With their vibrant combination of styles, Robert Randolph and The Family Band have marked themselves as one of the most revelatory groups to emerge from the church tradition. Growing up in the House of God church, where the pedal steel was a common staple, Randolph was surrounded by a slew of incredible pedal steel players and decided to pick up the instrument at 15. Toward the end of his teenage years, the young Randolph was introduced to guitarist Stevie Ray, who paved a new approach to Randolph's guitar playing. Breaking away from tradition, Randolph completely restyled the steel pedal approach to mimic certain guitar techniques, and is now considered one of the top guitarists of all-time by Rolling Stone.
The band's first studio album, Unclassified, was released back in 2003, followed by the celebrated Colorblind three years later. Now, with the help of T-Bone Burnett, Randolph has released We Walk This Road, an ambitious project set out to honor the last 100 years of African-American music through blues, rock and gospel. Tune in at noon ET to hear a live webcast of Randolph's show at World Cafe Live in Philadelphia.
Copyright 2010 XPN
