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Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real | |
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Also known as | Lukas Nelson and POTR |
Origin | Venice, Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
Genres | Rock, country rock, roots rock |
Years active | 2008–present |
Labels | Fantasy |
Members | Lukas Nelson Anthony LoGerfo Tato Melgar Corey McCormick Logan Metz |
Past members | Merlyn Kelly |
Website | lukasnelson |
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, sometimes referred to as POTR, is an American country rock band formed in Los Angeles in 2008 by Lukas Nelson (vocals, guitar) and Anthony LoGerfo (drums). The band has released eight studio albums and two live albums as well as numerous singles and extended plays (EP). From 2015 to 2019, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real were the backing band for Canadian musician Neil Young. With Young, the band recorded two studio albums, The Monsanto Years (2015) and The Visitor (2017), a soundtrack album, Paradox (2018), and two live albums, Earth (2016) and Noise & Flowers (2022). The band has toured extensively performing hundreds of shows to date. In addition to headlining their own events, they have also performed as the opening act for other performers including The Rolling Stones [1]and The Who.[2] Over the past decade, they have appeared at a variety of music festivals including Stagecoach Festival, Glastonbury Festival, Byron Bay Blues Fest, Lollapalooza, and Farm Aid.
The band came together in 2008, after musician and songwriter, Lukas Nelson (Willie Nelson's son) moved from Maui to Los Angeles to attend Loyola Marymount University. He met drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert. [1] Their friendship grew over their appreciation for Young's music and shared interest in surfing and they were soon playing music together [2] [1] Nelson quit school to form the band, contacted LoGerfo and launched Promise of the Real with Tato Melgar (percussionist), and Merlyn Kelly (bassist). [1] According to Nelson, the band name was inspired by the lyric, "Some get stoned, some get strange, but sooner or later it all gets real," from Neil Young's song Walk On. Nelson described in a 2019 interview, "That concept of realness is sort of a Taoist statement: It’s not bad, it’s not good. It’s real." [2]
Their initial touring was supported by sales of their EP, Live Beginnings, recorded in 2008 at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach, California [3] In January 2009, they were on the road with Willie Nelson, and made their debut opening a string of five shows for the senior Nelson at The Fillmore in San Francisco. [4] Later that year, they shared the stage with B. B. King and appeared at festivals including the Waterfront Blues Festival and the Telluride Brews and Blues Festival. [5]
In 2009, they released the studio EP Brando's Paradise Sessions. The cover art for the album was a painting by Nelson's younger brother, Micah Nelson, an artist, composer and musician whose artwork appears on several of the band's other albums as well. [3] In March 2010, they released their first studio album, Promise of the Real, recorded at the Pedernales Recording Studio in Austin, Texas. [6] Corey McCormick, their long-term bassist that followed Kelly, appears on the album having joined the band in 2009 after Kelly departed. [3] The 12-track album of original music also includes three cover tracks: Peaceful Solution (Willie Nelson), Pali Gap/Hey Baby (Jimi Hendrix) and L.A.(Neil Young). An interview with LoGerfo revealed that the cover art for the album was created by album engineer Steve Chadie's 6-year-old daughter. [7] The release includes a booklet of Micah Nelson's paintings created on stage during their concerts.
In 2012, the band released two albums, Wasted and Live Endings, both on the Tone Tide label. By the time they were in the studio to record Wasted, they made significant changes in their production process. Neil Young has influenced their music style and production values, and at his urging, they chose analog recording. [8] Nelson believes doing so “added a lot of magnetism and energy [and] sounds more like what you get when you see us perform.” [9] Wasted co-producer, Jim "Moose" Brown (musician/songwriter/producer), arranged addition of steel guitar, harmonica, Dobro guitar, Wurtlitzer piano, and Hammond B3 organ bringing a wider range of instrumentation than their previous studio recordings. [10]
In April 2012, they appeared on Bob Weir's TRI Studios broadcast on Yahoo Music. [11] Later that year, they backed John Fogerty on his coast-to-coast tour of Canada [12] The band continued to open shows for Willie Nelson, and performed a cover of Pearl Jam's "Just [11] Breathe" live on Willie's Roadhouse channel on Sirius XM on May 15, 2012. They consistently performed at the annually televised Farm Aid fundraising concerts, and by 2013, the band had appeared on a number of major late night talk shows including The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Night with Conan O'Brien, and The Late Show with David Letterman. [13]
The band completed their 2014 tour and moved into an old Victorian mansion, the William Westerfeld House, a historic landmark in San Francisco. They found the space suitable for their recording studio, considering it an 'amazing and varied sonic environment.' [14] After they completed the sessions at the mansion they chose to delay album release until 2016 to pursue a venture with Neil Young. [15]
The band released their album Something Real, in March 2016, on the Royal Potato Family label. The album was co-produced by the band and Steve Chadie [16] With the exception of two tracks, Nelson wrote all the music, and Neil Young appears as a guest vocalist. [17]
Nelson's connection with Young is rooted in the Farm Aid festival. His father Willie, together with Young, and John Mellencamp, launched the Farm Aid music festival in 1985 [18] Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real were regularly appeared at the event and in 2009, Young remarked to them,"I heard you guys earlier, I liked it. You sound pretty cool." [8] At the 2014 Farm Aid event, Young spontaneously called the band up to play along with him on a jam of 'Rockin' in the Free World' and not long after, he recruited them to be his recording and touring band. [19]
In 2015, Young brought the band into his studio to record his next album, The Monsanto Years , released in 2016. [20] The album was recorded during six weeks spent at Teatro, in Oxnard, California, described by Nelson as 'an old theatre, just a beautiful little building that we set up as a studio.' [15] The production was filmed by Don Hannah for a documentary also entitled The Monsanto Years. [21]
After their April 2015 concert with Young at San Luis Obispo, they accompanied him on his Rebel Content Tour to promote the new album. Following the tour, they appeared with Young at Farm Aid, and the annual Bridge School Benefit. The following year was a whirlwind with Young, featuring appearances at the Beale Street Music Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, followed by his expansive 2016 European tour. That tour was followed by appearing with him at Desert Trip in Indio, CA, with an impressive lineup that included Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, The Who, and Roger Waters. On June 17, 2016, the live album Earth , recorded during the Rebel Tour, was released.
They continued working with Young, releasing another album, entitled The Visitor , on December 1, 2017. [22] Young and the band starred in the 2018 musical film Paradox, (directed by Daryl Hannah) and recorded the film's soundtrack released in 2018. In 2019, they embarked on their second European tour with Young and backed him as he co-headlined with Bob Dylan at an historic event at London’s Hyde Park. [23] At that event, they performed with Young for an audience of over 65,000 people. [24] Noise & Flowers is a live album of selected songs from Young's tour of Europe in 2019, which was released on August 5, 2022. [25]
With reference to meeting LoGerfo at Young's concern in 2008, Nelson muses that 'We’ve come full circle, because years later we’re playing with Neil. It’s kind of a dream come true.' [26] Young has been an important mentor for the band, sharing wisdom and influencing everything from their production techniques to their distinctive stage presence. Nelson described playing with Neil as "like being in a masterclass, seeing how he works. I mean, it has really been an incredible experience for me that I have taken in and put towards our own projects, our own music in terms of what we have learned from him. Dynamics, and when not to play, and the idea of how to create more emotion with your dynamics onstage and your performance.” [27] Young has also praised the band, saying, 'Playing with these guys was a gift. Such positivity, pure energy and no fear.' [28]
During Young and the band's show at the 2016 Desert Trip event, actor and director Bradley Cooper was in the audience and Nelson's stage performance caught his attention. Cooper, who was working on the production A Star is Born, and film producer Billy Gerber arranged a meeting with Nelson and they offered him the opportunity to be an authenticity consultant on the project. [29] Cooper developed the demeanor and style of the lead character, Jackson Maine, based on that of Nelson, who described coaching Cooper on 'how to keep things looking right and authentic — how to hold (the guitar), how to stand, all of that.' [30] Nelson's role in the project quickly grew to include writing and producing music for the soundtrack [31] . He co-wrote, with Cooper and Lady Gaga, the following eight tracks on the soundtrack: Black Eyes, Too Far Gone, Alibi, Look What I Found, Is That Alright, Music to My Eyes, The Cure, and I Don’t Know What Love Is. [32] Nelson and Promise of the Real played on the soundtrack and appeared in the 2018 film as the backing band for the main character. Nelson won a BAFTA Award for Best Original Music and the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for his work. [33]
The band signed with Fantasy Records and released the self-titled album Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real on August 25, 2017. [34] The album hit No. 1 on the Americana Radio Chart the week of November 10, 2017 [35] Lady Gaga appears as backing vocals on two tracks. The album earned the band its first Americana Music Awards nomination for Duo/Group of the Year. [36]
On October 20, 2017, Legacy Recordings released "Willie Nelson and the Boys (Willie's Stash, Vol. 2)", a family collaboration showcasing Willie, Lukas, and Micah performing a selection of American country music classics, including seven penned by Hank Williams, Sr. [37]
Turn Off the News (Build a Garden) marked the band's fifth studio album release and second studio album release for Fantasy Records. The album was released on June 14, 2019, [38] peaking at No. 19 on Billboard's US Top Country Albums chart [39] and 31 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums chart. [40]
On March 27, 2020, the band released Naked Garden, a 15-track collection that is a companion piece to 2019's Turn Off the News (Build a Garden) . [41] [42] Naked Garden includes previously unreleased versions and alternate takes of songs that were recorded during the Turn Off The News (Build A Garden) sessions at Shangri-La and Village Studios. [42]
On April 28, 2021, the band announced their next studio album release on Fantasy Records, A Few Stars Apart, accompanied by the first single released from the album, "Perennial Bloom (Back To You)". Available June 11, 2021, the album was recorded at RCA Studio A in Nashville and Produced by Dave Cobb. [43]
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Sales | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [44] | US Country [45] | US Heat. [46] | US Taste [47] | US Folk [48] | |||
Promise of the Real |
| — | — | — | — | — | |
Wasted |
| — | — | — | — | — | |
Something Real |
| — | — | 19 | — | 16 | |
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real |
| — | 2 | 35 | 19 | 10 |
|
Turn Off the News (Build a Garden) |
| 151 | 19 | — | 9 | 4 |
|
Naked Garden |
| — | — | — | — | — | |
A Few Stars Apart |
| — | — | — | — | — | |
Sticks and Stones |
| — | — | — | — | — | |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart |
Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
US [52] | AUS [53] | GER [54] | ITA [55] | NED [56] | NOR [57] | SWE [58] | UK [59] | ||
The Monsanto Years (with Neil Young) |
| 21 | 23 | 13 | 27 | 14 | 38 | 47 | 24 |
The Visitor (with Neil Young) |
| 167 | 85 | 25 | — | 39 | 36 | 32 | 65 |
Album | Release date |
---|---|
Brando's Paradise Sessions EP | September 30, 2010 |
Album | Release date |
---|---|
Live Beginnings | October 2008 |
Live Endings | December 2012 |
Earth (with Neil Young) | June 2016 |
Noise & Flowers (with Neil Young) | August 2022 |
Album | Release date |
---|---|
Dumb and Dumber To | November 7, 2014 |
The Ranch | April 1, 2016 |
My Little Pony: The Movie | September 22, 2017 |
Music videos
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