Live at the Wetlands [Live]

Live at the Wetlands [Live]

Editorial Reviews
<"b00006ixgi7499"> Amazon.com
This album's all about the blazing virtuosity of Robert Randolph. The pop-music arrival of the young pedal-steel guitarist from the Pentecostal church was shepherded last year by the North Mississippi Allstars and groove organist John Medeski in a brilliant album and group called The Word. With his own Family Band and just one spiritual, the lovely "Pressing My Way," on the set list, Randolph sends lightning bolts through the audience in this August 2001 recording at a now-shuttered Manhattan club. He blends the showmanship of his blues inspiration, Stevie Ray Vaughan, with his own unique instrumental mastery, transforming his steel guitar into something more like a lead vocalist. Randolph constantly makes his 13-string guitar play call-and-response with his own singing, and he breathes fire into Slim Harpo's chestnut "Shake Your Hips" by making it a field day for his stabbing splashes of notes and chords, inventing a different melody for his long solos that's more western swing than swamp blues. Although the shout-and-stomp-along original, "I Don't Know What You Come to Do," raises the crowd, it's the 11-minute finale, "Tears of Joy," that is Randolph's showstopper. The tune's a crafty summation of all his gifts: slow, sliding, rich-toned notes and low-buzzing chords; rhythms that pull from the stately qualities of gospel (enhanced by the way Randolph's steel blends with John Ginty's Hammond organ) and the pure exhilaration of rock improvisation; and beautiful tones that echo from honky-tonk to Hendrix. It's the musical equivalent of a white-water thrill ride. --Ted Drozdowski --This text refers to the Audio CD edition.

<"b00006ixgi4996"> Album Description
Robert Randolph is one of the most talented pedal steel guitarists of his generation, picking up comparisons to Stevie Ray Vaughan, Duane Allman and Jimi Hendrix. Live At The Wetlands is the debut from Randolph and The Family Band. Dare Records. 2002.