ups, mixing cover songs, and sometime throwing in their own music. Highlights included "Sweet Sunglasses," a mash-up of "Sweet Dreams" and "Sunglasses at Night." Other songs included in mash-ups were "The Gambler," "Fat Bottomed Girls," "Seek and Destroy," and "Good Times, Bad Times."
Panic does Halloween
Widespread Panic did a pair of Halloween shows, each sprinkled with unique covers. Their Oct. 30 show featured Warren Zevon's "Lawyers, Guns, and Money" and a three-song encore consisting entirely of songs by The Band. Halloween night saw Panic throwing out some more covers, including a couple 90's covers in Nirvana's "Come As You Are" and The Meat Puppet's "Lake of Fire."
Karl Denson's Tiny Universe honors King of Pop
As announced, Karl Denson's Tiny Universe took the opportunity on Halloween to pay tribute to Michael Jackson. Denson took the stage wearing a white glove and a Jackson 5-era afro. The band played a number of Jackson classics, including "Thriller," "Billie Jean" and Smooth Criminal."
Soulive to record a Beatles album
Soulive will be taking the cover trend one step further, releasing an album of Beatles covers early next year. The band performed a number of covers last weekend, including "In My Life," "Come Together," "Eleanor Rigby," and "Drive My Car." No word on the tracklist for the album yet, but I'd expect to see most of those songs on the album.
Derek Trucks Band announces hiatus
The Derek Trucks Band has announced that they plan on taking a hiatus from touring in 2010. The band will release a live CD, but there is no plan to tour after their 2009 winter tour wraps up. With DTB on hiatus and the Allman Brothers Band scaling back their schedule, Trucks is expected to focus on a new project that is rumored to include both his wife and members of DTB. You can still catch the band through the end of the year.
November 4 Stroudsburg, PA — Sherman Theatre (MiZ Support)
November 5 New London, CT — Garde Arts Center (Jaimoe's Jasssz Band Supports)
November 6 Rutland, VT Paramount Theatre
November 7 Montreal, QC — Métropolis (Dawn & Paul Support)
November 10 Charlottesville, VA Old Cabell Hall (Univ. of Virginia)
December 2 Atlanta, GA — Variety Playhouse (Col. Bruce & The Quark Alliance Support)
December 3 Atlanta, GA — Variety Playhouse (Tinsley Ellis Supports)
December 4 Mobile, AL — (Col. Bruce & The Quark Alliance Support)
December 5 Macon, GA Fly South Music Festival
December 6 Tampa, FL — The Ritz Ybor (Col. Bruce & The Quark Alliance Support)
December 10 New York, NY — Skirball Center For The Performing Arts (Shannon McNally Supports)
December 11 Peekskill, NY — Paramount Center (Shannon McNally Supports)
December 12 Westhampton Beach, NY — Westhampton Beach PAC
December 13 Albany, NY — The Egg (Shannon McNally Supports
Brett Dennen goes Brazillian
Songwriter Brett Dennen has teamed up with Brazillian musicians Forro in the Dark for a collaboration. The album, Live Sessions EP includes Brazilian-flavored versions of albums off of Dennen's Hope for the Hopeless, as well as a new track.
Franti to open for John Mayer
Coming off of the success of "Say Hey (I Love You)," Michael Franti and Spearhead will be opening for John Mayer during an extensive arena tour early next year. The two-month tour will see Franti playing arenas for the first time, and will run from early February through mid-April.
Matisyahu promotes the Olympics
Matisyahu's new single "One Day" has been tapped as the theme song for NBC's "Countdown to Vancouver" Olympic coverage. The commercial will run on all of NBC's networks to promote the upcoming Winter Olympic games in Canada.
First thing's first. With so many covers from Halloween, look for a Halloween recap in the next couple of weeks. I've already got some favorites that I want to share, and hopefully more videos will be available over the next few weeks. I hope you enjoyed this week's column as much as I enjoyed writing it. Robert Randolph is really a fascinating artist, and I didn't even get into much detail about the rest of his band. Maybe another time. On a more personal note about Randolph, I'll always remember seeing Randolph on June 7, 2005 in Columbus opening for the Dave Matthews Band. I was in the 7th row, and I was one of the lucky audience members that Randolph brought up on stage to play guitar. He handed me a guitar and told me to play an E minor. I still think I should have tried to get the band to jam on "Rockin' in the Free World" with me. Would've been epic. As it is, it was still an amazing experience. Sadly I don't have any photos, but it's something I'll always remember. Oh well… Until next week, Jam On!
