solo electric and acoustic

A tour de force evening of original songs, blues, tributes to Lucas collaborators Captain Beefheart and Jeff Buckley, covers of 30's Chinese pop, Wagner, Stones, electronic soundscapes, and much more, from the acclaimed guitarist and Grammy-nominated songwriter.

"One of the best and most original guitarists in America" —Rolling Stone

"One of the 100 Greatest Living Guitarists" —Classic Rock (UK)

"The Thinking Man's Guitar Hero—A-List" —The New Yorker

"Legendary left-field guitarist" —The Guardian (UK)

"Without a doubt, the most innovative and challenging guitarist playing today" —fRoots (UK)

"One of the five best guitarists in the world" —Lidove Noviny (Czech Republic national newspaper)

Gary Lucas bio

For solo concert bookings:




Press raves for Gary Lucas solo here.

Read a rave review and view a live clip from an electric/acoustic solo performance in the Czech Republic.

Video of Gary's performance at the Jazz Cafe, London in Oct. 2009:
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

Review of Gary Lucas solo show live at the London Jazz Cafe 10/03/09 here

Clip of Gary Lucas solo on the main stage at the Rochefort Festival France 8/28/09 here

Check out clips of Gary performing 4 songs live on Brazil's supercool Pop Loaded music website—including "Rise Up to Be", "Bra Jo from Kilimanjaro", "Fata Morgana", and "One Man's Meat/Swamp T'ing".

GARY LUCAS LIVE AT THE CONCERTEGEBOUW, AMSTERDAM



A typical Gary Lucas solo concert is anything but typical...it's a veritable crash-course in the history of both popular and little-known music as Gary crosses genres, decades, and boundaries with ease to unearth little-known gems and make musical connections few other performers would dream of—always an unpredictable mix of his own original songs sung by Mr. Lucas (a Grammy-nominated songwriter), Gary's celebrated arrangements of Chinese pop from the 1930's and music by Albert Ayler, Sun Ra and Richard Wagner, luscious film themes by Bernard Herrmann, Alberto Iglesias, and Nino Rota—and of course, blues, blues, and more blues, by Captain Beefheart, Blind Blake, Skip James and Howling Wolf—expertly performed on Gary's 1926 National steel, 1946 Gibson J-45, and 1966 Fender Stratocaster.

To date he has performed solo in 35 countries around the world, where his use of electronic effects, which grew from one digital delay to 5, coupled with his use of other various black boxes, enables Gary to loop his guitar lines and improvise with himself.

When Gary performs solo acoustic, his amazing fingerpicking skills create contrapuntal guitar lines in which melodies meld with rhythm strumming and plucked bass lines which approximate the sound of multiple guitars being played in real time. His fingerpicking ability goes back to his time spent playing with Captain Beefheart, where he made one guitar sound like several on his solo tour de forces "Flavor Bud Living" and "Evening Bell".

Even the great critic Lester Bangs was fooled when he first heard Gary's recording of Beefheart's composition "Flavor Bud Living" from the 1980 album "Doc at the Radar Station", asking him: "Which guitar did you play, Gary—the top or the bottom?" "Lester", Gary replied, "that was all me!!"

"Brilliant fingerpicking skills—a technical whiz with faster than light fingers" —The Japan Times

Grab the opportunity to catch Gary Lucas playing solo—

you will never hear guitar played like this again...

Read 20 years of rave reviews for Gary's solo live concerts

Check out rave reviews for 2 classic solo albums:

"Skeleton at the Feast";

and the solo acoustic album "Evangeline"

Some Youtube clips of Gary Lucas playing solo live in Russia, from the "Russian Fireworks—Gary Lucas live in St. Petersburg " DVD, available to purchase in our merchandise section:

part 1

part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8

YouTube clips of Gary Lucas performing live solo acoustic in Bilbao Spain, from Esec TV:
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5

YouTube clips of Gary Lucas playing live solo acoustic in London at The Spitz:
part 1 | part 2 | part 3 | part 4 | part 5 | part 6 | part 7 | part 8 | part 9 | part 10 | part 11 | part 12

 


Gary Lucas solo at the Church of Lady Day, BluesAlive Festival, Sumperk Czech Republic 11/19/10


Gary Lucas solo at the Church of Lady Day, BluesAlive Festival, Sumperk Czech Republic 11/19/10


Solo at Liverpool Philharmonic Hall as part of Gary's 4 night Artist in Residency 11/28/15