Robert Randolph & the Family Band at Mohegan Sun

Source: New Haven Register, Conn.文件倉Dec. 26--UNCASVILLE -- Robert Randolph and The Family Band will bring their supercharged, rock-influenced brand of "sacred steel" soul, gospel, blues and funk music to the Wolf Den at Mohegan Sun for a free show on Saturday night. Showtime is 8 p.m.Currently touring behind his latest album, "Lickety Split," Randolph, at this point probably the most famous pedal steel player in the world, says his latest music is all about joy, freedom and energy, among other things."My thing is really upbeat, uptempo, with great guitar riffs, but also catchy choruses and lyrics that someday will make this music into classic tunes." Randolph says in notes about the new album on .robertrandolph.net/.It's his first studio recording in three years.Robert Randolph & The Family Band first gained national attention in 2002 with the release of the album "Live at the Wetlands."But his music reaches much further back into the "sacred steel" tradition that came out of America's Pentecostal churches. Sacred steel is a genre of pedal steel guitar-driven music most often found in African-American Pentecostal churches nationwide.Always high-energy, it can be downright incendiary in the hands of leading practitioners such as Randolph, named by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time, and contemporaries such as the Campbell Brothers and the Lee Boys."I grew up in the House of God Church. The pedal steel was a big part of our church tradition," Randolph has said.He's also focusing attention on that tradition, and the people who inspired him, by executive producing the recent "Robert Randolph Presents the Slide Brothers" album, which features some of the older "sacred steel" players from the House of God Church who inspire存倉 him to pick up the instrument."This is part of my whole story, which a lot of people don't understand," Randolph says. "In our church organization, playing lap steel in church has been going on since the 1920s. These guys were my mentors, my Muddy Waters and B.B. Kings."Thinking that I started this style is like saying Stevie Ray Vaughan was the first guy to play the blues," he said. "I wanted to do this record so that everybody could understand the story and start connecting the dots."Growing up in Orange, N.J., "I was only allowed to listen to modern Christian and gospel music ... so there was so much I didn't know about," said Randolph. "My mind is expanded now."Cutting his teeth by playing in church, "I grew up watching older guys play, and I started playing when I was 15," Randolph said. But it was something outside of church that really got him juiced."When I was 19, someone gave me tickets to a Stevie Ray Vaughan concert," he said. "After that, I wanted to play pedal steel like Stevie Ray played his guitar. I wanted to take another path than the people who played traditional pedal steel to take it to a whole new level."Robert Randolph and the Family Band began playing around New York City in 2000, and in clubs like Wetlands, before his name began to spread farther and wider. After a while, he was "discovered" by the likes of Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews and B.B. King. Before releasing his own albums, Randolph was tapped by jazz organist John Medeski to join him and the North Mississippi Allstars on their 2001 jam project, "The Word."Call Mark Zaretsky at 203-789-5722.Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) Visit the New Haven Register (New Haven, Conn.) at .nhregister.com Distributed by MCT Information Services儲存