Artist description Delta blues from this Florida born 25 year old guitar prodigy. Lucas has been playing the blues since he could walk and gigging since his early teens. This new group featuring Ariane Cap no Bass and Scott Rabino (formerly of Tommy Castro's band) on drums is taking the bay area by storm.

Music Style Delta Blues

Musical Influences John Mooney, Kelly Joe Phelps, Son House, Bukka White

Similar Artists John Mooney, White Stripes, Robert Johnson, Kelly Joe Phelps, Ben Harper, Son House, Allman Brothers, Derek Trucks

Artist History Raised outside Orlando in central Florida, a place not usually associated with the blues, Cas Lucas received his first acoustic guitar at age six. Tracing the roots of the rock and roll, soul and hip hop music he gravitated to in his teen years, he discovered the music of post-war blues legends such as Robert Johnson, Son House and Blind Lemon Jefferson. It was the virtuostic guitar work of these pioneering blues greats, as well as the playing of contemporary players such as Ben Harper, Kelly Joe Phelps, and John Mooney, that led to Lucas’s taking up slide guitar. Though he had been performing (both in bands as well as solo) throughout his high school years and playing guitar since he could remember, picking up the slide was a musical rebirth. "It was like starting from scratch in a sense," said Lucas. "I really took to it though. The chops came to me very easily. Within a couple months I was already playing Robert Johnson and Son House songs. I knew I had stumbled onto something… it just came naturally." Soon after this discovery Lucas got his national steel guitar, the same style used by many past and present acoustic blues players. Combining the traditional roots of Johnson and House with modern influences, Lucas’s brand of blues is a hybrid of delta, funk, rock, and soul music. Performing traditionals, original blues, and slide guitar adaptations of songs by a diverse selection of modern artists such as Paul Simon, Otis Redding, Jimi Hendrix and Sting, Lucas brings a lot to the table in his solo performances. Lucas studied blues history as well as composition, performance, and production in Amherst Massachusetts at Hampshire College where he received a BA in May 2000. At Hampshire Lucas had the good fortune of studying with legendary multi-instrumentalist Yusef Lateef. His influence added a new element to Lucas’s playing. "Though I never studied one on one with Dr. Lateef, just playing in his performance seminars showed me how broad the tonal spectrum could be within a piece of music, " said Lucas. "It made me want to go beyond the standard 1,4,5 progression of traditional blues music. Though I don’t play atonal music for my own pleasure, Yusef’s compositions, concepts, and playing showed me that there really are no wrong notes." Since leaving college, Cas has set up camp in Northern California’s Bay Area, just outside of San Francisco in nearby Berkeley. The other half of Cas's musical split personality are the original electric and acoustic grooves he lays down in the Cas Lucas Band. This trio which features Jordan Brysk on bass and drummer Tim Bulkley (also a player on the local jazz scene) gigs freaquently in both San Francisco and the East Bay. The CLB has been compared to Dave Matthews, Paul Simon and the Police, playing a funk infused mix of blues, soul, jazz, and good ole' southern rock and roll. Be ready to tap your foot. - March 3, 2001 Robert Holmes - Figment Magazine

Group Members Cas Lucas: Guitars and vocals Ariane Cap: Upright Bass Scott Rabino: Drums

Instruments national steel guitar, fender strat

Albums One Takes 2002

Location San Francisco, CA - USA

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