Bluesfest Touring welcomes improvisational gospel- jazz supergroup The Word for their firts ever Australian tour! It’s secular. It’s certainly spiritual. It’s The Word and now it’s time, once again, to take the Word to the world!

Featuring pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph, keyboardist John Medeski and two North Mississippi Allstars (guitarist Luther Dickinson and drummer Cody Dickinson), The Word plays the hymnal of the electric improvisational church.

“The Word formed in 2000, bonding over their mutual love for Sacred Steel, a tradition of gospel music that originated in African-American Pentecostal churches in the early 20th century. (..) since their first LP, all five members have remained busy with respective projects outside of the band – but they’ve united for sporadic live shows” and have just released their second studio album Sould Food in March 2015 (source :the Rolling Stone).

After a long hiatus, they’ve returned with gusto; their improvisational tenet allowing for such ground-breaking opportunities as embodied on a Soul Food track, ‘Glory Glory,’ which is a new sound unto itself, featuring the debut of the world’s first acoustic pedal steel guitar, a Dobro that’s been outfitted with four pedals.

They’ve also collaborated with greats including Ruthie Foster, Buddy Guy, Carlos Santana and more.