Robert Randolph signs with Warner Bros.

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 3 Jun 2002 8:59 am

Word has it that Robert signed a contract with Warner Bros. about a week or two ago.

If anyone out there knows more, please tell us. Sage?

Congratulations Robert!!!!

A great moment for steel guitar!

Sage · Post by **Sage** » 5 Jun 2002 4:49 am

Here is info from RollingStone.com-

Randolph's appreciation for the influence of the pedal steel and of those elders who initially turned him onto playing it has already started to come full circle. Adding his own chapter to the Sacred Steel story, Randolph recently produced an album by Calvin Cooke, one of his mentors. "He's about sixty-two right now," Randolph remarks, having just returned from Detroit where the recording took place. "I remember him in his forties, and how amazing he was. So to remind him of some of that stuff and to capture him at this point in his life is great!" The album is out on Randolph's own independent label with distribution handled by Warner Bros., which recently signed Robert Randolph and the Family Band.

"The president of Warner Bros. came to a show and then he also sent three other people from different divisions to shows. Next thing you know he called us, sat us down in a room with every head person from every division and said, 'We want you. You're not leaving L.A. until you sign this deal. Whatever it's gonna take.' And the deal was done in two days."

What it took was an assurance that the band would be left to determine its own destiny. "We told them, 'Listen we don't want somebody telling us how we're supposed to sound because this band sounds like this or that band sounds like that. No commercialized crap.'"

Randolph applied the same philosophy when producing Cooke's album and plans to do so with all of his future projects -- which, he states matter-of-factly, there will be "tons of." "I think I'm more of a musical arranger/producer than I am an actual guitar player," he confesses. "I'm into my instrument, but I just have a knack for overall music sound."

ROBIN A. ROTHMAN, RollingStone.com
(May 30, 2002) http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=16027&cf2=1

Posted by T. Sage Harmos
Harmos Steel Guitars http://www.harmosmusic.com
.

BobG · Post by **BobG** » 5 Jun 2002 12:02 pm

Here we have a fellow steel player signing
a recording contract with a major label!!
THIS IS HUGE!!! As far as i'm concerned I wish Robert all the luck in the world.
Are Bob and I alone here?

------------------
Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.

[This message was edited by BobG on 05 June 2002 at 01:03 PM.]

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 5 Jun 2002 1:05 pm

No, you're not alone. This is a really BIG deal. I'm thrilled for Robert and for steel guitar.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 5 Jun 2002 6:26 pm

Bob and Jim are right...this is big news! I've been looking forward to when some steeler could land a contract with a big label, and have control of his own stuff. I'm happy for him, and it can only help us all.

(I do hope someone checked the "fine print", though.

)

Jim Cohen · Post by **Jim Cohen** » 5 Jun 2002 7:28 pm

You go, Robert![This message was edited by Jim Cohen on 05 June 2002 at 09:21 PM.]

Sage · Post by **Sage** » 5 Jun 2002 9:21 pm

quote;
'(I do hope someone checked the "fine print", though. )'
An important concern, given the nature of the business. Most folks probably don't know that Robert Randolph worked in a law office as a paralegal, his day job before he went on the road full time. He is very sharp, focused, and is good at reading fine print. In addition, he has two very good managers who are bulldogs for that kind of thing. He held out for a long time (against pressure from other labels, some very major) before signing this one. I do trust that it is probably as good a deal as one could make. I hope that it is a good relationship in the long run too. It really is an amazing thing- It will be a while before we know the impact of it on the steel guitar world, but it sure is good. Those guys all work very, very hard for their living. I saw Robert and the Family Band in Chicago, before they had broken through to the main room at the House of Blues. They all had the flu, and I was thinking, "how can they even go on". Well, when they did go on, they absolutely tore it up. Robert was on 100%, throwing everything that he had out there, entertaining as only he can do. The whole band worked it just as hard. They go out and do this almost every night. I just shake my head when I think about what this takes. They have earned it!
T. Sage Harmos

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 6 Jun 2002 1:26 am

Thanks Sage, that's good information! I wasn't trying to be snide or anything. It's just that...well, I worked many years as a Union official, and took courses on contract law and negotiations, as well. Having dealt with big companies in the past, I know how obscure and difficult to interpret that a contract can be. More than once, something the corporate lawyers and myself had overlooked came back to haunt us later. Skepticism isn't an inborn trait, in my case, but a learned behaviour.

Sage · Post by **Sage** » 6 Jun 2002 6:08 am

I know that you didn't mean anything negative Donny.

I just wanted to talk story so that others could see that this big deal did not come out of thin air.
And as you rightly point out from your experiences, the way the contract is interpreted down the line is always somewhat up in the air, and depends on the relationship that is maintained between the parties.
T. Sage Harmos

BobG · Post by **BobG** » 6 Jun 2002 7:29 am

I finally figured out why this thread has
gotten the small response it has.
...His name is spelled wrong in the topic heading.
No one knows who your talking about

------------------
Bob Grado, Williams D10 (lefty), Peavey 1000,
Profex ll.

[This message was edited by BobG on 06 June 2002 at 09:10 AM.][This message was edited by BobG on 06 June 2002 at 12:58 PM.][This message was edited by BobG on 06 June 2002 at 01:01 PM.]

Bob Stone · Post by **Bob Stone** » 6 Jun 2002 7:48 am

Sage, thanks for posting more info.

My apologies for mis-typing Robert's surname, but I doubt that's why the response has been scant. Anyhow, most informed steelers know (or soon will) who you mean if you just say "Robert."

Speaking of mistakes, Calvin was born in 1944, so he's 57 or 58, not 62.

Wonder if Scotty might consider adding Robert
to the ISGC roster now?

Go Robert!

[This message was edited by Bob Stone on 06 June 2002 at 08:49 AM.]

Bob Hoffnar · Post by **Bob Hoffnar** » 6 Jun 2002 11:29 am

If Scotty wanted Robert to play in St Louis he would need to rent Busch Stadium to hold his fans !

Bob