Preacher Kids

ローリングストーン誌が「史上最高のギタリスト100人」に選出したペダル・スティール・ギタリスト、Robert Randolphのソロ・デビュー・アルバムが伝説のレーベル、Sun Recordsからリリースです!!

Sam Phillipsがメンフィス(テネシー州)で設立、Elvis Presley、Carl Perkins、Johnny Cash、Roy Orbison、Jerry Lee Lewis等のロック・レジェンドを発掘、初録音を行ったSun RecordsからリリースするRobert Randolphの初のソロ・アルバム。より生々しく荒々しい方向性へと傾倒した作品はロック、ブルース、アメリカーナ、ソウルを織り交ぜることを可能にするRobert Randolph独自の才能を示している。
Shooter Jennings(Brandi Carlile、Tanya Tucker)がプロデュースしたこのアルバムは、ロサンゼルスのサンセット・サウンド・スタジオとナッシュビルのZac Brownのサザン・グラウンド・スタジオでレコーディングされた。
2003年=最優秀ロック・インストゥルメンタル・パフォーマンス&最優秀ロック・ゴスペル・アルバム、2017&2020年=最優秀コンテンポラリーブルースアルバム

Robert Randolph got his start as a performer playing his pedal steel guitar at a House of God Church he attended in Orange, NJ. In 2000, he was heard by a manager who was convinced there was a larger audience for Randolphs fiery music, and in 2001, he formed his own band and hit the road, sharing stages with jam bands, blues acts, country stars, roots rockers, and various combinations thereof. Randolph is hardly the only artist who jumped from sacred to secular music, and the push and pull of rowdy Saturday night partying and pious Sunday morning repentance provides the subtext for a huge amount of American music, especially that from the deep South. For Randolphs first solo album, recorded while taking a break from his long-running Family Band, he found himself working with several musicians whose parents were pastors, just like Randolphs, and 2025s Preacher Kids has fun with the perceptions versus the reality of the lives of folks who grew up in the church. "Choir Women" celebrates the wild side of the women who wail the gospel at Sunday service, "Sinner" ponders the judgemental side of peers and fellow congregants who have much to say when someone pursues success outside the church, and "Roosevelt Pool" imagines some hearty partying after Sunday meetings let out. While this adds an amusing thematic spin to these songs, it also makes sense for Randolph, whose music has always had a gospel undertow no matter how much he cranks up his amps and lets his instrument scream and growl. At the same time, Preacher Kids finds him aiming for a grittier approach and a tougher attack, with tough rock and roll and heavy electric blues informing the music with clarity and swagger. Shooter Jennings produced Preacher Kids, which might sound like an odd choice, but he gets an admirably powerful sound from Randolph and his studio crew, as well as coaxing some great vocal performances from Randolph and guest vocalists Margo Price and Judith Hill, as well as letting bassist Jay White and drummer Willie Barthel put down some admirably potent grooves. On Preacher Kids, Robert Randolph gives himself the chance to cut loose and get gone for a change, and it sounds and feels really good. Just dont tattle on him to his folks. ~ Mark Deming

〈ペダル・スティール界のジミヘン〉による6年ぶりのアルバム。バンド名義ではなく初のソロ名義、そしてメンフィスの名門サンからのリリースという新規一転ぶりだが、ファンキーとブルージーが入り混じる強烈で痛快な音楽はいつも通り。ジュディス・ヒルを迎えて熱いギター・ソロを聴かせる"When Will The Love Rain Down"の熱量は圧巻だ。
bounce (C)池谷瑛子