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Thanks to his stint as frontman of Robert Randolph & the Family Band, pedal steel virtuoso Robert Randolph is one of the world's most popular black musicians who isn't a rapper. Tired of the "bad rap" hip-hop has given African Americans, he wishes more young people would expand their horizons and embrace music for music's sake, rather than because it's cool or popular. Regardless, that hasn't kept Randolph from critical acclaim, both for his band's live shows and his latest album, Colorblind (Warner Bros). Randolph grew up playing the pedal steel guitar in a New Jersey House of God Pentecostal Church—where the pedal steel, and not the organ, is front and center. Several years ago, he played a few non-church gigs, and it wasn't long before the word was out—this guy was a prodigy. In 2003, Rolling Stone named him one of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time—when he was just 24 years old and had only one album under his belt. The rave reviews don't stop with the press; the likes of Eric Clapton, Dave Matthews, The Blind Boys of Alabama, and others have expressed their admiration, and Randolph, without missing a beat, asked some of them to join him on his new album. In this conversation with Christian Music Today, Randolph talks about what he's learned from the greats, how he stays grounded amidst the stars, and why he wants young African Americans to see there's more to music than just rap.

Robert Randolph (second from left) with his cousins Danyel Morgan and Marcus Randolph, plus keyboardist Jason Crosby, make up the jam-based Family Band.

Unclassified came out in 2003. What took so long for the follow-up?

Robert Randolph We just wanted to take our time and get a lot of input from different artists, from people like [Eric] Clapton, Dave Matthews, even people like Marvin Winans, on how to take it to the next level. That was cool.

Once we got to that point where it'd already been a while [since Unclassified], we just wanted to take our time and really use that opportunity, 'cause when the opportunity comes to work with great people like that, you've just gotta go with it and take your time.

What was it like spending time with the greats?

Randolph It was fun getting input from [Carlos] Santana and Eric Clapton especially, because they're pioneer guitar players, which is kinda what I want to do. And their thing was to try to come up with the best song that you can come up with or create your own vibe. And most of those guys, when they saw us, they see this great celebration of life, kind of party vibe, so they helped me kinda capture some of those things in the studio.

It's great, just to be able to have that thing with them. It's fun to be able to be appreciated by people from all genres of music—rock, R&B, soul, gospel, all kinds. And for them to really want to help me out and help me get to the next level, that's enough.

What can you tell us about Clapton?

Randolph I toured with him, and I got a chance to really get to know him. We would sit down, do a sound check, and just talk about music. He was working on his record at the time. One day we were sitting down to eat, when all of a sudden the old version of [The Doobie Brothers'] "Jesus Is Just Alright" came on. And he said, "Why don't we just try this one? This will be great up there." So we got into the studio and we knocked that out. So to be able to have that relationship with him and just see him in the studio recording was a great thing.

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