In 1977, de Lucía married Casilda Varela, the daughter of General Varela and descendant to a powerful Basque industrialist Ampuero family; they had three children. He released his final album, "Castillo de Arena" with Camarón de la Isla, The lyrics were written by Antonio Sánchez, with the exception of the bulerías "Samara", which Sánchez and de la Isla wrote together. This would be his last LP with a singer for at least 15 years. He reportedly said that the human voice is "naturally too limited" and that he prefers the exploration of different instrumentalists; he also said a busy schedule was the reason for lack of recordings with singers.