Frontman Robert Randolph was trained as a pedal steel guitarist in the House of God Church and makes prominent use of the instrument in the band's music. The instrument is referred to in many African American Pentecostal churches as Sacred Steel. Randolph was discovered while playing at a sacred steel convention in Florida.
Randolph cites Stevie Ray Vaughan as a primary influence in his own technique and style. The group's sound is inspired by successful 1970s funk bands such as Earth, Wind & Fire and Sly & the Family Stone, another multicultural band composed of former members of the Church of God in Christ. Randolph himself has explained that in his adolescent years before his discovery by the secular community, he was almost completely unaware of non-religious music, saying "I never heard of the Allman Brothers, Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters, none of them. I wasn’t into that music, only the church thing."
The first Robert Randolph and the Family Band album, Live at the Wetlands, was released in 2001 on Family Band Records, recorded live on August 23, 2001, just prior to the club's closing. It was rereleased in 2002. The band released their studio debut, Unclassified on August 5, 2003. They attracted the attention of Eric Clapton, and have subsequently toured as a supporting act with the English blues guitarist. Clapton also guested on their new album Colorblind on the track "Jesus Is Just Alright".
Before releasing albums with The Family Band, Randolph was selected by avant-jazz organist John Medeski to join him and the North Mississippi Allstars on their 2001 jam project, The Word. Just prior to the release of this album, Randolph was brought to the attention of some music fans through an enthusiastic review[2] by Neil Strauss in the New York Times in April 2001. On that first non-church tour of the East Coast, the new band opened for the North Mississippi Allstars and then rejoined the musicians after their set, with Medeski, as The Word.
In 2002, they were hired by ABC to make the network's new NBA theme song. The song, "We Got Hoops", was only used for three telecasts, though it was used throughout both the NBA and WNBA seasons during promotions for both leagues.
In September 2003 Randolph was listed as #97 on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time list. Robert entered the list following Leigh Stephens and directly preceding Angus Young.
In February 2004 Robert Randolph and the Family Band along with the band O.A.R. released a cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain", which was subsequently placed for purchase online in the iTunes Music Store. This version was played live with O.A.R. at their August 15, 2009 show at Madison Square Garden.
The third album, Colorblind, was released October 10, 2006. The song "Ain't Nothing Wrong With That" was used in several commercials for NBC. In June 2008 the Discovery Channel used this same song in a popular promo entitled "It's All Good" for their summer lineup. The song "Thrill of It" was used throughout the 2007 college football season by ABC during their College Primetime games.
They worked with producer T-Bone Burnett on their fourth studio album We Walk This Road. They released the supposed first single from that album entitled Get There but the song never made the album. The first official song from We Walk This Road is If I Had My Way.
