The gospel according to Randolph
The pedal steel wizard tries to bring 'this joy to the mainstream musical world'
By Chris Nixon
July 29, 2004
San Diego Union-Tribune

Robert Randolph lived in two different worlds growing up. During the week, he ran in the roughneck streets of urban New Jersey, a world where gunshots were the final word. But come Sunday, he clapped his hands and sang along with the rest of the congregation to celebrate at the African-American Pentecostal House of God church. In his Christian world, the word of God and the slide guitar had the final say.

"It was a pretty tough life growing up, which it is for anybody growing up in an inner-city environment," says Randolph, reflecting on his years as a young man in the city. "As a teenager, I got into some pretty tough situations. There were a bunch of incidents: losing friends, losing different family members. After time, things started to build up for me, and it made more sense not to be involved with those things.

"Luckily for me, I got into music. It kept me off the streets."

After leaving behind the thug life, Randolph focused his efforts on learning the 13-string pedal steel, an instrument normally associated with Hawaiian slack key music or honky-tonk country.
The young musician followed a long tradition of pedal steel playing in the House of God church, an institution often referred to as "Sacred Steel." Randolph became a prodigy, joining fiery gospel fervor with the bluesy licks of Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix.

"For me being able to play music in church, first you develop this relationship (between music and religion)," says the 26-year-old pedal steel master. "Music is always to be played from the heart to form a connection with the listener, to really dig down deep within yourself and really express your feelings musically, to make that connection.

"You have a lot of people who have been taught music, who have been taught by a teacher, who have been all about the musical notes. Some of those people have a really hard time connecting with the audience or the listener. Growing up in church and having a different outlook on life allowed me to have that advantage over some artists out there."

His gifts as an emotional performer have served Randolph well. While working at a New York City law office as a paralegal, a bootlegged tape of one of Randolph's performances reached the ears of keyboardist John Medeski of Medeski Martin and Wood.

With the North Mississippi Allstars, Medeski and Randolph teamed up for the 2001 project titled "The Word." Combining the ever-experimental world of Medeski, the roots rock of the Mississippi band and the hallelujah shimmy shake of Randolph's Sacred Steel background, "The Word" produced a buzz among critics and brought Randolph's pedal steel playing to the mainstream's ears for the first time.

A virtuoso's faves
Robert Randolph knows his pedal steel history. When asked
about the greatest players of all-time, the 26-year-old virtuoso immediately
gave a shout-out to his three favorites:

Calvin Cooke: Born in 1944 in Cleveland, Cook is part of the long line of great pedal steel players emerging out of joyous church jams and gospel music. His big expressive voice has won him the moniker "the B.B. King of gospel pedal steel guitar." Says Randolph: "He comes out of the scared steel tradition. He's so soulful."

Julian Tharpe: Nashville session man Tharpe may have backed country stars like Ray Price and Barbara Mandrell, but he also created highly regarded crossover albums like "The Jet Age." Tharpe was also known for the unusual choice of playing a 14-string pedal steel. Randolph says: "He's an old school, jazzy pedal steel player. He's amazingly cool."

Buddy Emmons: This Nashville elite pedal steel player performed with everyone from Ernest Tubbs to Roger Miller to the Everly Brothers. Randolph says: "Buddy's the all-time country great. He was the first guy to really play in that whole context that you hear down in Nashville. He is
the all-time greatest on that thing."

When asked how he'd be considered alongside the trio, Randolph said: "I just need to continue to be original and come up with my own ideas. Those guys, they had their own tone. Great musicians. A great musician is someone who is completely unique and plays with all the heart and soul they have. That's where I want to be."
– CHRIS NIXON

Randolph rode the wave of notoriety by releasing "Live at the Wetlands" on his own Dare label in 2002, where he performed with cousins Marcus Randolph (drums) and Danyel Morgan (bass), now known as the Family Band.

"Mainly, what I try to do (in my live shows) is bring this positive, party life vibe of joyous singing and dancing together," says Randolph, talking from Milwaukee on tour with Eric Clapton. "It's really different from a lot of young black musicians today. Bringing this joy to the mainstream musical world is what I've been trying to do. And it's been going over really well. Somebody has to do it."

So how do you translate the live energy to a sterile studio environment? Randolph and the Family Band (which now includes Jason Crosby on Hammond B-3 organ, piano and violin) faced the challenge in the recording sessions for 2003's "Unclassified." The album's clap-your-hands, stomp-your-feet mentality perfectly captures the band's live shows.

Says Randolph: "We try and bring forth enough energy so if somebody's listening, they feel like they're in the room with us. That's what we try and create when we go into the studio.

"This Clapton tour we're on right now has catapulted us into the next level of respectability by musicians and audiences. It's a great, great thing to be playing with Clapton. He's the nicest guy. Everyday, I'm getting to talk to him and at the end of the show every night we come out and jam together. So it's really amazing."

Chris Nixon is a San Diego writer.