We NEED this.
Lukas Nelson released his debut solo album American Romance earlier this year, which is easily one of my top records released in 2025 and an album you absolutely need to check out if you haven’t already.
It was produced by Shooter Jennings, who is truly one of the best producers in the game right now, and he is of course the son of country icon Waylon Jennings. Lukas is the son of Willie Nelson, so it was incredibly cool to see these two team up for such a fantastic project, though it isn’t the first time they’ve worked together.
Lukas and Shooter have performed onstage some here and there, but this is the first really official project that they’ve collaborated on, but it sounds like it might not be the last…
During a recent interview with Cleveland.com, Lukas discussed his aforementioned new album and his evolution as an artist, now solidly within the country genre as a solo artist following a split with his longtime band Promise of the Real last year.
Lukas also talked about working with Shooter on American Romance, who he grew up with and has remained great friends with over the years. Obviously, they have a lot in common in terms of two incredibly unique childhood experiences, and Lukas explained that Shooter wrote him a letter about working on this album together, and it couldn’t have worked out more perfectly:
“We grew up together. Shooter is just an amazing human being, an amazing friend. Shooter is also a brilliant producer; he’s produced some of my favorite works, so he’s really knowledgeable, especially with the type of music I love and I’m into.
When he reached out and said he wanted to be part of this — in a letter he wrote me — it all seemed like it couldn’t have been more perfect. I was really excited when he reached out, and, man, I feel like he did a great job of capturing exactly what we needed to.”
Of course, fans of Willie and Waylon, one of country music’s most iconic duos, if you will, loved seeing these two team up for such an impressive album, and Lukas didn’t rule out the possibility of one day doing a collaborative album with Shooter, in the same vein of some of their fathers’ iconic work like Waylon & Willie.
Shooter is now fully pursuing a career as a producer, but he used to perform as a solo artist, and so there may be room for them to work on an album where they actually sing together too:
“I think this is kind of the way to do that. Shooter is very much a producer; he loves producing his friends’ music, and people he believes in. I think that’s where he feels the most at home, in his production. So this is how Lukas and Shooter collaborate.
We have sung together; we might do an album together one time where we sing together. But I really think he loves his role as a producer most, and he’s damn good at it.”
I’m not sure if it’s even something they’ve discussed, or Lukas just throwing ideas out there, but either way, I actually need this to happen…
Clearly, they work well together and make a great team, and I’m going to leave some of my favorites from American Romance below because you’re missing out if you haven’t gotten into this one yet. They come by their talent and taste for music very honestly, that’s for sure…
“Montana”
“Outsmarted”
“Pretty Much”
“American Romance”
