Chameleons change appearance for a few reasons. If Robert Randolph is chameleonic, then it's his way of drawing attention to his varied and colorful styles of music. It is certainly not so he can blend in with his surroundings.
Randolph is out touring on his latest album, "We Walk This Road," produced by T Bone Burnett and featuring originals and covers of songs by Bob Dylan, Prince, John Lennon, Peter Case and others. He opened with one of his own, a song called "Traveling Shoes" that bears some resemblances to a Los Lobos song, maybe off the "Kiko" album. It was an apt opener. From there, he took his audience on a music odyssey, conjuring the sounds of many styles and other bands -- especially Sly and the Family Stone -- yet giving each sound his own distinct imprimatur.
Randolph's roots are in the Pentecostal church and its sacred steel tradition. He still records non-secular music but even when he gets secular, he can arouse an evangelical fever, like during one of the evening's best moments: his refashioning of Blind Willie Johnson's gutbucket "If I Had My Way" into a lavish and rousing jug-band/gospel-style anthem. As much as any song, that one showcased his great band, which includes his sister Lenesha Randolph on backup vocals and cousins Danyel Morgan on bass and Marcus Randolph on drums.
No Randolph show is completely like any other, but he revived a couple of his well-known songs and familiar rituals. He unleashed his reworking of Michael Jackson's song "Thriller," a cover that doesn't overtly divulge its identity until late, when Randolph plays the chorus straight. He also invited more than three dozen women on stage to dance among him and the band during "Shake Your Hips." And he gave three guitar players in the crowd (all males) a chance to come on stage, strap on a guitar and jam with the band during "Deliver Me." All three acquiitted themselves well; the last guy, who had the nerve to play slide, was allowed to finish the jam and play through the entire following song, "Walk Don't Walk," a Prince tune.
He ended with another new one, "I'm Not Listening," into which he dropped a thick slice from Dylan's "Maggie's Farm," then the hard-funk/rock anthem "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That." During that tune, he lay on his back at his pedal steel guitar, raised his legs high and clapped then in time. That track is off his "Colorblind" album, an ironic title for a guy who is so capable of revealing his many true colors.
The Constellations: The openers are a band from Atlanta whose sound quickly grew on me, despite their appearance. They dress like neo-hippies but their sound is psychedelic soul/pop. It's catchy and groovy -- think of the Talking Heads' "True Stories" album, and the tune "Puzzling Evidence." That's kind of where they're coming from.
| Timothy Finn, The Star
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