Robert Randolph & the Family Band

Pedal-steel-guitar sensation Robert Randolph owes much of his rapid rise over the past several years to a simple if seldom-stated fact: In the minds of many music fans, hot chops more than compensate for a lack of originality. Randolph, who appears at the Fillmore with the Motet, developed his pedal-steel skills while performing at a church near his New Jersey home, and by 2000, when the commercial music industry discovered him at a Sacred Steel convention in Florida, he was already capable of producing runs so scorching that it's a wonder he didn't wear work gloves for his own protection. Shortly thereafter, he put together the Family Band, and their two discs together -- 2002's Live at the Wetlands and Unclassified, a 2003 studio offering -- are jammed with his vivid playing. Granted, tunes such as Unclassified's "Soul Refreshing" are standard genre pieces; they serve primarily as launching pads for Randolph's solos and fills rather than offering fresh takes on familiar styles. But in a concert setting, such caveats are sure to be drowned out by the sound of screaming steel.