Lukas Nelson discusses being bullied, singing like his famous dad and free-style rap

Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real is touring in support of his eighth studio album “Sticks and Stones,” which was released in July. The five-piece band’s Thursday show at Tannahill’s Tavern and Music Hall in the Stockyards will take audiences on a journey, get them dancing, and reveling in a good old-fashion honky tonk live show. The new songs reflect a maturing songwriting career for Nelson, 34, who mixes misery with humor, messages about handling bullies, and learning how to deal with negativity.

He talked with the Star-Telegram by phone last week.

What inspired Sticks & Stones the song?

It’s kind of about like everybody being up in arms about everything.

So it’s not personal?

Well, it could be. I usd to be told that saying quite a lot and it helped me get through as a young kid I was bullied. I had to find my own inner resilence from those things. No one was campaigning against bullying at the time and I don’t think it would have mattered if they were. You have to learn to deal with things on your own and not let words effect you. Just accept that there are going to be jerks out there and bullies out there and I think it’s important to learn how to deal with that rather than trying to get rid of the bullies themselves.

I’m a big free speech advocate and I think bullies should have the right to be bullies to a certain extent — obviously not to the point of real harm — but words don’t mean as much. If we can teach people how not to let words effect us.

Bullying is never going to go away, but how you deal with it bullying is going to be there.

Yeah, it’s just a concept. You can’t tell me nuthin’ that will hurt, dust to dust, we’re just pushing dirt.’”

There are people all around screaming about everything and really getting offended by a lot. I just find that to be annoying, because if you don’t like it, don’t listen to it.

On first listen, I assumed people have taken shots at you as a son of Willie Nelson?

Man, that’s happened too, but the reason that doesn’t bother me is I don’t ... care what they say. That is part of it. People say ... about me all the time, but I don’t care. The point is, if I do care, then I need to learn how not to care. They’re going to do what they do, that’s the point.

“Every Time I Drink I think of Her” conjured up Ringo Starr. It seems like a perfect song for him to sing.

That’s interesting. You’re probably picked up on his love for the Bakersfield, Buck Owens sound. I really felt like Merle Haggard, Lefty [Frizzell], Buck Ownens, that kind of vibe was what I going for with that and Ringo was a big fan of that. So that makes sense, I guess.

Did you grow up mostly in Hawaii?

I grew up in Austin and Hawaii, back and forth, but I went to high school and elementary school in Hawaii. I was born in Austin, but I spent my first birthday in Hawaii so really back and forth.

So there is a deep connection to Texas?

Oh, yeah. I was mostly in Texas and sometimes in Hawaii up until I was about 7 or 8 and then around junior high I was a lot more in Hawaii. But we were on the road. I’ve never been anywhere longer than three months.

Does Promise of the Real have any more Neil Young projects planned?

He’s been working with Crazy Horse a lot and it’s been nice actually because we’ve been able to sort of do our own thing. It was a great honor to play with Neil but we’re going out playing country music and having a good time. I’ve written so many songs, it gets to the point where, as an artist, with reverence and respect, you want to play your own music.

How did you feel when you first started singing and you sounded like your dad?

I don’t know. You know what I was concerned with? Singing on key. I was more concerned with actually being a good singer and less who I sounded like. Because really it’s about honing your craft and trying to be the best you can be at what you do. Comparisons are for other people to make. You can’t really afford to think about things like that, it doesn’t make any sense and is a distraction from the real art that you’re trying to create. It’s for other people’s nostalgia — ‘Oh, Willie Nelson will live on forever.’ And that’s their own head trips and they can do that, that’s fine. I love my dad and I always will and I try to be around him as much as I can.

But as far as what I was thinking about when [I first started] singing was just trying to enunciate and sing well and hit all of the notes.

You could do Willie Nelson covers and it would sound legit.

Yeah, it would be cool but then I’d be just giving these older folks that love my dad and then I’d be playing for that audience and then when they die, then what? There’s a whole group of young people my age that I can attribute to my father but I’ve got to play my own music, otherwise I’m going to be playing not a very lively crowd.

What can fans expect at your show on this tour?

We’ve got a big honky tonk show, mostly original music. We might throw in a cover here and there. Speaking of dad, I have been doing “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground” a lot but again, I have a lot of songs I have to get out there with the new album. Those songs really scream for a lot of fun and dancing.

It’s a live show that creates a journey of ups and downs and emotions. My fans are great. All ages, all types of people. People that come for the lyrics, people that come for the groove, and they really listen to the music. And more and more I think people coming to hear what’s new. I think we’ve have a really cool, eclectic crowd. People say it’s just a great vibe at the show and that’s really fun.

One of the new songs “Lying” is just you on an acoustic guitar. Why did you make that choice?

I wrote the record to fill moments of a live show and I really wanted to be able to play most of these songs live. And sometimes you need a really good acoustic number, you stirp it down, you take the band off stage, people have been dancing and now they need a little breath, and you want to hear a song like “Lying,” which is a thoughtful song and it’s something that will make people think, or maybe make them chuckle a little bit or maybe make them miss someone.

You produced “Sticks and Stones,” was that a desire of yours or was it convenient?

Well, it was very convenient, a lot cheaper. I knew what I wanted. I know what I wanted to do live and I didn’t want to have something flowery beyond what we could do live.

What kind of music did you gravitate towards when you were 10 to 15 years old?

I was in a songwriting place and I was really into the songwriting so I actually was listening to my dad a lot. I was listening to The Beatles, Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Merle [Haggard]. Any good song lyrically I gravitated towards. A lot of the music from the 60s, whether it was country music or rock and roll, all of that really compelled me. I really like the production of that time. I thought it was more raw and beautiful. But then bands like Pink Floyd in the 70s really changed it and made these beautiful works of art that have stood the test of time in such a monumental way it’s hard to ignore on those bands, too.

So you drew on from everywhere?

I listened to a little bit of Hip Hop, a little rap, not too much. It wasn’t in my world too much but I respect the good stuff and I respect the street art of freestyle rap. I think that’s the coolest thing I’ve seen come from anywhere. To be able to on the spot, standing on the street corner with two other guys, coming up with intellectually compelling lyrics on the spot in rapid form? That’s the coolest ... I’ve ever heard. That’s an incredible skill and I respect that a lot.

What’s a song from your dad that blows you away as a songwriter?

There are 50 songs that fit that description. The whole Stardust record is covers but I think it’s one of the beautifully produced albums of all-time. It’s simple and the way he sings that is just like a warm fire, it’s just so beautiful.

I think dad is one of the great songwriters who ever lived and a lot of that has to do with the simplicity of his lyrics but yet have the ability reach into your heart and really capture something special.

How’s your dad’s health?

He’s all right, he’s OK. He’s 90, he’s on the road right now. We’d all be so lucky.