If you didn't know it from the invitation, you probably could have guessed who Lukas Nelson's famous dad is from some of the lyrics he sang Wednesday night at the invite-only reJubilation party at Kieran's Pub.
"I was in Daddy's car with a joint in both my hands," Nelson sang early in his set at the second annual music-centric shindig from Martin-Williams advertising agency. Lucinda Williams played the same party last year, and a cool mish-mash of locals also performed at it on Wednesday: the Goondas, Zoo Animal, Charlie Parr, Toki Wright and the Evening Rig. It was Lukas who delivered the (ahem) bluntest lyrics, though. Another line: "Every day I get stoned / I try to write a song."
Yes, Lukas is the 23-year-old son of Willie Nelson. Minnesota music lovers might remember seeing him playing guitar in his mid-teens with Dad at the Red Wings ballpark in Rochester in 2004, when Willie performed with Bob Dylan despite suffering from carpal-tunnel syndrome. Lukas also duets with Willie in a shimmering version of Pearl Jam's "Just Breathe," which 89.3 the Current has been spinning.
The two Nelsons clearly have a lot in common beyond the lyrical references. Lukas is also a mean guitar player, sings in a nasally voice and can write a dramatic country ballad. But he also emphasized many of their differences at Wednesday's performance. Raised between Maui and Austin, Texas, he showed off the influences of both places with his band, Promise of the Real, performing barefoot and with a bongo-player and sounding like a lot of the Stevie Ray Vaughan-echoing, Antone's-weaned blues-rock bands that Austin still heavily produces.
In addition to such hard-boogying rockers such as "Wasted" and "Four Letter Word," he and the band played jamming versions of "Sympathy for the Devil" and "Down by the River" – the latter introduced as "a tribute to a man we like to call 'Uncle Neil.'" Fans seeking more Willie in Lukas likely would have been disappointed, but I'd be disappointed if Lukas and POTR aren't packing places like the Cabooze within a few years.
