Austin, TX) – Just because we are all practicing social distancing and not gathering together in public spaces, it doesn’t stop musician and artist Micah Nelson from bringing live performances to the masses.
Since sheltering-in-place at his home in Austin, TX, Nelson has embarked on a tour of his immediate surrounding areas in an effort to share music through social media.
So far, songs posted on his Instagram and YouTube channel include performances of John Prine’s “Boundless Love,” Neil Young’s “Tell Me Why” (LIVE! from The Bed), a variation on Bill Wither’s “Ain’t No Sunshine,” a Syd Barret/Neil Young medley of “Golden Hair” and “When You Dance,” as well as The Carter Family’s “Keep On The Sunny Side,” and an instrumental tribute to Bert Jansch on “Black Mountainside” (the last two both LIVE! from The Bench and featuring his wife, Alex).
He also joined his brother, Lukas, for a duet with keyboard and guitar of The Beatles song “The Inner Light,” as part of The Inner Light Challenge. The challenge, which will help raise more funds, was launched by The Material World Foundation (created by George Harrison) after they donated $500,000 to help those impacted by Covid-19.
On April 11, Nelson will host Farm Aid’s special broadcast, At Home With Farm Aid. Micah, Lukas, and their father and Farm Aid founding board member Willie Nelson, will host the hour-long event to raise funds and awareness for farmers impacted by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Tune in the simulcast on AXS TV and at www.farmaid.org, as well as across the Network’s various social media platforms on Saturday starting at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT.
Micah recently took part in Luck Reunion’s streaming marathon music variety show, Til Further Notice. The six-hour virtual concert featured Neil Young, Paul Simon, Lucinda Williams, Margo Price, and many more, as well as Micah in a set with Willie and Lukas. Rolling Stone called their family-set “the highlight” for Luck Reunion’s “most emotional year yet – with no-crowd.” The Austin American-Statesman agreed naming their closing performance, which included two Particle Kid songs – “Everything is Bullshit” and “Wheels” – the “Best Musical Moment.”
More streaming performances from Micah’s LIVE! from. . . virtual tour will be posted on his socials in the coming weeks, with more events on various platforms in the works.
Particle Kid – the ingenious musical identity of singer-songwriter, musician, and visual artist Micah Nelson – just released an immersive all-new concert recording. LIVE! UNDERGROUND out via Overseas Artists Recordings (OAR).
LIVE! UNDERGROUND was recorded last December by musician/engineer Bernie Larsen at his Ojai Underground Exchange in Ojai CA, mixed by Niko Bolas (Neil Young, Warren Zevon) at his Ventura, CA studio and then “fucked up” by Nelson on his own 4-track cassette machine, before finally being mastered by Bob Rice.
The album sees Particle Kid – that is, Nelson backed by longtime friends Tony Peluso (drums, SPDX, Juno 6) and Aroyn Davis (bass) – putting an expansive, remarkably spontaneous, new spin on songs originally found on what Rolling Stone has hailed as “a series of excellent, deeply adventurous albums,” including such fan favorites as “Radio Flyer,” “Still Going,” and “Everything Is Bullshit.” The striking cover and album art was created by Nelson.
Particle Kid debuted a limited number of physical CD copies of LIVE! UNDERGROUND on his west coast Cosmic Yarn Tour late last month. The band has spent much of the past two years on the road, including an epic 2019 tour alongside The Flaming Lips and The Claypool Lennon Delirium, as well as U.S. and European headline dates, performances at the Outlaw Music Festival, and shows with Willie Nelson, Neil Young + Promise of the Real, and Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real.
Tracklisting:
- Radio Flyer
- Backwards
- Little Fish (Deep Pond)
- Myssus Crow
- Hollyweird
- Still Going
- Magic Mirror
- Remaerd
- Everything is Bullshit
- Sdrawkcab
LIVE! UNDERGROUND follows Particle Kid’s acclaimed third album, WINDOW ROCK, available now for streaming and download HERE. Described by Nelson as “a journey of minimalism and simplexity,” WINDOW ROCK arrived last summer to critical applause from the likes of Rolling Stone, which praised the album for its “contagious pop hooks with deeply dissonant psychedelia.” WINDOW ROCK “finds Nelson turning his future folk microscope onto the existential crises plaguing our world,” noted Consequence of Sound.
“The results are as intimate in their psychedelic vastness as they are warm in their bedroom tones.” “The music of Particle Kid has tended to champion grit and overdrive,” wrote GLIDE, “and WINDOW ROCK is no different. More expansive and grittier… It’s the sound of a full band projecting outward, dealing with modern pressures and injustices through their instruments; and when they capture this with the purity of the moment, it really works.” Nelson “is an artist that rolls up his sleeves, opens his ribs, and almost entirely drops old and familiar habits in hopes of finding a new northern star,” raved Pop Bollocks.
“Across these nine tracks Particle Kid addresses moral ambiguities, ethical corrosion, and the concerns of cultural life. Tracks like ‘Magic Mirror’ and ‘Stroboscopic Light‘ are explicit descriptions of our limited perception, or heightened awareness of how things appear at certain times in life when trying to reach out and forge connection.” “From the get-go, electronic beats and various bleeps and bloops bleed into unfiltered grunge badassery,” wrote Stomp and Stammer. “In all seriousness, this one resides somewhere in between fun, electronic dance music and caustic noise rock.”