Lukas Nelson's career is rooted in integrity and authenticity. That doesn't mean he has no expectations. He hopes his music moves people and "transports a state of mind" from himself to his listeners. But maintaining his truest form of self is the highest goal.
Perhaps it's because he's already experienced the music industry in one sense, as the son of legendary country singer Willie Nelson. But for the last 10 years, Nelson and his bandmates have been fine-tuning their own experiences and sound. On August 25, they released their self-titled album "Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real."
Nelson joined "Salon Stage" to play an exclusive acoustic set of "Find Yourself" and to discuss the lessons music has taught him.
On what music means to him:
It's something that I do so that I can get my feelings out there, because I'm awkward at parties. It's a means of expression; music is my spirituality; it's my religion; it's something that I try to embody in my daily life, as well as in performance.
When I play music I let go; I transcend. I find my bliss.
On whether he feels he is continuing his dad's legacy:
I do love my dad, and I sound like him sometimes. He's my best friend. I look up to him in a lot of ways, of course. He's a legendary musician. So I got to learn from the best and from others that are to his caliber. I hope that I can carry on some of what he has. But I have different experiences; I have different types of pain inside that I have to get out, and so that's what happens when you're a different person. But I do respect him to the ends of the earth and beyond, and I hope to continue some of what he is just by being me.
On maintaining authenticity in the music industry:
We all are real, but some people act a certain way because they feel like they have to. They get told by their friends or society that they have to act a certain way, and they have to change who they are in order to conform. I don't like that; that's not real to me. Even though everybody is real inside, a lot of people wear masks in life.
Watch the video above to hear "Find Yourself," and click here to watch Lukas Nelson's full "Salon Stage" set, including a cover of Eric Clapton's "Change The World."
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