As chronicled in their book Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band (Random House), Willie Nelson's been inseparable from his older sister Bobbie Nelson for pretty much his entire life. This bond began when the siblings were raised from a young age by their paternal grandparents and continues on the road, where Bobbie tours with aptly-titled band Willie Nelson and Family.
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To appreciate the piano and keyboard playing talents of Bobbie Lee Nelson, check out more recent versions of her and younger brother Willie's "Family Bible" (they grew up playing at the local Methodist church) or her debut solo album from 2008, Audiobiography. Her contributions to the signature sound of her Country Music Hall of Fame member brother (and the genre as a whole) began in the '70s with such seminal albums as The Troublemaker, Shotgun Willie and Phases and Stages and continue into a sixth decade.
Of course, Willie's climb from his Abbott, Texas roots to singer-songwriter greatness in both Nashville and Austin needs no introduction. But as the title of Nelson's 1988 autobiography telegraphs, It's a Long Story (with several chapters still unwritten), so there's plenty of fresh angles to explore when it comes to Willie's professional and personal life.
A picture book telling Willie and Bobbie's life story, tentatively titled Sister, Brother, Family: Our Childhood in Music, is set for release in November and will target younger readers.
As for other ways to look at Willie's story, he and Bobbie are not the only children of their father, Ira Doyle Nelson.
