Lukas Nelson Details Reasons For Split With Longtime Band, Promise Of The Real: “I Felt The Band Had Become Neil Young‘s Band”

The reason for the split.

Lukas Nelson and his longtime Promise of the Real announced their indefinite hiatus in June of last year, after 15 years as a band. Lukas met his former drummer and fellow musician Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert in 2008, they discovered a shared love for rock music and eventually picked up several more band members forming Promise of the Real.

For many years, they served as Neil Young’s backing band both at concerts and on albums, and also appeared as the backing band for Jackson Maine, who was played by Bradley Cooper for the award-winning film A Star Is Born. Lukas also co-produced the soundtrack and wrote a lot of the music for the movie.

Additionally, they have appeared on stage with Willie Nelson numerous times as Lukas is the son of the iconic country musician. They released three albums independently, and in 2017, put out their official debut with Fantasy Records Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, which is one of my all-time favorites albums. Most recently, in 2023, they released Sticks & Stones.

But this year, Lukas released his solo debut record American Romance, which is easily one of my favorites of the year and is much more traditional and decidedly country than his previous work with his former band, and I think it’s a natural fit and seems to be where he’s taking his sound for the foreseeable future. I think he’s so talented that anything he puts out is going to be great, and I loved the edgier, rock-leaning stuff as much as I do this chapter of his music, so I’m excited to see where his career goes from here.

Recently, he sat down with Rolling Stone to talk about the new record and his journey thus far, where he opened up about why he decided to end the band and how he felt that they had become “Neil Young’s band,” and he wanted to play his own music since he had written all the albums while with Promise of the Real. Many of his band members are still with Young’s crew, but Lukas wanted to be able to do his own thing and “focus on building” his own crowd that will hopefully be with him for many years to come.

It’s not something I’ve heard him talk about yet in much detail, so it was interesting to hear his reasoning for why this was the right time to leave the band and strike out on a solo endeavor:

“You know, it had been a long time of hundreds of shows a year with the same guys, the same musicians, and I think growth growth is important. I felt that the band had become Neil Young‘s band. It started off as my band, and then when Neil heard us, we all loved Neil, and we went and became disciples and students of him.

And then he took that band, and we went off and had adventures with him. And I just wanted to keep playing my own songs and my own music. You know, I had written all the songs from Promise of the Real, so I was like, very… I wanted to focus on that completely.

And a lot of those guys are still playing with Neil, so that’s great, but I wanted to be able to do my own thing and to put most of my focus on that building my own crowd and hopefully one that will be with me for a long time.”

It’s a natural next step for his career, and judging solely by his aforementioned solo debut, he’s got many years success ahead of him. Of course, in the shadow of a legend like Neil Young, it’s a hard position to be in because you’re obviously learning a lot and it’s an incredible opportunity, but you can only go so far as a band or solo artist in that position.

While it’s obviously sad when a band you love breaks up, it was seemingly the right time and I look forward to all the music Lukas has to come in this next chapter:

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If you haven’t checked out American Romance yet, you’re missing out… just give these a spin and you’ll see why this Shooter Jennings-produced album is a masterpiece:

“Montana”

“American Romance”

“Outsmarted”

“Pretty Much”

The post Lukas Nelson Details Reasons For Split With Longtime Band, Promise Of The Real: “I Felt The Band Had Become Neil Young‘s Band” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.