Robert Randolph has evolved – from a roof-raising New Jersey church sensation to a highly entertaining jam-band guitar hero.

His artistry isn't always as satisfying as it is entertaining, which was the case Sunday at the sold-out Minnesota Zoo Weesner Amphitheater.

Robert Randolph and His Family Band (two of his cousins and a dude named Noodles) offered nine numbers in just under 90 minutes. Frankly, they were not so much songs but rather platforms from which to launch solos. And Randolph gets more fascinating sounds out of his pedal steel guitar than a half-dozen Nashville session cats combined.

He showed a tendency to make his pedal steel guitar sound like a standard electric guitar. And he showed a propensity to sneak in famous guitar licks into his own material: A taste of Ram Jam's "Black Betty" here, the Allman Brothers' "Melissa" there and so on. Sometimes Randolph and his three sidemen just reworked oldies including Slim Harpo's "Shake Your Hips" (featuring what ZZ Top turned into the "LaGrange" guitar line) and Jimi Hendrix's "Voodoo Chile."

Vocals aren't much of a priority for Randolph and the Family Band because the songs pretty much turned into engrossing instrumental jams with his guitar solos often whipping the crowd into a frenzy.

The lone true vocal number was when opening act JJ Grey and his saxophonist and trumpeter joined for Bill Withers' "Use Me." Grey tried too hard to prove that he's "Vanilla Soul," as Randolph called him, but the horn players made the song special.

Still, as the title of Randolph's opening song suggested, it was a night of good times.