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Randolph's Family rolling with Matthews, Clapton
The highly anticipated new album from steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph and the Family Band is shaping up to be the guitar record of 2006, boasting a who's-who list of guests like Dave Matthews and Eric Clapton.
Carlos Santana would have appeared on the as-yet-untitled project if label issues could have been ironed out. Still, the Bay Area resident did fly down to Randolph's Los Angeles recording studio just to "hang out, play guitar and talk over some stuff," Randolph said.
The new album, due in May via Warner Bros., is the follow-up to 2003's "Unclassified," which yielded two Grammy nominations.
The Orange, N.Y., native has been recording on and off for a year, interpolating studio time with touring, which has allowed him to road test many of the new tracks, including "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That," "The Thrill of It" and "Deliver Me." Matthews contributes on "Love is the Only Way," while a cover of the Doobie Brothers' "Jesus is Just Alright" features Clapton.
"We're going to give people something totally different than what's really out there now," Randolph said. "Because a lot of people today figure when they write songs, it just has to be pinpointed whether you want to talk about having sex, hatred, being a thug and all of that kind of stuff. And we just pinpoint great songs that are just sticking and will last forever. If you ever listen to an old Zeppelin record, those guys are just writing songs. They don't really care if it's going to fit in rock, blues or R&B. That's what we're trying to do."
For the next year, Randolph expects to be touring, including a month-long jaunt beginning February 10 in Kansas City and a possible opening slot on the Red Hot Chili Peppers' summer outing. Said Randolph, "After April, we'll be gone forever."
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