We were thrilled to have Robert Randolph, the foremost purveyor of the Sacred Steel pedal steel style, visit our studio recently. He took some time to shred, talk about his past, shred, talk about his influences, and then shred some more.
Though Sacred Steel is a Pentecostal musical tradition, Randolph has developed a specific style informed by blues, rock, and funk that sees him milking the instrument for every sound imaginable. He can play a singing lead, rip a bassline, and slip into gorgeous, shimmering Hawaiian–style slide.
And because this is Reverb and we couldn’t resist asking Randolph to show us what his pedal steel sounds like going through a bunch of different pedals we had lying around the studio. Each pick pushed him into new stylistic territory, showing off his Renaissance Man musical sensibilities and a dazzling knack for winging it.
The pedals he played through include:
- DigiTech FreqOut Natural Feedback Creator
- BBE Boosta Grande (which he never turned off)
- Magnetic Effects Double Feature fuzz and fixed wah with the Xotic XW–1 wah pedal
- Mantic Flex Synth Fuzz
- Electro–Hamonix Bass Micro Synth
- Red Panda Raster Pitch Shifted Delay
- Danelectro Backtalk Reverse Delay