Rocco DeLuca and the Burden

The first three quarters of last Sunday were pretty standard. It was a dreary day. I slept in late, watched the brewers, and grilled out. As evening approached I battled Sunday night laziness and journeyed downtown for the Sunday night set at the Majestic Theatre in Madison. I was somewhat familiar with the headlining act, Rocco DeLuca and the Burden. I saw them pop up on the venue’s schedule several months ago and checked into them. No amount of youtube video watching or internet searching could have prepared me for the show that ensued (That being said, I’ll still link a couple of the better videos I’ve found). I was completely blown out of the water.





DeLuca is definitely the genuine article; he has a tremendous amount of unpolished talent. His raw, dirty slide guitar licks combined with his haunting vocals hypnotized the entire crowd. He is certainly his own thing, but if I had to draw comparison to more well known artists, I’d say his playing reminds me of pieces of Ben Harpers work, and his vocals aren’t totally dissimilar to those of Jack White.

DeLuca’s musical biography is a pretty brief one from what I could find. He has two albums out, “I Trust You to Kill Me” and “Mercy” released on the independent record label “Ironworks” (Interestingly enough the label is co-owned by Kiefer Sutherland (actor) and Jude Cole (musician)). His band formed in 2005, but when I saw him on Sunday he only had a drummer as accompaniment (DeLuca really doesn’t require any accompaniment at all). Evidently there has been a falling out in the band and the other members of “the burden” left do to creative differences; maybe the band name got to them...

I really can’t emphasize enough how good this guy is. Certainly the best I’ve come across in a while. So if Rocco DeLuca is coming to a town near you, check him out. If not, pick up one of his albums.

Rock and Roll.

- ben