{"id":190504,"date":"2025-12-18T19:45:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:45:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/190504\/"},"modified":"2025-12-18T19:45:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T19:45:10","slug":"lukas-nelson-is-nominated-in-the-same-grammys-category-as-his-dad-willie-nelson-but-theres-no-rivalry-at-all-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/190504\/","title":{"rendered":"Lukas Nelson Is Nominated in the Same Grammys Category as His Dad Willie Nelson. But There’s ‘No Rivalry at All’ (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

Lukas Nelson opens up to PEOPLE about being nominated for a Grammy in the same category as his dad, Willie Nelson<\/p>\n

Lukas and Willie are both up for wins in the Best Traditional Country Album category<\/p>\n

“That makes Dad real proud, and that makes me real happy,” he says<\/p>\n

You\u2019d be forgiven for thinking competing nominations in the same category at the Grammy Awards<\/a> might inspire members of the average family to engage in some friendly rivalry. But the Nelsons \u2014 Lukas<\/a> and his dad, the outlaw country forefather Willie<\/a> \u2014 are no ordinary family.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no rivalry at all. Me and him joined teams, so we got a 40 percent chance,\u201d\u00a0Lukas tells PEOPLE of being nominated for Best Traditional Country Album alongside his pops. \u201cA win for anyone in that group [is a win for me].\u201d<\/p>\n

Best Traditional Country Album is a new category for the 2026 Grammys. Lukas, 36, is nominated for his debut solo album American Romance, which came out in June, while Willie, 92, is up for his album Oh What a Beautiful World. And the family fun doesn\u2019t end there \u2014 Lukas\u2019s brother Micah, 35, earned a nod too, for producing their dad\u2019s album Last Leaf on the Tree, nominated for Best Americana Album.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be on the bill with Dad is such a special thing,\u201d Lukas says. \u201cAll three of us\u2026 I think that makes Dad real proud, and that makes me real happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Matthew Berinato<\/p>\n

Lukas Nelson<\/p>\n

Lukas, the second-youngest of Willie\u2019s eight children<\/a>, has spent his career playing with other people. He performs frequently with his dad, most recently at Farm Aid in September, and for years, he put out albums with his band, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real. He\u2019s even been recognized at the Grammys before, winning an award in 2020 for his work on the A Star Is Born soundtrack.<\/p>\n

But this time is different.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels like my own. This is the first time that I\u2019ve done something on my own that got that recognition by my peers, and I\u2019m pretty grateful for that,\u201d he explains.<\/p>\n

With his finely tuned Texas twang, Lukas\u2019s sound leans more traditional than many current country acts \u2014 you won\u2019t find songs about tailgates or tan lines in his prolific discography. For a time, his distinct brand of music made him feel a bit lost among the landscape. But now, he recognizes that his identity as a musician transcends genre.<\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, I was just writing a love letter to my country with this album, to the country that raised me,\u201d he says of American Romance. \u201cCountry music has gone through so many iterations. It\u2019s hard to define what country is. I\u2019m just grateful that my music is recognized, and I\u2019ll let the interpretation be up to other people about genres and things like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gary<\/p>\n

Gary Miller\/Getty<\/p>\n

Lukas Nelson and Willie Nelson performing at Farm Aid 2024 in Saratoga Springs, New York.<\/p>\n

His work seven years ago on A Star Is Born<\/a> \u2014 he co-produced the soundtrack, co-wrote a number of songs and appears in the film as a member of Bradley Cooper<\/a>\u2019s character\u2019s backing band \u2014 was a major learning curve when it came to honing his craft, says Lukas, who adds that Cooper is still a friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cI learned about creating music for someone else to sing, which I really love doing,\u201d he says, noting that his dad \u2014 who wrote \u201cCrazy\u201d for Patsy Cline<\/a> \u2014 has done the same. \u201cI enjoy the idea of writing a song that gets interpreted by other people in a different way. When you don\u2019t have to be the one to deliver the song, you can put yourself in somebody else\u2019s shoes musically, and that\u2019s fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

When he was younger, Lukas had dreams of being an Olympic swimmer, but he decided instead to put that tunnel vision focus toward music, as his talents were evident early on. At just 11 years old, he wrote the song \u201cYou Were It\u201d on the school bus, and his dad recorded it for his 2004 album It Will Always Be. Now Lukas\u2019s own version closes out American Romance.<\/p>\n

\"Terry<\/p>\n

Terry Wyatt\/Getty Lukas Nelson performing at the 2019 Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival in September 2019 in Franklin, Tenn.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was kind of an awkward kid. I wondered who I was in the context of being the son of someone famous,\u201d he says. \u201cMusic gave me an avenue to put all my pain into and transform it like alchemy into something beautiful. It really did save my life. It kept me from going down dark paths, and it\u2019s given me a sense of meaning and purpose and confidence.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the Grammys coming up, he\u2019s now focused on the future. Lukas says he already has a \u201cwhole new batch of songs\u201d ready to go, with \u201clove and life\u201d \u2014 including the end of a recent \u201csituationship\u201d \u2014 serving as major inspirations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI write about things that happen to me or I write about things I imagine happening to me,\u201d he explains. \u201cIt\u2019s a gift, the ability to take your pain and turn it into something beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Lukas Nelson opens up to PEOPLE about being nominated for a Grammy in the same…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190505,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49325,156,116504,157,111,139,69,60241,8179],"class_list":["post-190504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-dad","tag-entertainment","tag-lukas-nelson","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-traditional-country","tag-willie-nelson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190504","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190504"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190504\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190505"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190504"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190504"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190504"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}