Rocco Deluca & The Burden

Rocco DeLuca & the Burden was a Long Beach, California-based indie rock band that originally formed as a four-piece band in late 2005. Since 2009 the band has no longer played together, though Rocco DeLuca remains a solo artist and sometimes plays with close friends in concert. "My initial meeting with Rocco - It was pure and centered and seemed to have a sense of purpose, and I felt that there was something burning in his heart that I could be helpful to.

"My initial meeting with Rocco - It was pure and centered and seemed to have a sense of purpose, and I felt that there was something burning in his heart that I could be helpful to. It had that kind of truth in it that I decided to run with. I like the street corner aspect of working with Rocco, it woke up a certain part of my renegade ways I'm trying to keep alive these days. I fully believe in DeLuca. I think that he's got the power to be a contemporary troubadour, as I see it, and I hope I can be his friend for a long time, whether I am operating in the same limelight, ahead of him, behind him, in his shadow, whatever it takes, I'll be there. The one thing that I love about Rocco DeLuca is he is driven by his own heart." - Daniel Lanois

Rocco Deluca (born December 27, 1975 in Torrance, California) was born in the winter in Southern California. Like other Angelenos he was surrounded by local literature, latino art, motorcycles, film and music. His early years were spent studying the likes of Billy Holiday and Nina Simone as well as the darker and raw Delta Blues heroes of the 1920's. At the age of seven, he taught himself to play listening to these records. By the time he was a teenager, Rocco had developed the skills and the confidence to start performing for others. For the first few years, he played only specific instruments. It wasn't until later he discovered he had a voice. Street busking, clubs, theatres and and festivals, Rocco has performed around the world many times over with his 1931 National by his side.
His authentic and unusual lyric and voice has since garnered him international attention and acclaim.

Rocco has had the good fortune to cross paths with and gain inspiration from various legends. John Lee Hooker gave DeLuca the opportunity to support his live shows. And later, Johnny Cash and June Carter were kind enough to invite him into their Hendersonville home, where values and excellence were displayed. Most recently, Deluca was recorded by and toured with Daniel Lanois, where he learned great lessons in work and experimentation.

After extensive travel from Kingston to London to the deserts of Texas and California, Rocco has placed his recent stories into a collection called Drugs 'n Hymns. Sifting through failures, cities, friendships, and geographic shapes, Rocco conjured images that were documented live in a room no bigger than a closet, with some help from the Echo Park Jubilee Tambo Flower Unsung Heroes Choir.

Drugs 'n Hymns is the culmination of detailed moments inspired by both the illuminated and the disturbed, unfolding into a drug deal that takes place during the Sacred Service- Always in conflict with salvation and sin, the cerebral and the bestial, light and shade. Rocco's love of contradiction is ever present.

Inspired by 'religion', literature and experience, DeLuca takes the listener on a pilgrimage, a forever evolving search for salvation.