Remembering Bobbie Nelson (1931-2022)
The first member of Willie Nelson’s Family Band, and his first inspiration, passed away on Thursday, March 10. She was 91.
There’s a moment on Willie Nelson’s 1976 album, The Sound in Your Mind – it happens in the middle of “Amazing Grace” – where every player in the Family Band pauses, and all that’s left is the sound of Bobbie Nelson’s piano. She plays the melody all the way through, then the band rejoins as Willie begins the final verse. It’s in that moment where her Methodist roots were laid bare. You can hear Abbott Methodist Church, where she and her younger brother would sing and play before anyone outside of their hometown knew their names. It’s the sound of Sunday, a respite of worship and an afternoon of relaxation before returning to the cotton fields the next day. It’s a sound of the Nelson siblings’ first musical love, their love of gospel music, that carried them throughout their careers and their lives.
Bobbie Nelson was born on New Year’s Day, 1931, in the small farming community of Abbott, Texas. She and Willie (who joined the family two years later, on April 29, 1933) came into the world during the Great Depression. They were raised by their grandparents, whom they called “Mama and Daddy Nelson,” since their parents, Ira Doyle and Myrle Marie, left just months after Willie was born, no doubt looking for better opportunities.
Bobbie and Willie grew up working the fields and playing music. Mama Nelson, a music teacher by trade, taught Bobbie to play pump organ by age five, while Daddy Nelson, a blacksmith, bought Willie his first guitar, a Stella, when Willie turned six. Daddy Nelson succumbed to pneumonia not long after. The siblings helped Mama Nelson however they could, while honing their musical skills at Abbott Methodist Church (Bobbie had by then added piano to her repertoire).
They learned and practiced all the familiar Methodist hymns, songs that they would perform for that tiny church congregation as well as for thousands of fans all over the world for the better part of the next century, from “Amazing Grace” and “Precious Memories” to “In the Garden” and “Uncloudy Day.” Bobbie would also study classical, including the works of Bach, while Willie discovered the stylings of the Great American Songbook. The music they learned as kids they carried with them throughout their careers, showing up on albums as diverse and acclaimed as Stardust and The Troublemaker, both released with a raised eyebrow by the suits at Columbia Records at the time (The Troublemaker, in fact, had been recorded during Willie’s tenure at Atlantic, but shelved. It was finally released on Columbia following the huge success of Red Headed Stranger).
Before then, however, Willie and Bobbie first played with others in a group fronted by Bobbie’s future husband, Arlyn “Bud” Fletcher. Bud Fletcher and the Texans consisted of Bobbie on piano, Willie on lead guitar, their father, Ira, on rhythm, and Bud as the frontman and promoter. Together, they hit the rough and rowdy Texas beer joint circuit. Bobbie and Willie’s gospel roots got mixed up with hard-driving country and honky-tonk. Bobbie and Bud got married and had three sons. Tragically, Bud died in an automobile accident in 1961, leaving Bobbie a single mother of three.
Bud Fletcher and the Texans. Willie and Bobbie on the far left; their father, Ira, on the far right.
To make ends meet, Bobbie taught music and demonstrated organs for the Hammond company, so she was never far away from music or the piano. Then, in the early ‘70s, Wiilie, after a few false starts in Nashville, signed a deal with Atlantic Records, becoming their very first country artist. He asked Bobbie to join him on the sessions. She remained by his side on stage until the end.
The Family band quickly grew to include, among others, bassist Dan “Bee” Spears, drummer Paul English, and harmonica legend Mickey Raphael. Other members came and went, but the ones who stayed, stayed for life. (Spears died in 2011, followed by English in 2020. Mickey’s still going strong.) Their performances could rival that of the Grateful Dead or the Allman Brothers in their ragged-but-right jam band ethos. At once point in the ‘70s, the Family Band boasted two drummers and even two bassists. Even with all that force of sound, however, somehow, Sister Bobbie’s Steinway was the anchor keeping them grounded.
Photo by Todd V. Wolfson
No matter how popular Willie became, how many awards and platinum records he received, he always had “Sister Bobbie” by his side, and he always credited her with being his inspiration. She was the first to tell him what key they were in, what chord to play to compliment her. She was his rock, and no one sounded quite like her.
At every show, her solo turns would give Willie a break while taking audience members either to Sunday morning service or a Saturday night honky-tonk. Her take on Del Reeves’ “Down Yonder” was praised by Del herself, and she turned a whole new generation onto “Beer Barrel Polka” or “Pinetop’s Boogie Woogie.” Whenever her solo breaks came around in the Family Band’s occasional extended jams, they were almost always introduced by Willie with a sly, “Play it, Sister Bobbie.”
It was gospel, however, that resonated the most. Over the years, the Nelson siblings recorded several albums revisiting their roots (the best still being 1980’s Family Bible). And in 2006, they helped renovate the Abbott Methodist Church, the place where it all began, returning it to its former glory. It was a gesture that was born out of appreciation for a town, a community, and a higher power, that had helped make them the successes they became. When they started to play the ceremony commemorating the renovation that hot July day, all those miles and decades faded away and they were kids again, pushing against what the rest of America at the time was calling a Great Depression with faith in God, a love of music, and a belief that everything was going to be all right, no matter what. “What A Friend We Have in Jesus” is how they opened the ceremony, and they were right back where it all began, with each other. With family.
