Official website for Robert Randolph and The Family Band.

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Robert Randolph and the Family Band delivered a high-spirited, family-friendly show to open the 's free summer music series on Wednesday afternoon. Described by some as the Jimi Hendrix of pedal steel guitar, Randolph blends his gospel and soul roots with rock, funk and R&B. Randolph and his crew stuck to a hyper-precise schedule, entering the stage at 2 p.m.

Sharp and waving goodbye at 3:30 p.m. But within their window of time, the band splashed around joyfully and fluidly, with Randolph leading the waves of improvisation. The band closely followed his lead, keeping pace, no matter how abruptly he switched gears. Tales Of Symphonia Ratatosk Isoniazid. Randolph grows physical when he gets carried away. Tied by his fingertips to his stationary guitar, he starts kicking one leg or jumps on his chair during a chugging jam. It's fun to watch him extract wails from his two red steel guitars, scraping at the strings with metal finger picks like little claws. The camera operators hustled in the high sun, aiding the performance with plenty of nailbed close-ups.

He chugged through his set of originals, along with decadent covers of Black Sabbath's 'War Pigs' and 'Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough' by Michael Jackson. One highlight was a cover of The Band's 'Up on Cripple Creek,' with Randolph laying into his wah-wah pedal hard enough to elicit nearly human screeches. Randolph grew up in the House of God Church in Orange, N.J., where only traditional gospel tunes shaped his music education until adolescence. Those joyous roots still seep into his modern performances. He never explicitly demands an amen from the crowd, but he does shout out audience members the way a young preacher would. 'Don't ever let anyone take your love away from you,' he bellowed. 'Can I get a witness?'

Second guitarist Dean James carried the vocal weight often during the show, tottering back and forth from a deep, swampy Nathaniel Rateliff-esque voice, to a high falsetto a la Barry Gibb. Not only does Randolph have excellent vocalists to call up to bat, but he has an all-star band of multi-instrumentalists. At one point, Randolph hopped away from his steel guitar and motioned for a switch.

Randolph picked up the neon green bass while his drummer took over the pedals and the bassist played the drums. Then they rotated again, this time with the organ and guitar players switching, while the jam continued as normal. Randolph took a seat at the drum set and whacked away with perfect timing. OK, so now we know he's good at everything.

By this point, the five-piece band was just bragging, all for the benefit of the crowd. Rolling Stone listed Randolph on its list of the 100 greatest guitarists ever (along with Randolph's own idol, Duane Allman), and it's clear why. Cichowicz Trumpet Flow Studies Pdf To Excel. A blistering, bright sun and the seated crowd didn't deter Randolph for a second.

He brought several rows to their feet by the end. Fair officials estimate 2,200 people attended the show. We got onstage at Chevy Court right now.