Ain't Nothing Wrong With That

Robert Randolph & The Family Band.  Robert on pedal steel and his cousins on bass and drums.  Great message.  A live act not to miss - I've seen 'em three times.

Ten

Well, I've been at this for ten years now, starting two days after my retirement.  2,487 posts as of today. Who'd have thought I would be working in the blogging mines this long?  I didn't.  Guess I'll keep going for a while longer.

My first post featured this song.  It's still pretty good so let's do it again.

Baptise Me

The virtuoso guitar playing and redemptive vision of Robert Randolph.

Rockin' The Rest

 From 1990 on, the last part of the My Concert series (I'll continue to update this):

 

November 14, 1997

U2

Smashmouth

Pro Player Stadium

Miami, FL

 

Took the THC daughter and two of her friends. Although we were quite a way from the stage our seats were directly in line with the speakers and it was incredibly loud (and I like loud music).  My ears were full of static for several days after.

 

August 20, 2001

Crosby, Stills and Nash

Oakdale Theater

Wallingford, CT

 

Talked into going to this by my sister.  Thought CSN would sound outdated and they had this reputation back in their heyday of not sounding good in concert.  I went and I was wrong. Very good show.  Their harmonies were tight and David Crosby's tenor was strong and beautiful.  Suite: Judy Blue Eyes was about 10 times better than the recorded version.

 

June 15, 2002

Elvis Costello & The Imposters

Oakdale Theater

Wallingford, CT

 

When I Was Cruel tour.  The Imposters were The Attractions without bassist Bruce Thomas, who'd been fired by Elvis. Another terrific Costello concert with three encores, the final one ending with Lipstick Vogue followed by I Want You, which is a very, very creepy ballad and a very, very odd, but Elvis-like choice, to end a concert.

 

September 10, 2003

Steely Dan

Oakdale Theater

Wallingford, CT 

Good, solid but not great show by one of my favorite bands.

July 14, 2007

Los Lonely Boys

New Haven Green

New Haven, CT

An outdoor, free concert on the Green in downtown New Haven on a balmy summer evening, sitting on the grass and listening to Henry, JoJo and Ringo Garza, the brothers of Los Lonely Boys.  Guitar-driven improvising, climaxed with a 20+ minute version of Onda.  Felt like I was back in 1971.  Very underrated band that was not as popular as it should have been.

 

April 15, 2008

Elvis Costello

Tony Bennett

Saturday Night Live Studio

NBC 30 Rock

New York City 

In 2008-9, Elvis filmed 20 shows for Spectacle TV in which he interviewed other musicians and then they performed separately and together.  Filming was done in the Saturday Night Live Studio, which was cordoned off into a smaller area with seating for about 250-300 people.  At the time, I worked for GE which owned NBC and a couple of people at 30 Rock knew I was an Elvis fan and got me tickets so I took Mrs THC and two close friends.  Tony Bennett was immensely cool.  He sang The Way You Look Tonight.  His voice was no longer what it once was, but he sang that song so beautifully I teared up. Elvis is a fine interviewer and the conversation was lively.  Diana Krall, Elvis' wife was seated in front of us (we were three rows from the stage) and Tony impulsively went out into the audience and pulled her up to perform a song with him.  A memorable evening.

May 28, 2009

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Tarrytown Music Hall

Tarrytown NY

Robert Randolph is a unique entertainer and along with The Family Band one of the best club and party acts you will ever see.  Everyone in the audience was standing for the entire show.  Randolph plays pedal steel like lead guitar.

 

June 10, 2009

Elvis Costello

Beacon Theater

New York City

The Sulphur to Sugarcane tour with Elvis supported by a country band with no drummer.  Excellent, as usual.  32 songs, including encores.  Highlight was The Delivery Man.

 

March 5, 2014

Robert Randolph & The Family Band

Crescent Ballroom

Phoenix, AZ

Mrs THC and I raised the average age in the club by several years.  Awesome show by the awesome Robert Randolph.  Here's a clip from that show.

June 15, 2014

Kenny Wayne Shepherd featuring Robert Randolph

Ridgefield Playhouse

Ridgefield, CT

Ace guitarist Shepherd and ace pedal steel player Randolph, a dynamite combo.

August 14, 2014

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Simsbury Meadows

Simsbury CT

Susan Tedeschi's voice and Derek Truck, master of the slide guitar, are a perfect pair, as husband and wife and musicians.  Unexpectedly started off with a creative cover of Traffic's Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring.

 

April 8, 2016

Elvis Costello

Larkin Poe
Mesa Arts Center

Mesa, AZ

Mostly an Elvis solo show, with occasional backing by Larkin Poe and Nils Lofgren.  Heavy media with clips of Elvis' musician dad and Elvis in his early days.  Reimagined versions of songs from his huge catalogue.  This venue was designed for concerts and the sound quality was amazing.  We were in the last row of the 4th balcony and the sound was crystal clear.

 

September 2017

Los Lobos

Criterion Theatre

Bar Harbor, Maine

 

A fun time in a small venue (several hundred seats).  Thirty years after first seeing them the band still sounded fine and David Hidalgo's voice had held up well. 

November 2017

Tedeschi Trucks Band

Orpheum Theater

Phoenix, AZ

 

As good as the last time around. 

November 16, 2019

The Black Keys

Talking Stick Resort Arena

Phoenix AZ

This was one fine rock n roll show.  The sound quality was clear and crisp, particularly for large arena.

November 5, 2021

Tommy Emmanuel

Mesa Arts Center

Mesa AZ

Back to live music!  What a great guitarist and showman.

November 10, 2021

Elvis Costello & The Imposters

Federal Theater

Phoenix AZ

 

Elvis once again.  No opening act.  Played for 2 1/2 hours.  New stuff, old stuff, in between stuff.  His voice is not what it once was, but still a fine show.  Played half the songs I heard at his first concert in 1977. 

May 17, 2023

Billy Strings

Financial Theater

Phoenix AZ

Had wanted to see Billy since discovering him in the fall of 2021.  Outstanding show.  Nearly three hours highlighted by a 30 minute combo of several songs including Hide and Seek.  Incredible guitarist and the players in his band (banjo, fiddle, upright bass, mandolin) are just as good.

 

April 15, 2024

Ukelele Orchestra of Great Britain

Casa de Christo Lutheran Church

Scottsdale AZ 

 

Been a fan for years. Good musicians with a great sense of musical humor.  Covered everything from ZZ Top to Robert Palmer, The Clash, Willie Nelson, a medley of Live on Mars/My Way/For Once in My Life/Substitute/Born Free, The Muppet Show Theme, the Bond movie theme, to Black Sabbath's Paranoid intertwined with Dance of the Sugar Plum Fair.  Also a straight and gorgeous version of Dreams by The Cranberries and closed with Kiss' God Gave Rock n Roll to You. 

 

May 28, 2024

Molly Tuttle

Musical Instruments Museum Theater

Phoenix AZ

 

Molly is part of the new bluegrass thing along with Billy Strings and Sierra Hull.  A terrific show with a mixture of originals, bluegrass (lovely version of Shady Grove), and rock covers featuring She's A Rainbow by the Stones and Jefferson Airplane's White Rabbit.  None of the covers were straight; all introduced unique elements. 

 

March 5, 2025

Chicago

Celebrity Theater

Phoenix AZ

 

A last minute invite from a friend; had not known they were still touring. A fun show though the sound balance could have been better.  Played their hits (of which there were many) and most popular cuts off their albums.  Musically, they miss their phenomenal original guitarist (Terry Kath) and drummer (Danny Seraphine) but still enjoyable.  Only three of the original members are still with the band.  

 

March 16, 2025

Taj Mahal

Musical Instruments Museum Theater

Phoenix AZ 

 

I first heard Taj in the late 60s but had never seen him perform.  He's now almost 82 and moving a lot slower than he used to but his voice and playing was as strong as ever.  Played electric, acoustic, and steel guitar, ukelele, banjo, and keyboards.  An eclectic mix of country blues, roots music, reggae and even Hawaiian music.  A fun show.

 

December 10, 2025

Billy Strings

BOK Center

Tulsa OK

 

Fantastic long show by Billy and the boys.  Only knew about 1/3 of the songs but it did not make any difference.  Next morning visited the Bob Dylan Center. 

I Need More Love

This was the first music video featured on THC more than eight years ago.  Still a great song and who can disagree with the sentiment?  Never understood why Robert Randolph and the Family Band weren't bigger.

Get Moving

Enough grousing about politics and time slipping away.  We need something upbeat.

The first THC post more than seven years ago was I Need More Love from Robert Randolph & The Family Band.  Time to revisit it.  Get up and get moving.

Rock Kidney Song

"When someone starts talking in the middle of a song you know it's serious."

From 30 Rock featuring Sheryl Crow, Elvis Costello, Mary J Blige, Norah Jones, Adam Levine, Moby, Michael McDonald, Wyclef Jean, Robert Randolph, Cindy Lauper, and the Beastie Boys.

Pressing My Way

(From capistranodispatch)

Someone finally put on YouTube my favorite version of my favorite tune from Robert Randolph & The Family Band (for more on Robert and the gang go here).  Recorded live (around 2002) on the closing night of Wetlands, a New York City club.  Pressing My Way is a long song but worth the listen.  Some of the most gorgeous, melodic and funky pedal steel guitar you'll ever hear along with an inspirational message; you won't feel down after listening to anything from this band.  The song starts off ballad like but moves into another gear around 3:20.

Deliver Me

Take some Stevie Ray Vaughan, add a bunch of Sly & The Family Stone, a pound of Allman Brothers, a pint of Parliament Funkadelic and a pinch of Red Hot Chili Peppers and you've got Robert Randolph & The Family Band.

Robert Randolph Live!

If Duane Allman and Sly Stone had a child he would be Robert Randolph (it would also raise some eyebrows).  We saw Robert and the Family Band play at the Crescent Ballroom in Phoenix last week and it was even better than the last time we saw him in Tarrytown NY three or four years ago.  This is one of the best live acts you will ever see.  Robert's music is fun, pulsating and uplifting and he's a charismatic performer.

The Crescent Ballroom is a small venue with very little seating and capacity of a few hundred people.  THC doesn't know if it was the band or the venue but the sound quality was crisp and clear.

The cast of the Family Band has changed over the past few years.  Cousin Marcus is still on the drums but Cousin Danyell on bass has been replaced with Cousin AJ who looks and sounds like a younger version of Danyell.  The guitarist and keyboard players are also new.  All are excellent musicians.

Below are a couple of pictures and some brief video clips.  THC remains baffled why Randolph is not better known.

Love Is The Only Way

Robert Randolph & The Family Band are telling you.  You can't feel down listening to them.

Lickety Split

If you read THC during its early months you'll know we are huge fans of Robert Randolph and The Family Band.  The first post on this blog featured one of their tunes - I Need More Love, with its explosive rhythm line, followed by The Thrill Of It with, channeling Jack Black in School Of Rock, a face-melting guitar solo, and then Ain't Nothing Wrong With That with its monster bottom beat.

Robert and the Band just released a new album, Lickety Split.  The Family in the Family Band is Robert's cousin Danyel on bass, his cousin Marcus on the drums and his sister Lenesha on backup vocals. Here's Robert with more on the new record, his family background in New Jersey and his church.

Robert's music is upbeat and fun (and a great live band) with Lickety Split continuing in that tradition.  Enjoy the listening.  This is a (mostly) instrumental cut, Get Ready.
My favorite Randolph tune remains a live performance of Pressing My Way.  There isn't a good performance on YouTube so THC highly recommends purchasing their first album, Live At Wetlands, ignoring the rest of the record and just play Pressing My Way several times.

Announcing Your Presence With Authority

Another good observation from Bull Durham (almost as meaningful as "if you can dodge a wrench, you can dodge a ball".

Of course if you are going to announce your presence you want to be more successful in the delivery than Ebby Calvin "Nuke" LaLoosh.

Some musical acts have done it successfully.  I'm talking about the ones where you felt the excitement upon hearing the first single or the first cut off their first album or CD from someone you'd never heard of before.  Not just a good song but something that immediately made you sit and and think - "listen up, this is something different".  You wanted to go out and tell your friends. In each case (except the last one), I heard the song before ever seeing the band or singer.

Five examples:

Purple Haze by The Jimi Hendrix Experience which I first heard on WNEW-FM (either Scott Muni or Roscoe played it).  The guitar sound unlike anything I'd ever heard  - are those actual notes he's playing? - combined with the bizarre lyrics.

Good Times, Bad Times by Led Zeppelin.  Not their best song (not even on that first album) but what a forceful way to "announce your presence".  Listen to the intro, Plant's voice kicking in and then the insane guitar break and the guitar riffs at the end.  All crammed into less than three minutes.

With A Little Help From My Friends by Joe Cocker.  His first release.  The voice overpowering and unique, converting a light-hearted Beatles pop romp into an anguished plea in 3/4 time.  Brilliant.


Smells Like Teen Spirit by Nirvana.  I first heard this on the car radio and it was electrifying -it literally sent a sensation up my spinal cord into my brain with the opening riff.  Who was this?  Where did that sound come from?  Then I saw the video.  The best song of the 1990s.  And if you really want to know what the words are check out this earlier post.

I Need More Love by Robert Randolph & The Family Band.  A more recent entry from 2005.  This was the song I used as the first post for this blog.  I happened to be skipping around the TV one day and momentarily stopped on VH1 Soul and was about to move on when this video started.  I got hooked by the opening bass riff and then the feeling was amplified when the whole band kicked in.  Next I started hearing a guitar but couldn't see a guitar player and then realized that incredible sound was from a steel pedal guitar!!   As soon as the song ended I googled these guys to find out who they were.  Then I started buying their records and finally saw them in concert - one of the best live acts you'll ever see.

Friday Song

More from Robert Randolph and The Family Band:

Wake Up!

I mean you, not me.  I'm still asleep and this loaded via an automated calendar!

May I introduce you to Mr Robert Randolph and his cousin on the bass and his cousin on the drums and Chris on keyboards.  Stick around to hear the guitar solo and see 'em when they come to your town.

OK . . . let's get started