Hooking up with the jam-band scene may have been the worst thing Robert Randolph could have done. Though amazing live, he has never recorded a great album — until now. Randolph puts overcooked funk on the back burner and offers up his specialty: pure gospel spiced with steel guitar. Producer T Bone Burnett works subtly, using old samples of standards like "Traveling Shoes" as segues into Randolph's songs, and Randolph finds the sweet, soulful spot covering tunes by three rock legends: Bob Dylan ("Shot of Love"), Prince ("Walk Don't Walk") and John Lennon ("I Don't Wanna Be a Soldier Mama").

“Is It True”

As the British Invasion reached its peak in 1964, Brenda Lee went from Nashville to London to record one of her hardest-rocking hits, her perky vocal backed by a stuttering, squalling guitar. That guitar was played by session musician Jimmy Page, yet to skyrocket to fame with first the Yardbirds and then Led Zeppelin. "She said to me, 'I've come here to make a record with the British sound,'" remembered producer Mickie Most. "She felt she wouldn't get the same sound in Nashville because they're only just catching up on the British beat group sound of about six months ago."