A Few Stars Apart
opens with "We'll Be Alright," a moment of reassuring stillness that acts as a comfort and a keynote for the fourth major-label album from
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
. The consoling words of "We'll Be Alright" certainly speak to the uncertainty that ran rampant during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time where
Nelson
found himself quarantined with family. A period of reflection resulted in most of the songs on
, while the album itself was recorded in Nashville with producer
Dave Cobb
. The contrast between the music's introspective origins and its full-blooded realization is what fuels
, which feels lean and purposeful in a way
Turn Off the News, Build a Garden
and its accompanying
Naked Garden
did not.
Promise of the Real
don't reveal any new tricks here, yet they seem reinvigorated just getting back to the business of making music, while
's inward gaze helped him sharpen his songwriting -- so much so that he gets away with a fresh spin on the biblical canard "god won't give us more than we can handle." Like this well-known phrase, the comforts
offer may not be original, but part of their power lies in their familiarity: it's the sound of tradition moving forward through the bad times and into the good ones. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine