Nelson’s sister has musical story too

For the decades she has played in his band, Bobbie Nelson has been more than content to stay out of the spotlight that engulfs her younger brother Willie.

Now -- at age 76 -- the talented pianist is finally releasing her first solo album. The better known of the two Texas music makers jokes that his sister will never be the same.

“We’re going to get her own bus and everything, fix it up with her own hairdresser, makeup and everything -- just like Jessica Simpson,” Willie Nelson said.

It seems unlikely that fame could change friendly, plainspoken Bobbie Nelson, who has honed her craft with brother Willie for about 70 years. It all started with gospel songs performed around the piano with the grandparents who raised them in tiny Abbott, Texas.

“I don’t sing. When I was very young, I used to harmonize with Willie when we would sing in church,” she said. “His voice is so good, and I never had that quality of voice. He didn’t need me. I could get in his way. So I just played piano for him to sing. That’s what we still do.”

Bobbie Nelson’s debut album had been long encouraged by her brother, whose long line of hits includes “On the Road Again,” “Always on My Mind” and “Whiskey River.” Her album took shape during a lunch with Randall Jamail, founder of Houston indie label Justice Records.

He suggested she should write her life story. She responded that the only way she could do it was through music.

“Immediately,” said Jamail, “I went, ‘Bing! OK, well, why don’t we do that? Why don’t we go back and pick songs that you feel connected to and that connect you to those time periods and tell those stories that way?’ ”

The result, “Audiobiography,” scheduled for release Tuesday, takes listeners back to the popular boogie-woogie tunes of the 1930s and ‘40s and also features melodious jazz pieces.

Even while stepping out on her own, Bobbie Nelson, two years older than her brother, never strays far from Willie, who penned two songs to bookend the album. After raising three sons, she joined his band in 1972.

“Our whole life has been one song after another,” she said.