Robert Randolph & The Family Band will perform tomorrow night at 9:30 Club.

The jam band scene can draw wildly divergent opinions from the music listening population. Some see it as music at its purest: improvised, joyful, and skillfully executed. Others see it as overwrought and self-indulgent. Regardless of any one person’s opinion, we should all agree that those who rise to the top of this genre, if one can call it that, are totally deserving of their success, making it as a result of relentless touring and hard work.

That is the case with Robert Randolph & The Family Band, who have played hundreds upon hundreds of gigs since the release of their 2002 debut, Live at The Wetlands. According to Randolph, being among this community of road warriors is a font of inspiration.

“It’s the motivational factor of being on this escalator with all of our friends,” Randolph said during a recent phone interview with DCist. “Playing with Derek [Trucks] and Susan [Tedeschi] or with Soulive, we all motivate each other.”

Like the contemporaries he cited, Randolph, who will lead The Family Band tomorrow night at 9:30 Club, draws from multiple threads of American music. One of the most visible pedal steel guitarists playing today, Randolph was steeped in the “sacred steel” tradition of the Pentecostal Church while growing up in a suburb of Newark, New Jersey that was hit hard during the crack epidemic of the 1980s. Alongside the gospel influence lies the R&B and soul that caught Randolph’s attention during and after his adolescent years.

For its latest album, 2013’s Lickety Split, the ensemble, which includes Randolph’s brother and sister on drums and vocals, respectively, returned to their roots. After releasing three increasingly studio-crafted albums during the naughts, Lickety Split was all about jamming, having fun, and then teasing out the songs.

“We were about letting the music dictate the song and the lyrics, rather than piecing together songs,” Randolph said. “It was about trying to get something that was really organic.”

In general, Randolph’s emphasis, both on and off stage, has been on creating an atmosphere that makes inspiration possible. In his personal life, he took over an abandoned school building in his hometown to establish a music and arts facility for local youths. Musically, it’s all been about a back-to-basics approach. This new outlook has been so fruitful that the band has enough songs in the can to put out another album, though the timeline for that release is still being worked out. However, the new material should figure prominently in tomorrow night’s set list. Regardless of the songs Randolph chooses for tomorrow night, he aims to make every performance memorable for all involved.

“People come to see your sound and your thing,” Randolph said. “It’s like what Carlos Santana told me, ‘You want people to leave your show knowing they’re not going to have that experience again until the next time they see you.'”

Robert Randolph & The Family Band performs at 9:30 Club on Wednesday, December 10, along with opener Justin Jones & The B-Sides. 7 p.m. doors. Tickets $25.