Review Summary: A brilliant mixture of soul, country, rock from Willie Nelson's son and Neil Young collaborator Lukas Nelson and his band, with some obvious and not so obvious guests.
If you are wondering whether Lucas Nelson is in any way connected to that quite famous, now older fellow Willie, you are on the right track. Yes, Lucas is Willie Jr. So, how come nothing really serious has been heard of him?
That actually is quite a mystery. It seems to Lucas himself too, otherwise, he wouldn’t have named his fourth album with The Promise of The Real the same, self-titled way as his first, which came out back in 2010. Maybe he is expecting a new beginning. Frankly, based on this outing, he certainly deserves it.
But there are other things that should have had Nelson Jr. noticed - he and the band backed Neil Young on two albums from 2015 and 2016, The Monsanto Years and Earth. And if anybody doesn’t take his collaborations lightly it is Neil Young.
By the proof presented on Lucas Nelson & The Promise of The Real, 2017 edition, there are ample reasons why Long made such a decision. And yes, Lucas’ voice does resemble his father’s when he was younger, but forget about it, like Lucas more or less says “Forget About Georgia”. After all, it is such a great singing voice and Lucas is in no way attempting to imitate his father’s vocal inflections. It is just there, and it should be enjoyed as such.
Second thing is, Lucas is an extremely versatile songwriter and guitarist, the spectrum of songs here ranges from country rock (think The Allman Brothers Band), soul, blues, gospel, you name it. The thing is though the album still feels like a continuous set of like-minded songs and not a disparate collection of styles.
A lot of that has to do with the fact that The Promise of The Real, with all the touring done with both Neil Young and Willie Nelson, show exceptional flair as a band.
And if that is not enough to get Lucas Nelson more exposure he certainly deserves, then maybe the tow cameo appearances can help. One, of course, is his father playing guitar (“Just Outside Austin”) and a Lucas’ new friend Lady Gaga(!), adding backing (and good) vocals on “Find Yourself”.
As could have been expected, there is an homage to his father, the closer “If I Started Over”, the closest Lucas sounds like Willie on this album. And it is a quite fitting closer of quite a diverse and exceptional album. Hopefully, it will help Lucas Nelson finally step out from his father’s shadow.
