The Lagunitas Brewing Company hosted the Robert Randolph Band for an evening of sacred steel Tuesday evening. The spirit was mighty, and the heavens smiled—along with a reverent audience.
Randolph grew up in a world dominated by religion. His father was a deacon, and his mother a minister in a Pentecostal church in Irving, New Jersey. The church was too poor to afford an organ but adapted to that unfortunate circumstance by incorporating the steel guitar (a relatively affordable instrument compared to an organ) as the musical foundation for their services starting in the 1930s.
Young Robert began playing the steel guitar when he was 16, working hard to mimic the sacred sound of a church organ. In a 2017 interview, Randolph said, "I grew up and saw a lot of older guys playing lap steels and pedal-steel guitars in my church. I had never heard the Allman Brothers, or even Buddy Guy, or Muddy Waters." But somebody along the way turned him on to a recording of Stevie Ray Vaughan, and he added the Texas bluesman’s swing to his burgeoning repertoire of soulful and inspiring steel string pyrotechnics.
In 2000, Randolph stretched beyond the confines of his hometown church and formed The Family Band with cousins Danyel Morgan and Marcus Randolph on bass and drums, and John Ginty (who had played alongside Neal Casal, Whiskeytown, and Jewel) on organ. The quartet played some shows at other regional churches and quickly attracted notice in the tri-state area and beyond when they branched out to “secular” venues.
Before the band even released their first album, jazz organist John Medeski (Medeski, Martin and Wood) experienced the magic of Randolph’s steel guitar. He invited the virtuoso to join The Word, a new sacred steel-ish jam project with brothers Cody and Luther Dickinson, the drums and guitar duo who comprise the core of the North Mississippi Allstars (NOMAs). The Family Band was invited to join NOMAs on tour as an opening act, and The Word closed the show each night.
And praise be, the people began to take notice of Robert Randolph.
Randolph’s steel guitar picking combines the high-intensity fever pitch of raucous gospel music with flashy picking that invokes the spirit of Johnny Winter, Albert Collins, and Jimi Hendrix. He’s fun to listen to and also fun to watch. Randolph is seldom at rest, either swinging his head back like Ray Charles or raising his arms to the sky like a preacher.
It’s been over twenty years now since Randolph took his pulpit to a national stage and began to preach his own unique blend of gospel, love, and the blues to the masses. His recordings have won several Grammys, and Randolph has played and recorded with luminaries from Eric Clapton to LeAnn Rimes to Metallica. The Lagunitas BrewCo crowd was in for a treat.
Instead of the Family Band, the show at Lagunitas BrewCo featured a quartet, with Randolph on steel guitar, two non-Family members on bass and drums, and Tash Neal on guitar and vocals (The London Souls).
The band started in high gear with a vigorous version of Skip James’ “I’m So Glad” (most famously covered by Cream), a well-picked opener for Randolph’s positive vibe. For the next ninety minutes, Randolph and Co. kept the energy high. Neal took several solo turns shredding leads. Randolph mostly stayed on his 12-string pedal steel, but he occasionally stood up to strap on a six-string slide guitar.
In the middle of the set, Randolph invited audience members up to shake their money-makers on stage. He grinned ear to ear while a half dozen or so ladies danced around him. The religion was infectious.
I once heard Al Green—who was ordained as a pastor years after he recorded a string of world-famous love songs—say on stage that all of his oldies were sung in the spirit of Jesus now that he was a servant of God. With Robert Randolph, it’s sort of the opposite: when he sings “Baptize Me,” a song that is as gospel as it gets, the audience feels the love and grooves to the soul. You don’t have to join a church to appreciate the sacred steel sounds emanating from Randolph’s instrument. You just need to show up and be prepared to boogie.
Quinn DeVeaux opened with a set of his self-styled “blue beat soul.” The Gary, Indiana native played a tight, fun set of lively blues backed by a four-piece ensemble. His website aptly describes DeVeaux’s performance as a “rollicking itinerant house party.”
