Nancy Luca returns to rock 'n' roll

Plenty of girls play guitar these days. There's Courtney Love, Sheryl Crow, Melissa Etheridge, Bonnie Raitt, and Gainesville's own Amanda Garrigues for starters. And don't forget Joan Jett and Chrissy Hynde.

But with the exception of Raitt, most of those women primarily play rhythm guitar to back up their own singing. Not to take anything away from that role, but there just don't seem to be many female rippin' lead players out there. Nancy Luca, who is playing Eddie C's Pub Thursday night (12/28), is one of the few.

Luca, a longtime Gainesville resident and fixture on the music scene from the mid '70s through 1990, began playing guitar at a very young age. The 1976 Buchholz grad was playing in rock bands all over town by her teens.

"When she first started out, we'd all say 'She's pretty good for a girl,'" says Mike Boulware, owner of Pro Frets Music and a player in half a dozen bands around town. "But soon we all shut up. She's a great guitarist for any gender."

Luca, who currently lives in Santa Monica, CA, laughs when she recalls her early years playing in Gainesville.

"I used to get that 'good for a girl' stuff all the time. They didn't think girls could play," she says. "But I didn't mind proving them wrong."

Luca played here in the band Gossip for years, spending many a night wailing onstage at places like Dub's.

"Those were the best years of my life," she says. "Playing six nights a week, making good money and having fun. Gainesville was a huge party town back then."

Luca, who admits to "tendencies toward excess," moved to California to further her musical career. She's played with such names as Bo Diddley, Tom Petty, Rick Derringer and the late Willie Dixon. In fact, Luca wrote and performed two songs on Diddley's album "Breaking through the B.S.," and toured the East Coast with him.

In 1998, Nancy was selected to follow in the footsteps of Sheryl Crow and Mary-Chapin Carpenter as the headliner for the NATO and U.S. Tour. The tour traveled around the world giving support to American personnel stationed in countries such as Bosnia, Croatia, and Hungary.

She also recently completed session work for two Heineken beer commercials - set to air during this year's Grammy Awards show - which will feature actors (all male) portraying a stadium-rocking band miming to her playing. "That was funny," she says.

In addition to tearing it up on her 1974 Les Paul guitar, Luca sings and writes songs. She is currently completing her second CD, "I Play Guitar," released on her own label, Gatorville Records.

"I started out just playing lead guitar," she says. "But I started singing too kind of out of necessity -- it was cheaper than paying a singer."

Luca says she is looking forward to playing Gainesville - she tries to do so at least a few times per year - and seeing her old friends and fans.

In addition to Thursday's Eddie C's show, Luca will be playing Christmas and New Year's weekends at the L&M Tavern in Cedar Key.

"From the very moment Nancy straps on the guitar, she totally rocks," Boulware says.

Douglas Jordan can be contacted at [email protected]