Luck Reunion Festival with multiple performers on 3 different stages at Willie Nelson's ranch in Spicewood, Texas, on March 16, 2017.
Luck Reunion is a unique festival dedicated to cultivating and showcasing the ever-evolving American roots music community; revitalizing Nelson’s beloved Luck, TX as a lasting hub for the legacies among us and the artists carrying their creative torch. The daylong festival welcomes industry taste makers and special guests to an unforgettable music experience set in the idyllic Texas Hill Country.Willie Nelson
Beginning as an exclusive event hosted on Willie Nelson’s Luck, Texas ranch, “Luck Reunion” is a movement dedicated to cultivating and celebrating the evolution of our American roots. Our goal is to attract musicians, artisans, and chefs, who like the outlaws and outliers before them, follow their dreams without compromise. By collaborating with a group of creators who share our vision, we aim to celebrate the legacies still among us, while lifting up the new crop of individuals who share a respect for those who blazed the trails before them. We are on a mission to cultivate the new while showing honor to influence. Join us. (Source: Festival)
The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie, combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust, made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. He was one of the main figures of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. Nelson has acted in over 30 films, co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and the legalization of marijuana.
Lukas & Promise Of The Real
Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Lukas Nelson began his career at a young age touring with his father, country music icon Willie Nelson. After relocating from Paia, Hawaii in 2007 to attend college in Los Angeles, Nelson met drummer Anthony LoGerfo at a Neil Young concert. The two musicians began playing together, and by the end of 2008 they'd enlisted bassist Merlyn Kelly and percussionist Tato Melgar to form Promise of the Real. They quickly released a live EP called Live Beginnings to sell at their gigs. They were touring heavily by early 2009, including stints opening for Willie Nelson and B.B. King. Employing a mix of blues, reggae, roots, and straight-up American rock, they issued their first studio recording, the Brando's Paradise Sessions EP, which included artwork by Lukas' younger brother Micah Nelson. Micah's artwork, especially the peace sign logo from this EP, would become closely associated with all of the band's imagery and he soon began joining the band on-stage, painting during their live sets.
Aaron Lee Tasjan
”Don’t walk away, I’m talking to you,” sings Aaron Lee Tasjan in the first chorus of the first song off of his new EP, Crooked River Burning. The song is aptly titled Don’t Walk Away and covers a lot of ground in four minutes and twenty-one seconds. It is, in it’s own way, much like the artist himself: filled with insight and brutal honesty, humorous and sincere in a fashion which is truly unique to the man delivering the song. These songs have been heard all across the USA this past year; in just about every bar, parking lot, van and music club that is still open and still puts on live music. As you listen to the songs on this EP, you begin to understand that while Tasjan seemingly works endlessly to bring his music to whomever will listen out on the road, he is also singing these songs because he has to. There is pain within the reedy Midwestern drawl of his voice but also the ability to laugh at life’s misfortunes and ultimately transcend them by putting into words and music all of his thoughts and experiences along the way.
Valley Queen
Incorporating influences from Southern rock, Laurel Canyon, and Woodstock, Valley Queen are led by Arkansas native Natalie Carol. The band formed after Carol relocated to Los Angeles in the early 2010s and heard guitarist David Donaldson at a local jam session. Hearing traces of the blues and Southern rock she grew up with, she reached out and the two began exchanging ideas for songs. The Valley Queen double-sided single "Carnaval/Make You Feel" appeared in mid-2014. By the time the songs "In My Place" and "High Expectations" were released by Canvasback Music/Atlantic Records in 2016, the lineup consisted of Carol, guitarist Shawn Morones, bassist Neil Wogensen, and drummer Gerry Doot.
Margo Price
The Fader has called her "country's next star." Her debut solo album Midwest Farmer's Daughter was released on Third Man Records on March 25, 2016. The album was recorded at Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, and was engineered by Matt Ross-Spang. The album was recorded in three days. On tour, she is backed by her band the Pricetags.
Shovel and Ropes
During school Cary Ann Hearst began performing music as a solo artist in local bars and venues. After graduating she toured, recorded and performed with various groups including Caravan and Borrowed Angels. Hearst saw Michael Trent, born in Denver but relocated to Charleston, performing with his band The Films in 2002 and they began touring with various artists including Jump, Little Children. Hearst released her first solo album Dust and Bones in 2006 and Trent released his self-titled solo album, also his first, in 2007.
Texas Gentlemens
A celebrated studio band that took the next step and became performers on-stage, the Texas Gentlemen are a group of musicians who backed some of the biggest names in Lone Star music before striking out on their own. The story of the Texas Gentlemen begins with Beau Patrick Bedford, a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer from Dallas who first made his way into the music business playing in Jonathan Tyler's road band, the Northern Lights. After heading out on his own in 2009, Bedford started producing sessions for other artists, beginning with R&B vocalist Larry Gee. As Bedford developed a reputation for his production skills with acts such as Kirby Brown, the Dovetails, the Roomsounds, and Paul Cauthen, he began working with an informal collection of local players who showed exceptional versatility and worked well together, developing a cohesive sound that set them apart from the sterile technique of many studio pickers.
Other performers included Bee Caves, Indianola, Devon Devon Gilfillian, Big Thief, Valerie June, The Felice Brothers, Lily Meola, Paul Thorn, The Wild Roots, Brent Cobb, Frankie Lee, and Andrew Combs.
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Photos by Ralph Arvesen
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