Live At The Wetlands
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 theNorth Mississippi Allstarsand groove organist John Medeski in a brilliant album and group calledThe 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 intoSlim 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 toHendrix. It's the musical equivalent of a white-water thrill ride.--Ted Drozdowski