Lukas Nelson Covering His Dad’s “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning” Will Bring The Goosebumps

Talk about a chip off the old block…

I will never, ever get tired of hearing Lukas Nelson cover his dads songs.

We’ve shared plenty of them before, like “Always on My Mind,” “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain,” and “Funny (How Time Slips Away) (just to name a few), but back in 2020, he crushed another one of Willie’s classics with an acoustic rendition of “Last Thing I Needed First Thing This Morning.”

Lukas brought all sorts of heat during the height of the COVID lockdowns with his awesome Quarantunes Sessions, and this is one of the gems from that little series.

I’ve written about how much I love the song before, because there’s just somethin’ about the way Willie sings the heartbreaking lyrics that cuts deep down in your soul like nothing else, and Lukas has that same intrinsic, je ne sais quoi and star power about him, as well.

Written by Gary Nunn and Donna Farar, “Last Thing” was released as the third single from Willie’s iconic 1982 album, Always On My Mind, and eventually peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart.

While I typically don’t think Lukas and Willie necessarily sound identical, it’s hard not to draw that comparison when he covers his dad.

I really could go on and on about how damn good Lukas’ version is, but I think Glinda in the comments section of YouTube summed it up best:

“WoooHooo–that was beautiful! Curled my toes!!#!”

I’m still convinced this song can cure just about anything so long as it’s sung by a Nelson:

And since we’re on the subject, and yes, I’ll repeat this until I’m blue in the face, you should do yourself a massive favor and check out Lukas’ music with his band, Promise of the Real.

He covered Willie’s “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground” at a show in Charlotte over the weekend, and it’s just as good as all the others we’ve heard him do over the years.

And of course, Willie’s legendary original version of “First Thing,” which will also curl your toes:

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