13

FRIDAY

Not wanting to end up dead or in jail like some of his pals, Robert Randolph looked to the church: In 1994, he started playing the pedal steel guitar like the guys at the Pentecostal House of God Church, where his dad was a deacon. Four years later, Randolph heard a Stevie Ray Vaughan tape and flipped. He and the Family Band began melding the styles, shifting from the “sacred steel” approach, and started playing in clubs where they would be hailed by jam-band devotees. On Live at the Wetlands, the band’s alchemy adds self-indulgent blues-rock noodling to the more focused fervor of the African-American church. To say the least, the results are mixed. Pray for shorter songs when Randolph & Co. play with Lost Trailers and Hazy Malaze at 7:30 p.m. at the 9:30 Club, 815 V St. NW. $15. (202) 393-0930. (Steve Kiviat)