If you’re a fan of Willie Nelson, then you probably know that he’s been married four times, and gone through three different divorces in his 90 years of life. He’s been married to his wife Annie since 1991, and they have two children together, Willie’s youngest sons Lukas and Micah Nelson.

Both are very talented musicians in their own right, and Lukas released his debut solo album today American Romance, which I highly recommend you check out if you haven’t yet, because it’s an amazing album. I can’t get enough…

Just last year, he put out his final record with his longtime band, Promise Of The Real, titled Sticks & Stones, and around that time, he sat down with Southern Living Editor in Chief Sid Evans for an episode of their Biscuits & Jam podcast, where they of course talked music and what it was like to grow up with a dad in Willie Nelson. Lukas has talked plenty about his dad’s impact on his music and of course his life, saying previously on an episode of the Whiskey Riff Raff podcast that he wants to keep his music “alive forever,” but I’d never really heard anyone ask specifically about some of their differences.

And of course, no matter who your parents are, along with all the things about them you want to emulate as an adult and parent one day, there’s some things you probably want to do differently, too.

Lukas’ answer to what their biggest difference is was pretty dang funny, as he said he hasn’t been quite as eager to jump into marriage as his dad was, laughing as he said he doesn’t want to go through three divorces and would “rather just settle when I’m 50”:

“I think the difference between him and I is that I decided to stay away from marriage, at least in the beginning so that I can pick one and stick with it.  I don’t want to go through three divorces and then settle when I’m 50. I’d rather just settle when I’m 50, if that’s what it takes.”

I mean, he’s got a pretty good point there…

He also went on to talk about how he learned so much about songwriting and being a musician by “osmosis” and just watching his dad growing up:

“Well, I learned a lot by osmosis. It wasn’t that he sat me down and said, ‘This is how you write a song.’  I absorbed a lot with what I listened to and I think that I sort of recognized that I could write a song at an early age and he gave me confidence when he would say, ‘Hey, that’s pretty good.’”

More recently, he revealed that he’s learned that you don’t have to copy your heroes, especially their bad habits, to make good music. He confessed to growing out his hair and beard to be more like his dad, smoking to be like Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan, but none of led to a better product or an authentic version of himself.

That being said, getting the stamp of approval from one of the greatest songwriters that has ever lived, even if he is your father, has got to be beyond meaningful:

“So that was what gave me confidence to keep going and nurturing that talent and saying, ‘Hey, we’ve got a gift and maybe you should appreciate that and nurture it and take care of yourself and work towards it so that you have purpose and meaning in this vast life we have.’

There’s so many directions you can go and it can be so overwhelming. And so I think what I learned from him at an early age was just to recognize if you have something and follow it.”

If you’ve never really gotten into Lukas’ music before, his debut record is truly incredible, and it’s already up there on my album of the year list. He certainly came by his songwriting and guitar playing talent very honestly, and in addition to that, the man can sing his behind off and just has that special “thing” that you can’t quite put your finger on, in addition to his obvious talents, that sets him apart and makes his music stand out.

Of course, he’s been heavily influenced by his dad, as has pretty much every other musician o the planet, but he has his own voice and is very much his own artist in terms of what he has to say and how it all sounds. I could honestly go on and on about how much I love his music, and I’ve been a fan of him for a long time now, so I’m excited to see where this album takes him and how he continues to find his own place in country from here, because he certainly deserves it.

Please listen to the entire album in order, but if you need just a taste of it here, I’d recommend starting with these…

“Montana”