Soul of Willie Nelson & Family, Bobbie Nelson called the piano her 'truest friend.'
. “My grandfather loved the gospel singing, and my grandmother was really active in the church and was a Sunday-school teacher there. This church I just grew up in.”“My experience at church taught me that talent given by God isn't your talent. It's something you were given, and you have to give it back. That's the way I feel when I play the piano. That's the way I recovered from my nervous breakdown, too, playing the organ. It's my medication. My piano is always there.
“I was the only piano player that was also a stenographer on record at the employment office in Fort Worth, and Hammond was looking for just that person to learn to play the Hammond organ, to demonstrate it, teach it, and to sell it,” she told the. “I learned to play the Hammond and was right there with the sheet-music department, so I had access to all the sheet music and could order anything. That's how I learned so much music.
In that same book, Bobbie described how famed producer Jerry Wexler, then at Atlantic Records, facilitated the enduring musical relationship between her and Willie, which rekindled on sessions in 1972 that yielded Shotgun Willie and The Troublemaker. They continued playing together until the present day, Bobbie outfitting the Family band’s sound with graceful gospel piano and a warm presence. The section of every Willie & the Family set in which Willie deferred to a Bobbie instrumental section were priceless.