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Song Review: Willie Nelson and Friends - “On the Road Again” and “Happy Birthday” (Live, April 30, 2023)
Just when it seems the world can’t possibly use another version of “On the Road Again,” Willie Nelson releases an “On the Road Again” the world didn’t know it needed.
Recorded April 30, 2023, at the Hollywood Bowl with a bunch of friends - the Avett Brothers, Sheryl Crow, Warren Haynes, Jamey Johnson, Lyle Lovett, the Lumineers, Lukas Nelson, Kris Kristofferson, Jack Johnson, Rosanne Cash, Beck and Charley Crockett among them - and paired with “Happy Birthday,” this iteration is full of irresistible joy and wobbly harmony.
Despite the number of singers and players, Nelson, who turned 90 that day, remains in charge, singing the words strongly and coaxing yet another behind-the-beat solo from his trusty sidekick, Trigger. Everyone sings along lustily before it careens to a close and a raucous “Happy Birthday” emerges in its wake.
The cut follows Avetts’ take on “Pick up the Tempo” and Dave Matthews’ performance of “Funny How Time Slips Away” from “WIllie Nelson 90: Live at the Hollywood Bowl,” which will be released Dec. 15 in audio and video formats.
Grade card: Willie Nelson and Friends - “One the Road Again” and “Happy Birthday” (Live - 4/30/23) - A+
12/7/23
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Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real Cut Loose at Webster Hall on Saturday Night
Lukas Nelson – Webster Hall – November 18, 2023
It’s been a few years since Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real last visited Webster Hall and what feels like a lifetime of world tumult, happenings and music that’s passed since then. That the songs from the band’s crisp 2023 release, Sticks & Stones, sound like people eager to break out and boogie is probably not an accident, but then Nelson and his snappy country-rock squad have always walked the line between wistful-moving and barroom-blastoff — better than most. They’re love-me-tender when they want to be, with a joyful, almost goofy earnestness. They can deliver sad songs that hit the feels. And they can rock your face off.
There’s a lot of Nelson’s dad, Willie, and a lot of occasional employer Neil Young, and a little of other obvious touchstones like Tom Petty in what they do, but these days POTR sound most like one of the best live bands of the past decade, never leaving behind their party-hardy roots, keeping the rock part of folk-rock firmly in mind, writing better and better songs that adequately pace a lip smackingly fun show. On Saturday they once again got after it, nailing the newer tunes and finding new excitement in the old ones. Opener “Entirely Different Stars” began mysterious, got to a crowd-stoking boogie and ended with a psychedelic guitar breakdown. “Sticks and Stones” had double-barreled piano and plenty of saloon in it to push the song forward. Nelson was rocking so hard during the fist-pumping “Four Letter Word” that his signature hat flew off. The early POTR favorite “All the Pretty Horses” underscored just how far the band’s come in their command of their own dynamics, starting quietly solo, patiently building to a full-band sound that filled up the room.
Those were just part of the action. The tunes that at this point might be called the POTR classics — including stinging-sweet “Forget About Georgia,” groovy “Find Yourself,” country-gospel “Set Me Down on a Cloud” — all delivered, as they always do. But the band went deeper still, especially Nelson himself, who delivered a good chunk of the set solo, near-solo and acoustic, either guitar or piano, and left the room spellbound with the sentimental “Smile,” the proud “Just Outside of Austin” and the achingly beautiful parent-to-child-benediction “Giving You Away,” shimmering with steel from multi-instrumentalist Logan Metz. There were surprises, too: The brilliant NYC-based soulful R&B singer Emily King joined Nelson to duet on what was described as a new song, loaded with New York-centric lyrics. As ever Nelson and the POTR band — Metz, Corey McCormick, Anthony LoGerfo, Tato Melgar, aces, all — brought things to a blowout finale, barreling through the hilarious “Wrong House,” a nifty segue from their own galloping “Ladder of Love” into Willie’s “Bloody Mary Morning” and then “Find Yourself” to close the set. It was as full and varied a show as POTR have ever played here. We wrote of this same band at this same venue in 2019 that they’d “earned their swagger.” In 2023, they totally own it. —Chad Berndtson | @Cberndtson
(Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real play Royale in Boston tomorrow night.)
Photos courtesy of Marc Millman | www.marcmillmanphotos.com
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The official music video for Lukas Nelson's song, "The View," is debuting today. Directed and edited by Orion Owens, the video features footage from across the island of Maui, where Nelson grew up. Watch/share HERE.
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Willie Nelson, Lukas Nelson and Neil Young | Farm Aid 2010
©️ Jennifer Bronenkant
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Nelsons: Willie - Lukas - Micah | John Varvatos
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Us old timers refer to this venue as Deer Creek. Always have, always will.
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Sticks and Stones Won't Hurt Lukas Nelson
Lukas Nelson POTR New Release
Photo: Shervin Lainez
‘Sticks and Stones’
New Album Lukas Nelson + POTR
Out July 14
(more…) “”
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Willie Nelson and his sons—Lukas and Micah—performing “Can I Sleep In Your Arms Tonight?”.
____________________________
Can I Sleep In Your Arms Tonight?
Songwriter: Hank Cochran
Can I sleep in your arms tonight lady
It's so cold lying here all alone
And I have no hold to hold on you
And I assure you I'll do you no wrong
Don't know why but the one I love left me
Left me lonely and cold and so weak
And I need someone's arms to hold me
Till I'm strong enough to get back on my feet
Can I sleep in your arms...
Can I sleep in your arms...
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Lukas Nelson
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Song Review: Norah Jones with Lukas Nelson - “Set Me Down on a Cloud”
Norah Jones was just who Lukas Nelson needed to reveal the full gospel impact of his “Set Me Down on a Cloud.”
Recorded as a sparse, piano-and-vocal duet for “Norah Jones is Playing Along,” the updated “Cloud” finds Jones adding her soothing harmonies to Nelson’s craggy, like-father-Willie warble as they demand - gently - in unison:
Set me down on a cloud with my soul turned inside out
A passionate composition, this recording deconstructs Promise of the Real’s original to reveal the bones are the only structure “Set Me Down on a Cloud” ever needed.
Everything else was - and is - overkill.
Grade card: Norah Jones with Lukas Nelson - “Set Me Down on a Cloud” - A+
2/22/23
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I'm sorry neighbours* I know it's 7am on a Sunday but Lukas Nelson is playing live and the volume has to be really loud
*no I'm not
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