The burly Robert Lucas (he describes himself in one of his songs as '50 pounds of bone wrapped up in 200 pounds of ham') grew up in Long Beach, California, where he began playing harmonica at 13 and slide guitar at 16. he gained experience as a sideman with Bernie Pearl's band, then formed his own group, Luke And Locomotives. From 1995 to 2000 and with periodically to his death in 2008, he was a member of Canned Heat. Lucas was a multi-talented harmonica player, guitarist, singer, and songwriter who could do it all. The sound on all of his albums is raw and gritty, with just a few originals on each album. Lucas paid homage to traditional blues but also carefully crafted his own singing and slide guitar style. These talents are on ample display on his Audioquest albums.