I wish I had known about this on Saturday, because I would have gone! I did not even know Willie Nelson had a 21 year-old son who is apparently following the footsteps of his dad: Lukas Nelson was playing at the Viper room on Saturday evening and his dad showed up to do a few songs with him. Cool.
Lukas, who has been on the road since he was a child with his brother Micah, has already done a lot for his young age: he went on tour with B.B. King, has released an EP ‘Brando’s Paradise sessions’, and is about to release a full-length recording soon.
The name of his band, the Promise of the Real, seems to have a lot to do with being real, true to himself, and being spoon-fed with country, rock and blues since he was born, he could not be doing something radically different from his legendary father’s sound.
Watching some YouTube videos (not from Saturday night, there are none), it’s obvious he vocally sounds a lot like his father, especially in the nasal department, and his music is a mix a classic Americana, to more pure bluesy parts, channeling Jimi Hendrix as some have said. I also read he has already played with Bob Dylan a couple of times, as well as with Neil Young, BB King, and Eric Clapton.
Kind of strange for someone so young to be playing with the ‘old’ generation…but when you are country rock’ n roll royalty…