Lukas Nelson’s debut solo recording “American Romance” is nominated for a Best Traditional Country Album Grammy. Courtesy photo

The first song Lukas Nelson ever composed, “You Were It,” closes his new Grammy-nominated solo album, “American Romance.” He was 11 years old and living on Maui at the time.

“I wrote it here on a school bus,” Nelson recalled.

A poignant relationship song, it’s hard to imagine that it was composed at such a young age. Both his father, who later recorded it in 2004, and Kris Kristofferson were impressed, with Kristofferson telling him: “You’re going to be a songwriter.”

“It kind of was what got me going and inspired me to play music,” Nelson said. “Putting that on the album and having it hold up against the rest of them, it just seems like full circle and a good way to start the career in a different direction.”

Nelson will headline “Lōkahi: A Celebration of Maui” on Jan. 10 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center with Paul Simon, Pat Simmons, Stephen Wilson Jr., Lily Meola, Pat Simmons Jr. and the Maui Country Band, plus friends and family.

The benefit concert will help raise funds for Housing for Healthcare, a local nonprofit aimed at creating solutions to assist in the recruiting and retention of essential healthcare providers on the island.

“My manager and I were talking about doing something for the community,” he explained. “We put together Lōkahi after the fires, and everyone got to come together for some good music and a good cause. Health care and staffing is a big issue at Maui Memorial that we’re facing. It’s another excuse to get together with the community and celebrate being together again. I’m going to try and make it an annual thing where we do a Lōkahi for something here on the island.”

A previous Grammy-winner for his work with Lady Gaga on the soundtrack for “A Star Is Born,” Nelson is grateful for the new nomination in the Best Traditional Country Album category. Willie Nelson is also nominated in the same category for “Oh What A Beautiful World.”

“We were excited,” said Nelson. “It’s really cool to be nominated and recognized by your peers. My brother is nominated (for Best Americana Album) for the work he did on my dad’s record, ‘The Last Leaf on the Tree.’ I think that’s the first time that three members of a family have been nominated for a Grammy.”

With an iconic cover featuring Nelson in a country diner with an old pickup truck outside, “American Romance” marks a striking artistic progression for this gifted artist. Describing it as a love story to the country that raised him, at the age of 36 (he’s 37 on Christmas Day) he decided to head out solo after years fronting Promise of the Real.

“I just was ready for a change,” he said. “I wanted it to be a songwriting album focused on songs and just really stripped down to the core of what I do. I ended up keeping a lot of the same guys with me on the road. Tato (Melgar) and I still play together. Corey McCormick is in the band full time, which is great. I share him with Neil (Young), and that was the core of Promise of the Real. Anthony (LoGerfo) still plays with Neil, and he’s happy there. I think everything shook out the way it was supposed to be.”

A review of “American Romance” by the British music magazine Mojo praised: “Focusing in the songwriting, at its best the album recalls Gene Clark (‘Outsmarted’), folksy Led Zeppelin (‘All God Did’ and ‘Make You Happy’) and even the very best of his father (the title track).”

Reflecting country, Americana and rock influences, many of the songs were composed on Maui. The opening “Ain’t Done’s” theme of impermanence, he reported, mirrored George Harrison’s song “All Things Must Pass.” “It’s a similar concept,” he said. The sublime, soulful “Disappearing Light,” with its evocative imagery, features Stephen Wilson Jr. on vocals. “I had a poem that I wrote and sent it to Stephen Wilson, and he loved it,” Nelson explained. “He came over, and we traded lines and wrote that song in about an hour.”

Another standout is the rousing love song “Pretty Much.”

“I wrote that in Austin, and I was just imagining what the perfect relationship would be, and at the end of your life, being surrounded by your family,” he said. “Being there with the one you love and looking back at all the ways and times you fell in love with that person. It’s the romantic side of me coming out.”

In November, Nelson collaborated with Sierra Ferrell and The Travelin’ McCourys on a sparkling, bluegrass-flavored cover of Neil Young’s “The Unknown Legend.”

“I really love bluegrass interpretations of songs,” he said. “I did another song with her, an Adele song ‘Someone Like You.’ It’s pretty cool.”

Nelson, with Promise of the Real, spent a few years touring and recording four albums with Young as his backing band.

“It was a great time for me, but I’m really happy playing with my own band and playing my own music too,” he said. “That’s what I feel like I’m meant to do.”

Back on Maui with his family, “it’s nice to just culminate the year with a bit of R&R here in Maui and just spend time with Matt and Lily (Meola) and doing things that are not entertainment industry related to offset and balance out life,” he said. “I’ve been playing dominoes with my dad every day. We have taco Tuesdays with my mom, and we’ll play guitar and sing. Derek and Susan Tedeschi were out here visiting, so me and Lily took them to some waterfalls. Susan is one of the great singers of our time, and Derek is one of the great guitar players. It’s a nice time of year to celebrate.”

Looking down the road, he plans to keep playing shows, and maybe do some other projects here and there, and “just keep being grateful.”

“Lōkahi: A Celebration of Maui” will be Jan. 10 at the Maui Arts & Cultural Center A&B Amphitheater & Yokouchi Pavilion. Gates open at 4:30 p.m. The show starts at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are $65, $85 and $125, with a limited number of gold circle seating for $175. Prices increase on the day of the show. The gold circle includes preferred seating and exclusive access to courtyard bars and restrooms.