_Photo: Dave Vann_

Improvisational group The Word, featuring Robert Randolph, John Medeski and The North Mississippi Allstars, will release their second album Soul Food on May 5 via Vanguard Records. The album is the band’s first since their 2001 self-titled debut. Rolling Stone reports that the 12-track album will feature guest vocalists Amy Helm and Ruthie Foster on two songs.

In a statement to Rolling Stone, Luther Dickinson detailed recording in New York City and a Willie Mitchell’s famed Memphis studio, saying that both cities “represent who The Word is. The spirit of each city, different though they might be, each sets us free. And 14 years after our first album, it is so thrilling to hear what our collective power for improvisation has become. We’re ready to go anywhere the inspiration takes us.”