Gary Lucas is an American guitarist.
Lucas is an admirer of Captain Beefheart's music, and eventually realized his longtime dream of joining his hero's band by playing guitar in the last incarnation of Beefheart's Magic Band. He distinguished himself as an interpreter of Beefheart's difficult music, and recorded solo guitar pieces on Doc at the Radar Station and Ice Cream for Crow. On the liner notes to the record Pork Chop Blue Around the Rind, a Beefheart tribute by Fast 'n' Bulbous, a group featuring Lucas on guitar, he writes, "I feel that Van Vliet's sensibility and aesthetic definitely informs my guitar playing and overall worldview -- it's like I went to Beefheart University."
Since Captain Beefheart's retirement from music, Lucas has become involved with a variety of projects, ranging from interpretations of Chinese popular songs to Busy Being Born, an album of children's songs ("For Children of All Ages (and you don't have to be Jewish)"). He has collaborated with many artists, among them Jeff Buckley and Joan Osborne, with both of whom he also wrote songs.
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