Guitarist Gary Lucas has played with Captain Beefheart, written hit songs with Jeff Buckley and Joan Osborne, and covered everything from 1930s Chinese pop to classical music. He even played with the Yale Symphony Orchestra for the premiere of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in 1973. Lucas has just released The Essential Gary Lucas (Knitting Factory), a 40-year retrospective of his career of writing, arranging, performing and exploring music: blues and classical, psychedelic and world music, jazz, folk, pop, and rock, klezmer and avant-garde. Lucas joins us remotely to play some key highlights - from trippy pedal-assisted electric guitar freakouts to 1930’s songs from Shanghai film industry using Delta blues tunings on acoustic guitar.  

Watch "Rise Up To Be":

Watch "Will o' the Wisp":

Watch Janacek's "On An Overgrown Path":

Watch "Shanghai Medley":