7/14/01 - Robert Randolph & The Family Band
The Birchmere, Alexandria, VA
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Saturday night (7/14) I took my wife down to Alexandria, Virginia's venerable music hall, The Birchmere, to see an evening of music. The headliners, North Mississippi Allstars, are a group I knew only by reputation and I expected to be impressed and entertained by blues chops and soul. The opening act, Robert Randolph & the Family Band, are who I actually went to see.
Generating more buzz than a swarm of africanized killer bees, Robert Randolph has, in less than a year, risen from the relative obscurity of performing his pedal steel in church to recording an album with Groove-Jazz Guru John Medeski (along with NMA) and touring nationally in clubs. Hearing too many good things about him to ignore, I acquired some live recordings from friends and found myself happily amazed.
Days after first hearing them, I found the RR&tFB would be coming (nearly) to my town and I insisted to my wife that we go.
This led us into the Birchmere a reasonably-sized club which features a dinner/music hall (in there, the audiences are shushed by table signs indicating that talk is not allowed) and a larger, "bandstand" area which features a bar, tables for dinner service, a music store (which carries the featured artists' merch as well as independent, sing-songwriter, blues, or similar fare), pool tables and, a dance floor. Of course, in this area, talking is permitted. The Birchmere also maintains a strict no-taping policy which, only on rare occasion is waived at the artists request so I was not surprised to see a dearth of microphone stands in the club...
When Robert Randolph & the Family Band took the stage they were greeted warmly by the audience, most of whom politely applauded before they returned to their conversations. Only about five to ten people moved to the dance floor to see what was about to happen. Opening with The Prayer Randolph started off on a serious note telling, as he does, of his deceased friend to whom the piece is dedicated. Slowly, the tune glided upwards towards the ether and a crowd developed on the dance floor to see the source of these powerful sounds.
Next, church let out and Randolph led us to the playground with a rollicking performance of Uncle Ted's Jam. The contrast between these first two songs highlights the breadth of their sound. Striding across genres from solo-to-solo they put the jam in "Uncle Ted's Jam". Danyell Morgan, bass player and Randolph's cousin, fueled the tune with a funky bass groove that meshed neatly with drummer, Marcus Randolph's (also a cousin) beats. In a crowd-pleasing display of enthusiasm and showmanship, Randolph leapt up from his seat during Morgan's bass solos- dancing with joy.
The next tune opened with a tight organ riff from John Ginty which locked into a plodding, island-funk, bassline. Randolph introduced the band individually, allowing each member to take a solo and, as Ginty waxed the way of Jimmy McGriff during his turn, Randolph stood and danced his way backstage. The audience looked around- a bit confused- but, moments later he returned and the band (which hadn't missed a beat) dropped into the pocket as Randolph took his 13-strings to new heights. (After the set, I spoke briefly to Robert Randolph and he told me the name of this tune is The Calypso Jam.)
Afterwards, a young looking fellow with thick glasses and a guitar came onstage. Randolph introduced us to the North Mississippi Allstars' Luther Dickinson, and introduced the next song as The March. This tune had a rock-blues feel which rang heavily of The Allman Brothers. This factor was doubled by the two-guitar attack of Randolph's slide and Dickinson playing sans-slide while channeling Dickey Betts. Ginty played a strong solo as well but the interplay between Dickinson and Randolph rates as the story for this number. trading verses with their strings they built the tune up to a brilliant frenzy.
Then Randolph hopped up, microphone in hand and proceeded to instruct the audience as to the proper technique of marching. He marched a bit and pointed to folks up from, insisting that they march. And they did. By this time the dancefloor is packed. Folks have abandoned their tables and appetizers in hopes to get a better look at source of the dazzling sounds coming from the stage. Randolph sat down and the reprised the theme once more to finish the song.
Luther Dickinson stepped down from the stage and Randolph could be seen discussing the time remaining in their set. Someone 1 shouted "I Don't Know What You Come To Do!", and he looked and pointed in the direction of the voice. Then, after another moment of conferring with Danyell, they eased into Hip Shake Thing. The intro sounds a bit like a few dozen other blues songs but is compelling like the introduction to La Grange. The lyrics motivated more dancing from the crowd and Randolph got up and gave us his best James Brown- shaking his hips both standing up and lying down- drawing appreciation from the audience.
Next, Robert re-introduced us to Danyell, telling us that he was going to sing a song called Pressin' My Way. This slow, soulful number turned quite a few heads when Morgan began to sing. His falsetto had people looking for a lady on the stage. It was crisp and beautiful and utterly floored this reviewer. The song was beautiful and led us to the finale, the set closer.
Once again, as they paused, someone shouted, "I Don't Know What You Come To Do!" This time, Randolph nodded, smiled and introduced the next song as I Don't Know What You Come To Do. This tune is a rocker which gets the audience involved in more than just listening. The lyrics are simple, repeating the title a number of times sandwiched by lighting riffs from the band and followed by either, "I come to stomp my feet", "I come to clap my hands", or "I come to scream!" Randolph and Morgan shared the vocals and worked the crowd into a frenzy. Morgan even threw in, "I come to jump around", at which he, Randolph, and much of the room began jumping in place.
For an opening band in a new city to win over so much of a room which had never before heard their name is rare and beautiful. Free demo cds of Randolph's upcoming project "The Word" were snapped up by the new fans, anxious for more and even the Birchmere staff whom one would expect to be a bit jaded by the plethora of talent which passes through seemed genuinely enthused and energized by the performance.
North Mississippi Allstars, by contrast, were almost a disappointment. Not that they were lacking in skill, talent or presentation but, the audience was drained by the Robert Randolph experience. To their credit, They are a power trio which seems, at times, to be a light version of Gov't Mule. They aren't copycats, however. True to the blues and their Mississippi roots, they mix traditional blues tunes with their energized, electrified grooves. Luther, with his slide, sounds a bit like Elmore James crossed with Chuck Berry crossed with Leslie West. His vocals are solid and genuine and sound sweet crossed with Chris Chew's terrific singing.
I noticed Sittin' On Top Of the World early on in the set followed by a song which, for lack of further information, I noted as All Night Long. Family Band drummer, Marcus Randolph stepped up and took over the drums as Luther's brother Cody Dickinson surrendered his sticks in favor of a guitar. This tune was, not surprisingly quite rockin' and featured a jam reminiscent of Lovelight.
After that tune, Cody retook his seat and Robert Randolph returned to the stage to a roar of applause. They went into a number with lyrics about skinny women and big women and featuring some sparkling interplay between Luther Dickinson and Randolph.
Robert Randolph stepped down after this tune and the Allstars continued their set merging Delta blues and jam rock which we enjoyed quite a bit.
All in all it was a pleasure to see a good bill hold up to make for an amazing show. Both bands won many new fans that night but Robert Randolph clearly came out as the overwhelming favorite. Its a reasonable bet that many folks will be seeking both Randolph and the North Mississippi Allstars next time they make their way to down, as The Word.
See You There.
1 - That "someone" was actually myself but, it seemed un-objective to admit it in the text of the review. I have to admit it though as I was moved by the moment and Randolph seemed to have noticed...
©2001- jmh
About the Author jmh is a family man who is thankfull for beer, LPs, and extra guitar strings. Donations of any of these things or cash for their purchase will be happily accepted.