Mark Lettieri and Steve Lukather team up for full-throttle baritone funk track Star Catchers

Mark Lettieri and Steve Lukather
(Image credit: Peter Van Breukelen/Redferns / Scott Dudelson via Getty)

Mark Lettieri has dusted off his trusty bartione guitar and enlisted the help of electric guitar legend Steve Lukather for new single Star Catchers, which pits the pair's funk-fueled rhythms and high-gain lead lines together.

Star Catchers is the first single from the Snark Puppy guitarist's upcoming solo album Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 2, and was released alongside an animated music video, which can be seen below.

The upcoming album is set to be the second addition to Lettieri's baritone-inspired discography after 2019's Deep: The Baritone Sessions, and will be the guitarist's sixth full-length record.

With Lettieri firmly locked in the pocket strutting through a floor-rumbling baritone rhythm part, Lukather is free to let loose on a solo headlined by larger-than-life whole-note bends and blink-and-you'll-miss them scale runs.

Lettieri and Luke were joined by a star-studded list of musicians for the track, including Snarky Puppy drummer Jason Thomas and The Funky Knuckles bass guitar man Wes Stephenson. 

On Instagram, Lettieri wrote, "I'd recorded my own solos a few times, thinking "what would Luke do here?" But then I figured I might as well ask and see if the man himself would do it. 

"And boy did her ever," he continued. "Luke has the finest licks in this galaxy, and the next. And he's just a helluva guy. Thanks again, brother."

Deep: The Baritone Sessions Vol. 2 is available to preorder now, and will be released on April 16.

Lettieri also appears on Snarky Puppy's Live at the Royal Albert Hall, which was named Best Contemporary Instrumental Album at this year's Grammy Awards.

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Matt Owen

Matt is a Staff Writer, writing for Guitar World, Guitarist and Total Guitar. He has a Masters in the guitar, a degree in history, and has spent the last 16 years playing everything from blues and jazz to indie and pop. When he’s not combining his passion for writing and music during his day job, Matt records for a number of UK-based bands and songwriters as a session musician.