Robert Randolph: Game On
Photo: Michael Weintrob
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For the second consecutive year, Robert Randolph is supplying the theme to NFL Thursday Night Football on Amazon Prime. This season it’s a version of his song “Take the Party.” In 2023, “Ain’t Nothing Wrong with That” was featured on an opening sequence that was nominated for a Sports Emmy. This has been a particularly satisfying gig for Randolph, a fervid sports fan who often shares his views on New York’s teams via social media.
Along with a steady slate of touring and a series of recent high-profile guest appearances (Dave Mathews Band, Slash, Smith & Watt Steakhouse), Randolph continues to create new music, with a studio album set for release in 2025. “Some people say it’s my best record yet,” he asserts. “We went in and recorded so many musical jams and then wrote the songs to them, so that it’s real and authentic with a lot of energy.”
Meanwhile, he’s been involved with the Robert Randolph Community Innovation Center in Newark, N.J. Randolph is especially proud of its CRE8 Your Future Program, which aims to help young people find a path to STEM and construction careers. “I spent every bit of the last two years working on this Innovation Center with small donations and out-of-pocket money,” he notes. “We have this very old building, and I would be taking guys to Home Depot. People would call me up and say, ‘Who are you today? Are you Robert Randolph or the construction guy?’ And I’d tell them: ‘I’ll call you back; I’m picking up some lumber.’”
Your work with the NFL is your latest collaboration with a sports league but you’ve been doing this for quite some time, going back more than 20 years to when you created a theme for the NBA.
That was our first big moment of “Wow, check us out! We’re on the NBA!” We used a jam that we would play at the Wetlands, and we turned it into “We Got Hoops!” We had some fans at NBA on ABC, which is how it happened.
Then, over the years, I’ve done a lot of stuff collaborating with Madison Square Garden, the NHL, NBC, a lot of things. It’s kind of funny because I remember in the early 2000s, people would say it was cheesy to have your song on a commercial or a sports show. I have no idea where any of that came from. But now TV is the new radio.
I’ve been excited about taking on this role and being a full-on production collaborator with Amazon Prime and Thursday Night Football.
I recently talked to Jeff Tweedy about that stigma of using music in a commercial setting. He indicated that, in the post Napster era, it didn’t make a lot of sense to him.
I remember being in a car with Gregg Allman when BMI was giving him an award in Nashville. He was talking about how “Midnight Rider” was used on some big commercial, and he thought it was so cool. He was like, “Man, I remember when this used to be cheesy. People would be like, ‘Aww, are you guys going to do that?’” He told me: “Man, with the money they pay and the people that it reaches, it’s better than radio.” [Laughs.] That’s especially true now when we’re watching TV shows and all these other things on our phones.
I feel like there’s a whole hidden world of collaborators. During the pandemic, I got a chance to score a TV series called United States of Al. It was two seasons, and I scored every show. That was one of the more fun things I’ve done. I’d be watching the shows and scoring them, then I’d be on this call with 20 different producers who’d ask me to change something. I’d tell them: “If there’s one thing I can do, it’s make a thousand riffs.” I’m 1,000% super ADHD. If you hear any live version of any Robert Randolph song, it’s never the same. For me, it’s just, “How does it start? How does it end?”
As a big Knicks fan, are there any players you’ve connected with musically, whether on this current team or over the years?
A lot of those guys are big music fans—Allan Houston, David Lee, Julius Randle, [Isaiah] Hartenstein. A lot of the coaches and other guys are too, like Isaiah Thomas and Leon Rose. There have been a lot of music guys over there. Carmelo [Anthony] doesn’t go to our shows, but I’ve seen him at other concerts.
Can you think of the most surprising face you’ve seen at one of your own shows, staring up at you?
That’s a good question. There have been a lot of people over the years. One time we played in D.C. and Chelsea Clinton was there. Dick Cheney was at one of our shows during a festival we did in Wyoming.
Prince used to come to all of our shows when we would play in LA at the old LA House of Blues. He would be there, and he’d always tell me: “Maybe I’ll sit in.” He never sat in, but we did have some jam sessions at his house.
What are your memories of that?
It would be after the Grammys, the American Music Awards or some other big event. I’d be told: “Hey, Prince is going to have a jam session at his house.” He’d have this stage set up and it’d also be people like George Duke, Greg Phillinganes and Stevie Wonder. There was some iconic stuff happening.
I’m hoping maybe one day some of those will come out. He definitely recorded them all. He’d be like, “Hey, I just want to let y’all know that I’m recording, so everybody’s got to be good.” Then everyone would just have fun, jamming for a few hours.
As a New Jersey native, what was it like performing with Bruce Springsteen at The Stone Pony during the Sea.Hear.Now afterparty hosted by Danny Clinch and the Tangiers Blues Band?
That has become the number one Robert Randolph sit-in, jam moment, because being from New Jersey, there’s only one Boss. There’s never gonna be another King of New Jersey. Not only that, but he took a bunch of blues songs that none of us had rehearsed before and completely destroyed it.
Danny and a couple of the guys told me in advance, “Sometimes he comes, sometime he doesn’t. You never know.” When I got there though, they said, “You see all the security? The Boss is here.” Then they were like, “The Boss wants to know if you’re going to jam with him.” I told them: “I’ll be there. I go on right before him, so if he wants me to stay on, cool. If not, I’ve got no problem with it.” Then when I saw him, he was like, “Come on Robert, let’s go!” I was like, “Holy hell!” [Laughs.]
I’ve jammed with a lot of people, and I’ve never seen anybody do what he did. I’ve never heard a club that loud for anyone. It was the Boss, it was the Pony and when you put everything in perspective, it was just unbelievable.
