Not Fade Away

BOBBIE NELSON

Family Band pianist (1931-2022)

IN February 1973, Willie Nelson called on his elder sister Bobbie to help him cut a gospel album in New York. “For years I had wanted her in my band, but life circumstances had kept that from happening,” explained Nelson in his 2015 memoir My Life: It’s A Long Story. “Bobbie anchored me, in memories and faith, in a way that no-one else could.” With pianist Bobbie joining Doug Sahm and other players in the studio, The Troublemaker was cut in two days. Bobbie subsequently featured on a number of key Nelson albums over the decades, among them Shotgun Willie, Red Headed Stranger, Stardust and 2021’s dynastic The Willie Nelson Family.

Bobbie’s improvisational style was an ideal complement to Nelson’s intuitive approach on guitar. Growing up in Abbott, Texas, the pair had first played together in church and various school functions. Cited by her brother as “a genuine piano prodigy”, Bobbie married at 16 and duly became part of her husband’s band, Bud Fletcher And The Texans, with Willie on vocals and guitar. She worked for a time as an in-house