Super Bulldog Weekend has morphed into a spring homecoming of sorts for MSU students, alumni and fans. Barbeque, cold drinks, the Maroon-White game, baseball and Old Main Music Festival are just some of the hallmarks of the vaunted weekend. In years past, the Old Main Music Festival has suffered from overzealous bookings trying to pander to every taste in music the student body may have. A notable lineup was a blind, Christian singer-songwriter opening for the Wailers (yes, the Wailers; as in Bob Marley and the Wailers).
Thankfully, this year, the festival’s past penchants for ’90s nostalgia (read Darius Rucker and Gin Blossoms), spiritual introspection, no-name-acts for a lineup about as varied as a Chinese and soul-food buffet has been overcome by what Old Main has needed for years — solid bands in a good lineup for what an outdoor music festival needs to be — raucous. This year, with the goods brought by sugar-sweet local pop rockers The Motions, reggae and R&B vocals of Shontelle, the rip-roaring NOLA locals E. Company replete with horns and ‘tude with headliner Robert Randolph and the Family Band, Old Main is going to be funkier than a case of PBR left in a car trunk in mid-July. Thank God there aren’t any jam bands either. Sorry kids. For the hardcore festival-goers, no worries; Randolph has played Bonnaroo, if that’s the kind of affirmation you need for your bands before you can get into them. So strap on your Chacos and bring whatever high-tech piece of lawn chair technology you’ve purchased for the next Everest expedition and come chill at Old Main. Freak dance if you must.
Robert Randolph is one of the better bookings in the past few years for an MSU festival. Sure, we had Jason Mraz, but I just wasn’t feeling his “Remedy.” The organizers were smart enough to put a lineup in front of Randolph that wouldn’t have everyone snoozing, and for that we are eternally grateful. Up-tempo and hotter than a car tire set on fire, Randolph is a dynamic performer with just what a weekend like Super Bulldog Weekend needs. His last album, We Walk This Road, is indicative of not only his talent as a performer, but as a musician’s musician (he fronts a band behind a lap steel guitar for goodness sake). Riding the faders and squeezing out every last ounce of soul on this album was none other than T-Bone Burnett. For a relatively under the radar performer like Randolph to garner the biggest Americana producer, Burnett, obviously Randolph has his strings wound good and tight.
We Walk This Road is a hell of an album. Each song segues wonderfully into the next, literally, with sampling of Texas blues man Blind Willie Johnson. There are no dead spots on this album. If covers are your way to have a good time, get on your knees right now and pray to Buddha if Randolph’s band strikes up some covers this weekend, he plays them off this album. Mass appeal aside, when Randolph cuts covers on this album, he cuts deep. It’s impossible to go wrong when covering Lennon, Dylan and Prince, but songs like “I Don’t Wanna Be a Soldier Mama” and Dylan’s 1980 work “Shot of Love” are some lesser known tracks Randolph makes his own while still sticking to the roots of these songs penned by rock ‘n’ roll royalty. It also says a lot about Randolph assuaging mass appeal in choosing covers and going for songs that, while lesser known, pack a lot of heart.
Singles off We Walk This Road have been on the airwaves of the old campus radio shack and show Randolph’s chops as a creator of original music. “If I Had My Way” and “Back To The Wall” are two highlights from the album, but this record stands squarely on its own two feet as a complete work. This record isn’t 17 tracks of a few singles and filler, but a damn good roots rock, rhythm and blues album.
Bottom line, boys and girls, this year’s headliner is enough alone to be excited about Old Main, but the stars aligned and smiled on little ol’ Starkville and offered us a chance to redeem ourselves in the eyes of the music gods. We need a revival, so let the gospel of rock be proclaimed and Brother Randolph save our souls in 4/4 time. Amen.