Robert Randolph returns to ‘Rockspel’ the

Saturday’s concert features Robert Randolph Band, Sweet Tea Trio, Blues Old Stand, T.U.B., and DJ Jeffrey James.
Tickets for Saturday’s Red Bluff Music & Arts Festival are $25 in advance until Friday, $30 on day of show.
Tickets are available online at eventbrite.com/e/red-bluff-music-and-arts-festival-tickets-579509276847.
A free pre-party is happening there Friday at 6 p.m. with Sam Williams, J.M. Turner, William Barnes, the All Star Band and special guests.
Red Bluff Bar at the Silos is at 335 Coosa St. in Riverfront Park.

The sound of pedal steel guitar will be echoing across the Alabama River and off the silos Saturday for the inaugural Red Bluff Music & Arts Festival in Montgomery.

Robert Randolph said it’s going to be a loud and funky. Get ready to dance and sing along.

“I always try to bring that side to my live concerts — a sense of blues, rock and joy,” Randolph said. “John Mayer called it ‘rockspel.’ That’s what he calls my music.”

Robert Randolph is performing Saturday in Montgomery for the Red Bluff Music & Arts Festival.

Along with the Robert Randolph Band, Saturday’s festival at Red Bluff Bar at the Silos, 335 Coosa St. in Riverfront Park, also features country from the Sweet Tea Trio, blues from Blues Old Stand, and Southeastern band T.U.B. (The UnKnamed Band — music from The Grateful Dead, Phish, WSP), plus Montgomery’s DJ Jeffrey James.

The event is being presented by Vintage Hospitality Group and runs from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. Tickets are $25 in advance until Friday at eventbrite.com/e/red-bluff-music-and-arts-festival-tickets-579509276847. They’re $30 on Saturday.

As a musical appetizer, Red Bluff Bar at the Silos is holding a free party Friday at 6 p.m. with Sam Williams, J.M. Turner, William Barnes, the All Star Band and special guests. No ticket required for this one. It’s an all-star jam with funk, jazz, blues, gospel and everything in between.

Guests should enter Riverfront Park through the Commerce Street tunnel downtown.

Talking music and Montgomery family with Robert Randolph

Randolph is coming to Montgomery fresh off of a trip to London for a two-day tribute concert for the late Jeff Beck.

“Eric Clapton wanted to get all of us together to do a tribute to Jeff Beck, who I guess in Clapton’s eyes never really got enough appreciation from the popular music world,” Randolph said before the trip.

Though he’s a New Jersey native, Randolph has a family connection to Montgomery. His uncle, the eldest brother of Randolph’s dad, has a church here.

“I’ve got a lot of family in Montgomery, actually,” he said. He’d visit them every summer as a teenager.

Returning as an adult, it’s mostly been at the church and with family. Saturday’s show will be the first time he’s been to riverfront.

“I can’t wait to come down there and check it out,” he said.

Growing up in church is a source of his sound today.

“A lot of my music, a lot of the riffs and the inspiration comes from growing up in church and sharing that side with the world,” Randolph said.

Randolph’s been playing pedal steel guitar for almost 30 years now. It’s not an easy instrument, and he stacked up the difficulty by singing as he plays.

“You really use both feet, both knees, both hands and fingers,” he said. “You can’t feel the frets, so you’ve always got to hope you land on the right spot.”

New album coming later this year

Following up on his last album Brighter Days from 2019, Randolph has a new album in the works with Shooter Jennings that should be released this fall, he said.

“We’ve been in Nashville, and some in Muscle Shoals,” Randolph said. “We’ve kind of been working on it for the last year or so… We’ve written so many cool songs for this new record.”

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