AT FIRST, Lukas Nelson was only going to be the inspiration for Jackson Maine, the main character on the 2018 remake of A Star is Born, produced and starred by Bradley Cooper and Lady Gaga.
The more Cooper and Nelson worked together, the more involved Nelson became with the project, so he ended up writing eight songs of the popular soundtrack, and being pat of the creative process o 13 of them, including the guitar intro to hit song Shallow and also very popular Music to My Eyes, which he produced and co-wrote with Lady Gaga.
Cooper, Nelson and Lady Gaga were this week named winners of the BAFTA award to Best Original Music 2019 for their work on A Star is Born.
Those songs and a new album are set to make him into one of the ‘gigs not to miss’ at this year’s Bluesfest Byron Bay.
Speaking from Austin, Texas, where he is for a wedding, Lukas Nelson explained the film was a long process of music collaboration with Cooper, Gaga and other artists, while working on other music projects, such as his new album, Turn of the News and Build a Garden, which we will be able to listen to first at his Bluesfest 2019 show.
Nelson, the son of music con Willie Nelson, said the upcoming release is expected to be launched in May.
“Some songs in this album I wrote long time ago, but most of them are new, and most of them have to do with very primal, human situations, very real situations that we all go through,” he said.
“There are some good songs there that ask very important questions, like where does love go when it dies? or what makes a life simple? and is simple better?
“The music is very cinematic, it’s Country Soul, I would say,” he added.
Nelson said his three Bluesfest shows will have a balance of old hits and new songs.
“I just have to see if I can do the new songs live the way I did them in the studio,” he said.
“I’ll probably play a couple of songs from A Star is Born at Bluesfest,” he anticipated.
Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real perform at the Crossroads Stage at Bluesfest 2018 in Byron Bay. Marc Stapelberg
The artist said he feels a strong sense of ownership of the film.
“It’s not just me on the film on stage with Gaga and Bradley, the band playing with them on stage is The Promise of the Real, my band, and they were shot at actual music festivals, so the whole band feels very connected to the project,” he said.
“There were chucks of time times when I sat with Bradley and then with Gaga when we did the actual recording of the soundtrack, plus the filming, so we spent a lot of time together.”
Nelson is open to the idea of going into a future music or cinema project with either Lady Gaga or Bradley Cooper.
“Gaga is about to start her Vegas show and I have my own record coming out, but I’m sure we’ll work together again at some point but right now we all have other projects going on.”
“In the meantime people, if you turn off the news and build a garden, the world will be better off.”
- At Bluesfest Byron Bay, Tyagarah Tree Farm, April 18 to 22. For details visit bluesfest.com.au.