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Through three full-length releases Robert Randolph has strived, andmostly succeeded, for a seamless mash-up of gritty jam band funk, soul, bluesand his own gospel roots. On We Walk ThisRoad, though, the slide guitar guru wears those stitches on his sleeve. Sixhalf-minute segues of archival footage break up the tracks of rearrangementsand covers. From Dylan to Lennon to Prince, back to Blind Willie Johnson, muchof the long, uneven album feels like the walk-through or lecture on Americanroots that Randolphsupposedly received from new producer T Bone Burnett.
Such steady-handed tutelage can’t be all badjust see the slinky take of“I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama” or the unstoppable strut of “If I Had My Way.”And Randolph’s always-incendiary pedal steel playingscorching, soaring,reaching, constantly professing “I Still Belong to Jesus”is, yes, sometimesenough to tie the pastiche together. But now that he’s past the groan-inducinghippiedom of the likes of “I Need More Love” and is on to his true musicalgrounds, real maturity as a performer and bandleader seems, maybe, just aroundthe corner. And that’s when things could get really interesting.
