Colorblind.

COLORBLIND Robert Randolph and the Family Band (Warner Brothers, 2006)

The one-line blurb on Robert Randolph and the Family Band could be, "Sly and the Family Stone, without the drugs." The music of this black-led, racially-mixed ensemble leaps out of the speakers with a cacophonous celebration of human possibility and hymns to the spiritual power of love. It's one big party from beginning to end.

Guest artists--including Dave Matthews, Eric Clapton, and R&B singer Leela Moore--walk in and out of the room, amid overlapping voices and rhythms that demand that listeners throw their hands in the air and move. The lyrics of the opening track, "Ain't Nothing Wrong with That," update Sly's ode to everyday people, promising to reconcile "break dance and slam dance ... tight fade and long braids" as well as "red, yellow, black, and white."

But here's the twist, at the center of this musical tent meeting is the pedal steel, an instrument usually associated with country and western music--and white people. But Randolph is a young black steel guitar virtuoso from a tradition called "Sacred Steel." He grew up in a House of God holiness church in New Jersey. For the past 60 years, the steel guitar has been the instrument of choice at House of God churches from Jersey to Florida.

Young Randolph and his band jumped the confines of the church several years ago. They have collaborated with the North Mississippi All Stars and toured with the Dave Matthews Band. But they still get reviewed in Christian music venues, and their songs share a positive, life-affirming message that becomes explicit in "Love Is the Only Way In," "Thankful and Thoughtful," and the old Doobie Brothers chestnut, "Jesus Is Just Alright With Me."

But the real miracle here is the roaring, soaring arsenal of sound Randolph produces from his steel and the depth and texture of the band arrangements. It's an uplifting uproar.