Bobbie Lee Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas in 1931. She is an American pianist and singer, sister of Texas Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Willie Nelson and a member of his band, Willie Nelson and Family, touring full time since 1973.
At the age of five, Bobbie’s grandmother started teaching her to play piano on a pump organ, a year later, her grandfather, impressed by her potential talent, bought her a piano for $35. When her brother Willie picked up the guitar, the siblings started trying out popular tunes and gospel favorites together around the house with their grandmother. Soon the Nelsons were performing at Abbott High school functions and at the local Methodist Church.
At the age of 14 Bobbie turned pro and began traveling with evangelists all around the Lone Star State. In 1973, Bobbie and Willie teamed up again to record with Atlantic Records. Taking her first airplane flight, Bobbie met Willie in New York City to play piano on recordings that would later be released on the 1976 album “The Troublemaker”, and also joined her brother on the albums “Shotgun Willie” (1973) and “Phases and Stages” (1974). From then on, Bobbie stayed extremely busy keeping up with Willie’s frequent touring and recording sessions, occasionally playing with other artists (Waylon Jennings, Merle Haggard and the Supersuckers to name a few).
In 2008, Bobbie Nelson released her solo debut album, “Audiobiography” and seven years later Bobbie and Willie recorded the album December Day, which was inspired by the jam sessions the siblings often enjoyed while on the bus from one show to another.
