Willie Nelson is a legendary figure, but have you heard about his talented son, Lukas?
Lukas Nelson possesses remarkable skills that truly deserve the spotlight. While he’s undoubtedly learned a great deal from his father, the real question is—could even Willie pull off such an extraordinary rendition of The Sound of Silence?
The year 2020 was challenging for everyone, yet Lukas Nelson managed to provide a ray of hope during some of the darkest moments.
Amid global turmoil and as New York City faced the brunt of the pandemic, Lukas chose to perform a cover of Paul Simon’s The Sound of Silence. This heartfelt rendition quickly became a beacon of comfort for music enthusiasts everywhere.
When the bustling streets of New York fell eerily quiet, Lukas’ interpretation of The Sound of Silence created a profound sense of unity.
Lukas Nelson Birthday (Source: nationaltoday.com)
A Voice That’s Truly His Own
If you’ve been following his journey, you already know Lukas isn’t unfamiliar with the stage. Being the son of country icon Willie Nelson comes with its own expectations.
However, Lukas has consistently proven he’s more than just his father’s son. His cover of The Sound of Silence showcased his individuality. Lukas Nelson stands as a musician with a distinct voice and a powerful message.
It’s true that Lukas shares some similarities with his father—there’s no denying it. But reducing him to a country version of Willie Nelson completely misses the mark. Lukas has crafted a sound that’s entirely his own, and this comes through brilliantly in his stripped-down, acoustic take on the song.
While The Sound of Silence is an iconic track, Lukas made it feel personal and refreshed. He stays within his vocal range, delivering authenticity without relying on digital enhancements—just pure tone and emotion.
His voice, rich and deeply felt, brings a new dimension to the song, and his guitar skills? Flawless.
Lukas Nelson To Release New Album This Summer, Unveils First ... (Source: musicrow.com)
Continuing Willie Nelson’s Legacy
As one fan put it, “Willie’s voice will never leave us.” And that’s absolutely true.
But Lukas’ voice is here now, powerful in its own right. Whether he’s reinterpreting a classic or performing his own creations, Lukas is proving he’s a force to be reckoned with.
So, if you haven’t already, take a moment to listen to Lukas Nelson’s rendition of The Sound of Silence:
And if you found this cover as moving as others did, don’t forget to share it with your friends on Facebook!
Nat King Cole: Life and work as a musician and singer
Even decades after his death, the discussion is still ongoing as to which aspect of his work has earned Nat King Cole a more important place in music history. Is it his talent as a jazz pianist, or is it rather his charm as an entertainer who was permanently resident in the upper echelons of the charts? Whatever the case, his unbroken popularity, as evidenced by countless best-of compilations and rarity releases, shows that he remains a force in the business.
Early Life
Nathaniel Adams Coles was born into poverty on March 17, 1919 (according to other sources 1917) in Montgomery, Alabama. His father initially worked as a butcher, but took up a calling as a preacher when the family moved to Chicago four years later.
As a child, Cole learned to play his mother's piano and, like his brother Eddie (double bass), was enthusiastic about music. Together they founded the Eddie Cole's Swingsters, toured the Chicago area and signed a recording contract with Decca. The combo also included dancer Nadine Robinson, who married Nat Cole in 1937.
In the same year, the brothers go their separate ways, without their studio recordings ever seeing the light of day. Nat Cole tried his hand as a solo pianist in Los Angeles before performing with bass and guitar accompaniment as a regular guest at the Swanee Inn between 1937 and 1940. The band derived the name King Cole Trio from the first line of a popular children's song (“Old King Cole was a merry old soul”).
Starting a career
With a new contract from Decca, they released their first single “That Ain't Right” in 1941, which climbed to the top of Billboard's Harlem Hit Parade. It was the first of many successes throughout the 40s: the following singles “All for You” (1942), “Straighten Up and Fly Right”, “Gee Baby, Ain't I Good to You” (both 1944) made the trio famous nationally, while “(I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons” (1946) and “Nature Boy” (1948) even made it to the top of the charts. “The Christmas Song (Merry Christmas to You)” (1946) only reached third place, but in the decades that followed it became a Christmas classic.
This success was no fluke. From the middle of the decade, jazz took new directions such as bebop and, like swing, lost the favor of the general public. The new trend was pop, and Nat King Cole jumped on board with conviction. This decision cost him many fans, but also opened up an audience of millions.
Conquering the Charts
When he reached the top of the singles charts for the third time in 1950 with “Mona Lisa”, the band name had changed to Nat 'King' Cole & the Trio. Soon the last part was dropped, and in the following years the accompaniment changed between a minimal line-up and a full orchestra, depending on the occasion and the show. Cole only occasionally hit the piano and preferred the position behind the microphone.
In the 50s, he is one of the most popular names alongside Frank Sinatra, Perry Como and Dean Martin. His disadvantage compared to them: he is black. He is committed to fighting the omnipresent racism, suing hotels that do not want to accommodate him or moving to a neighborhood in Los Angeles that until then had only been inhabited by white people. At the same time, he tries to smooth things over, which earns him enemies on all sides. He is physically attacked in Alabama during a performance.
Cole's unique features
With his soft voice and flattering appeal, he played his way into the hearts of a worldwide audience. His tireless touring took him not only across the U.S., to Las Vegas and on television, but also to Europe, Asia and Latin America. His forays into the film industry were less successful. His most important role came in 1957 as W.C. Handy in the biographical film “St. Louis Blues”.
With the rise of rock 'n' roll in the second half of the 50s, Cole turned increasingly to jazz again. The album “After Midnight” was released in 1957, but it only had modest commercial success. In 1956, King was the first African American to receive his own television show, which, after initial success, was discontinued in December 1957. The official reason given was that not enough program sponsors could be found. King explained the failure with racism in the business world, where no black artists were supported.
Going to the Broadway
In 1960, he put together a Broadway show that never made it to the stage. In 1962, however, he had one of the biggest successes of his career with the country-esque “Ramblin' Rose”. This came to an abrupt end three years later: diagnosed with lung cancer in December 1964, Cole died on February 15, 1965 at the age of 45.
His legacy is so great that he was able to achieve commercial success in the decades that followed. The biggest posthumous coup was “Unforgettable”, a duet with his daughter Natalie, who was born out of his second marriage to singer Marie Ellington. A minor hit in 1952, the song, with the added female vocals, not only established itself in the charts, but also won a Grammy in 1992 for “Best Record Of The Year”.
“I had a wife and children I loved more than anything in the world. I tried to take care of them, not have trouble, but the big pains in the press kept calling me the voice, the spokesman, or even the conscience of a new generation. This was crazy. I had always sung only straightforward songs and portrayed powerful new events. I hardly had anything in common with this generation, let alone knew much about it,” explains Bob Dylan in his autobiography ‘Chronicles Volume One’, published in 2004.
These are clear words that characterize his difficult relationship with the world beyond the stage. Adored by his fans, sometimes glorified as a messiah by the media, Dylan has spent most of his life trying to escape their suffocating embrace. But he cannot talk away the social significance of his songs either. The extent of their influence can be seen from the fact that he has not only been one of the leading candidates for the Nobel Prize in Literature since the mid-1990s, but also actually won it in 2016.
Bob Dylan | Biography, Songs, Albums, & Facts | Britannica (Source: www.britannica.com)
Robert Allen Zimmerman was born in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941, but grew up in rural Hibbing, an area characterized by huge iron mines. As a child, he taught himself to play the piano and guitar and, by his own account, spent many a night glued to the radio, listening to country, folk and rock 'n' roll. After his first experiences in high school bands, he moved to St. Paul after graduating from high school and began studying music. He was never in class, however, as he was too busy discovering and playing new pieces.
In 1961, he hitchhiked to New York to meet his idol, Woody Guthrie, who was then forgotten and seriously ill in a hospice. He had meanwhile adopted the stage name Bob Dylan, probably in homage to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas. To make ends meet, he played the numerous cafés in Greenwich Village, performing a repertoire that consisted mainly of Guthrie pieces.
In 1962, he was surprised to receive a record deal with Columbia. He was the first folk singer in the repertoire of the major label. But manager John Hammond was impressed by the scrawny 21-year-old with the raspy voice, the unorthodox and inelegant guitar style, and the depth of his statements.
Bob Dylan | Spotify (Source: open.spotify.com)
In 1962, the debut album “Bob Dylan” was released, which mainly contains cover versions – including “Man Of Constant Sorrow”, which later became the title track of the successful film “O‘ Brother, Where Art Thou”. A year later, “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” laid the foundation for success. “Blowin' In The Wind“, ‘Masters Of War’ and ‘A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall’ are enthusiastically embraced by the fledgling protest movement. A Peter, Paul and Mary cover of ‘Blowin’ In The Wind” reaches the top of the US singles charts, and Dylan goes on a successful tour with folk singer Joan Baez, who makes him famous nationwide. Their love affair is still a topic of discussion more than 40 years later.
In 1964, he reached the first high point of his career with “The Times They Are A-Changin'”. The title track, “With God On Our Side” and “Only A Pawn In Their Game” describe a world in transition and can be heard everywhere at protest marches and events. Dylan, however, feels misunderstood and increasingly alienated from the press, which stylizes him into an icon, and the fans, who see him as a prophet.
In 1965, he performs at the Newport Folk Festival and reaps bitter boos when he begins his short set with the band and the electrified “Like a Rolling Stone”. An even more significant scandal occurs a year later in London. “Judas,” shouts a member of the audience as Dylan steps onto the stage. ‘Liar,’ he retorts, turning to his band. ‘Play fucking loud,’ he demands, before launching into a distorted version of ‘Like a Rolling Stone.’ Shrill whistles and angry fans characterize his performances during this time – and increasingly drive Dylan onto the defensive.
Biography – Bob Dylan Center | Tulsa, OK (Source: bobdylancenter.com)
Now married and a father, he craves some distance. He uses a motorcycle accident to go into hiding from 1966 to 1968, hoping to be forgotten. A plan he does not succeed in. Although he first turned to country with “Nashville Skyline” and then to Anton Chekhov's short stories with “Self Portrait” (both 1969), the public attention remained, speaking of the “middle period” and the “comeback album”. “One of many,” Dylan smugly explains in his autobiography.
After the ebbing of youthful protest, a new phase begins with “Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid” (1973). Dylan is not only one of the actors in the eponymous Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah, but also the author of the soundtrack, which includes “Knockin' On Heaven's Door”, one of his most famous pieces. “Planet Waves“, ”Blood On The Tracks" (both 1974) and ‘Desire’ (1976) catapult him back to the top of the charts – and with him his long-time companion The Band, who also celebrate great success without him.
In 1978, the musician and his wife Sarah divorced, which plunged Dylan into a severe creative crisis. On stage, he had a religious epiphany and became a devout Christian. By 1981, he had recorded three little-noticed albums of religious songs. At least he received his first of several Grammies for the track “Gotta Serve Somebody”.
After that, he seemed increasingly uninspired. He successfully toured with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers and reached the top of the charts with a live album accompanied by the Grateful Dead, but by his own admission, he had lost touch with his music. In 1988, he finally pulls himself together again – first as a member of the supergroup Travelling Wilburys (which also includes Petty, Jeff Lynne, George Harrison and Roy Orbison), then with the start of a worldwide concert tour that continues into the new millennium and is given the name “Neverending Tour”.
Biography – Bob Dylan Center | Tulsa, OK (Source: bobdylancenter.com)
New musical impulses arise during the recording of “Oh Mercy” (1989) under the leadership of U2 producer Daniel Lanois. Dylan's appearance at an anniversary concert in Woodstock (1994) and an MTV unplugged recording in the same year, which makes his well-known pieces from the 60s accessible to a younger audience, generate further momentum.
With age, Dylan seems to have largely made peace with his public image. In the new millennium, he has released compelling studio albums peppered with autobiographical touches. In them, Dylan pays homage to traditional styles such as country, blues, rockabilly and western swing, thereby expressing his conviction, also formulated elsewhere, that a renewal of popular music can only come from a reflection on its origins.
Although his rare interviews and the ban on photographing him continue to demonstrate his displeasure with the press, in the middle of the new millennium he is more open than ever before. One year after the first volume of his autobiography, Martin Scorsese's “No Direction Home”, a documentary film that is well worth seeing, was released in 2005. In it, Dylan talks at length about his career from its beginnings until 1966. Another cinematic honor came in 2007, when Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale, Heath Ledger and Richard Gere, among others, took on the role of the Bard in Todd Hayne's “I'm Not There”.
In 2007, the compilation “Dylan” was released on three CDs, which is probably the definitive collection of hits from 46 years of music history. There is also a 2-CD set that contains the first remix the grandmaster has ever approved of. In “Most likely You'll Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)”, British producer Mark Ronson replaces the guitar and harmonica with hip hop beats and saxophone sounds, which sounds surprisingly good.
Bob Dylan | Biography, Songs, Albums, & Facts | Britannica (Source: www.britannica.com)
After years of his fans demanding a literary prize for Dylan, their wish was finally granted in 2008: the rock legend received the American Pulitzer Prize in a special category for “lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic expressiveness”. The Columbia University jury honored Dylan's “far-reaching influence” on pop music.
He still causes controversy. In 2011, he performed in Beijing and rumors spread that he had made a deal with the communist government: a concert yes, criticism no. In May, the bard took to his website and countered the rumors in unusually verbose and vehement terms. There was no deal and he played what he wanted. He concludes with a dig: “Everybody knows by now that there's a gazillion books on me either out or coming out in the near future. So I'm encouraging anybody who's ever met me, heard me or even seen me, to get in on the action and scribble their own book. You never know, somebody might have a great book in them”.
In 2012, “Tempest” was released, the 35th studio album in Dylan's career. Subsequently, the singer organized and managed his own legacy with various editions of “The Bootleg Series”, which reflect different periods of his career. “Vol. 8”, for example, contains sessions from the late 1980s to 2006, while the deluxe version of ‘The Best Of The Cutting Edge 1965 - 1966: The Bootleg Series Vol. 12’, for example, fills an entire CD with the various takes of ”Like A Rolling Stone”
In 2016, Dylan sold his private archive to Tulsa University and the George Kaiser Family Foundation for an estimated $15-20 million. He also dedicated himself to other greats of American music history with the cover albums “Shadows In The Night” (2015) and “Fallen Angels” (2016).
Bob Dylan - Kelvin Okafor Art (Source: kelvinokaforart.com)
In 2016, he was the first musician ever to receive the Nobel Prize in Literature. According to the Nobel Committee, Dylan had “formed and established new poetic forms of expression within the great American song tradition”. In particular, the spokeswoman for the Nobel Prize jury was extremely impressed by the lyrical output: “Bob Dylan writes poetry for the ear, but his works can also be wonderfully read as poetry.”
The award ceremony is somewhat bumpy, however. At first, Dylan takes two weeks to let the committee know whether he would accept the prize at all, then he announces that he cannot accept the prize in person due to 'existing commitments'. The official ceremony finally takes place on December 10, 2016. Colleague Patti Smith will sing his song “A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall” in Dylan's place and the US ambassador to Sweden will read his speech. Seemingly unimpressed by all the hype, the master even released another album with “Rough and Rowdy Ways” in the summer of 2020, with brand new songs.
For his German tour in the fall of 2022, the organizer Livenation (Marek Lieberberg) has ordered a cell phone ban: the use of smartphones in the venues is prohibited – quite an effort for the security staff. Depending on the seat, concert tickets can cost as much as 450 euros. An exception is allowed, described on Ticketmaster - in an emergency: “You can unlock your phone at any time by going to the clearly marked phone use areas in the entrance area of the venue.” The old master shouldn't care, the internet affects him so little that he follows exactly zero profiles on his Instagram account. However, he does trend on TikTok again and again in his 20s, especially as young fans are growing up.
Sun Records. Actually, from a musicological point of view, only two associations are allowed with this term: Elvis and Johnny Cash. While The Pelvis mutated into a rock'n'roll idol but ultimately succumbed to his wealth, Cash survived his numerous unhealthy escapades and, despite his death in 2003, is undisputedly considered the king of country music.
It may sound almost unbelievable that Sun boss Sam Phillips initially rejected the young Johnny with his Tennessee Two (with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant) in 1955 because he introduced himself as a gospel singer. Too uncommercial. It was only when the initially offended Cash ditched the biblical lyrics and came up with the number “Hey Porter” that Phillips was enthusiastic. The song became the B-side of his first Sun single “Cry Cry Cry”, which promptly climbed the country charts.
Early Life of the Country Legend
Born on February 26, 1932 in Kingsland, Arkansas, Cash doesn't sound like Nashville, and even though his career coincides with the birth of rock 'n' roll, this category doesn't fit either. Although his rebellious attitude and the simple yet meaningful composition patterns resemble the attitudes of the emerging rock movement.
In 1957, Johnny was honored with the first Sun artist to release an LP: “Johnny Cash With His Hot And Blue Guitar”. At that time, the former truck driver Elvis was already a minor star. A certain June Carter was already singing in his band and, through Elvis, who idolized Johnny, she met her future husband. At the time, Cash is still married to Vivian Liberto, whom he marries in the mid-50s after his stint in the army in Landsberg, Germany.
In the early 60s, the singer falls out with Sun Records again over a planned gospel album and seizes the opportunity to change labels when media giant Columbia Records makes a lucrative offer. This is when his tragic, almost nine-year alcohol and drug career begins: to physically cope with over 300 performances a year, Johnny swallows amphetamines like other people take glucose. A liqueur is also always quickly at hand. In 1963, he leaves his family and moves to New York, where he gets into trouble with the law.
In addition to a few serious car accidents while intoxicated, which usually only cause the star minor scratches, Cash smuggles pills across the Mexican border in his guitar case and, on top of that, sets a medium-sized fire, which results in a sizable forest fire. It was only when he discovered the Bible and married June Carter, with whom he composed the global hit “Ring of Fire”, that Cash got back on the right track.
In this condition, the most successful phase of his career began at the end of the 60s. In 1968, he performed live in Folsom Prison; the recording became his most popular album, an endorsement that he was able to confirm the following year with “Live At Saint Quentin” (both records were reissued at the end of 2000 in a restored version with previously unreleased material). He also received a Grammy for the liner notes to Bob Dylan's “Nashville Skyline”.
Johnny Cash - Wikipedia (Source: en.wikipedia.org)
Johnny Cash, the TV-Host
From June 1969 to March 1971, he had his own television show on ABC, performed at the White House for President Richard Nixon despite his anti-government views (Vietnam War), and published his autobiography, which became a bestseller. But soon his star is rapidly declining - too rocky and rebellious for the Nashville world, too country-oriented for the rock scene, he falls into the category of aging stars who travel the world with their well-known hits and occasionally release a high-quality recording that is largely ignored by the general public.
In the 80s, he recorded some of the songs from Bruce Springsteen's “Nebraska” and played with the Highwaymen, a band that also included Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. It was not until 1993, when Cash sang the song “The Wanderer” on the U2 album “Zooropa” (to Bono's great delight) that his big moment arrived. Def Jam founder and Beastie Boys discoverer Rick Rubin heard the song and contacted the legend to record an album together. The '94 work, simply titled “American Recordings”, presents a Cash that no one had ever seen before: Freed from unnecessary country ballast, he murmurs his songs and those of Leonard Cohen, Tom Waits and Danzig, deep and dark to an acoustic guitar. Cash makes a video for the song “Delia's Gone” in which supermodel Kate Moss is shot twice.
The duo continued their success with “Unchained” after headlining the Glastonbury Festival in 1996. In Germany, Cash could be seen live for the last time on July 31, 1997 in Koblenz (!). In the summer of 2000, the 3CD retrospective “Love God Murder” was released. Although the singer has been suffering from Parkinson's disease since 1997, he manages to complete a third part of the series with Rick Rubin, which is released in October 2000 with the title “American III: Solitary Man” and represents something of a legacy. Due to Cash's frequent hospital visits, few expect the legend to work with Rubin again.
Johnny Cash: Biography, Country Musician, Grammy Winner (Source: www.biography.com)
Role Model for Millions
In addition, Franz Dobler's Cash biography “Die seltsame und schöne Welt der Country-Musik” (The Strange and Beautiful World of Country Music) is being released. Dobler also compiled the tribute album “A Boy Named Sue - Johnny Cash Revisited,” on which German indie bands pay homage to the legend. Two tribute albums are also being released in the US, and a film adaptation of Cash's turbulent life is being planned, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon. The country singer suffered a heavy blow in 2003: on the evening of May 15, Johnny's wife June Carter Cash died at the age of 73 in Nashville's Baptist Hospital as a result of heart valve surgery.
Close associates of Cash report that the musician is willing to tackle another album project with Rubin despite the heavy loss. In August, however, he has to be hospitalized again in Nashville due to his diabetes. Two days after his release, Cash was about to travel to California to work with Rubin on new songs, but unexpectedly died quickly from the effects of the disease on September 12, 2003. Johnny Cash was 71 years old. At the end of the year, the 5-CD box set “Unearthed” will be released, which was planned during his lifetime. In addition to outtakes and unreleased songs from the Rubin era, it also includes a gospel album recorded by Cash in 1996, which has been his life's dream since he was introduced as a singer at Sun Records in 1955.
Johnny Cash leaves behind a body of work of enormous proportions, which even after his death still provides material for various releases. An extremely recommendable audio book, consisting of four CDs, will be available in late summer 2004. Narrated by actor Peter Lohmeyer and peppered with 36 songs, “Auf Kurs” tells the long story of the country legend with extreme meticulousness. In the summer of 2005, the 4-CD box set “The Legend” was released, once again providing an overview of his musical career up to 1994. The material is partly chronological, but mainly arranged by theme. CD 1 contains all chart hits from 1956 to 1979, and CD 2 contains the most important singles. On CD 3, Cash covers folk, blues and hillbilly standards, while CD 4 contains duets with Bob Dylan, Elvis Costello and his wife June Carter Cash, among others. The package is rounded off by seven unreleased songs and an elaborate booklet.
The Legendary Johnny Cash Would've Turned 84 Today [VIDEO] (Source: k99.com)
Turning his Life into a Musical
In 2006, the man in black received higher artistic honors. On Broadway in New York, Richard Maltby Jr., who directed Miss Saigon, among other productions, and William Meade are planning the Cash musical “Ring of Fire”, which will include 38 of his songs. The directors obtained Cash's consent years before his death. The piece is intended to follow in the tradition of so-called jukebox musicals such as “Mamma Mia” or “Rat Pack”. In September 2005, it will be tested in front of an audience, with the Broadway premiere scheduled for February at the Ethel Barrymore Theater. It has not yet been determined who will play Cash. A film starring Joaquin Phoenix is also in the works and will be released in February 2006. While “Walk The Line” concentrated on the early years, “Ring Of Fire” aims to tell Cash's story comprehensively.
But anyone who thought that the “Ring Of Fire - The Legend Of Johnny Cash” best-of CD, released in 2005, was the last posthumous recording of the great man, has made the calculation without the marketing of modern times. First, the double CD “Personal File” hit the shelves in May 2006, featuring archival material from the 70s and 80s. Then Rick Rubin posed as Sherlock Holmes and continued the cult-like “American Recordings” series.
With “American VI: Ain't No Grave,” Rubin closed the archive of his recordings in 2010. Then, in 2014, some Cash recordings from the 1980s emerged and were released under the title “Out Among The Stars.” This was the decade in which Cash was declared persona non grata for both the mainstream and the country scene. So it's no wonder that he tried to adapt his songs to the more modern needs of the country scene.
Apart from various live recordings, it took another ten years for new archive material to find its way to the public. “Songwriter” contains eleven songs from 1993 that Cash recorded shortly before Rubin gave him a new chapter in his career. A discovery that surprised even many fans. It will be difficult to prevent further releases of his estate, even though Rubin's closet has remained closed since 2010.
