Robert Randolph and the Family Band – Lickety Split

Robert Randolph and the Family Band

Blue Note (released July 16, 2013)

By Bob Marovich for The Black Gospel Blog

The petal steel guitar is an instrument with many emotions and no fear expressing any of them.  For example, it can cry briny tears, spit in indignant frustration, and lift its voice in joyous celebration.

It’s the latter emotion that the steel guitar expresses on Lickety Split, Robert Randolph and the Family Band’s first album in three years.  While the twelve tracks cover a wide swath of popular sounds, the constant is the chirping, squealing, shouting steel guitar that has propelled Randolph to status as one of the instrument’s most revered performers. 

Legendary guitarist Carlos Santana joins the group on “Blacky Joe,” and on “Brand New Wayo,” he sears the Meters-style funk selection from head to foot with red-hot guitar licks.  The Family Band is nothing if not versatile, shifting from a cover of the Ohio Players’ “Love Rollercoaster” to the swaggering country-rock “All American” to “New Orleans,” a paean to the Big Easy done up in fragrant vocals and musical mojo.

But lest one thinks the group has traveled too far from its House of God roots, nothing can be further from the truth.  Randolph explains that the title track borrows liberally from a riff they used to do in church during the “Jubilee Jam Session Time.”  “Born Again,” the current single, is smothered in gospel grit while hinting at Stephen Stills’ “Love the One You’re With” in the chorus.  The romping “Get Ready” is an evocation of a Holy Ghost praise break as the steel guitar runs figuratively up and down the aisles in pure bliss.

A sobering note on the album is “Welcome Home,” a stinging reminder of the waste of war.  The Family Band ends on an upbeat note, however, with a wild-eyed cover of the Rascals’ “Good Lovin.’”

Overall, Lickety Split is good, clean fun, a footloose liberation of body and soul.

When not touring and performing, Robert Randolph is remodeling an abandoned school building in his hometown of Irvington, New Jersey to be the Robert Randolph Music and Arts Program for youth.

Picks: “Get Ready,” “Born Again.”