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DALLAS — For the decades she has played in his band, Bobbie Nelson has been more than content to stay out of the spotlight that engulfs her younger brother Willie.

Now — at age 76 —the talented pianist is finally releasing her first solo album. The better known of the two Texas music-makers jokes that his sister will never be the same.

"We're going to get her own bus and everything, fix it up with her own hairdresser, makeup and everything —just like Jessica Simpson," Willie Nelson said.

It seems unlikely fame could change friendly, plain-spoken Bobbie, who has honed her craft with brother Willie for about 70 years. It all started with gospel songs performed around the piano with the grandparents who raised them in tiny Abbott.

"I don't sing. When I was very young, I used to harmonize with Willie when we would sing in church," she said. "His voice is so good, and I never had that quality of voice. He didn't need me. I could get in his way.

"So I just played piano for him to sing. That's what we still do."

The Nelson musical legacy is a strong one. A new generation is gaining attention, including Willie's sons Micah and Lukas of the band 40 Points, which released its first album this past summer. Daughters Paula and Amy are also performers.

Bobbie's debut album had long been encouraged by her brother, whose extensive list of hits includes "On the Road Again," "Always on My Mind" and "Whiskey River." It took shape during a lunch with Randall Jamail, founder of Houston indie label Justice Records.

He suggested she should write her life story. She responded that the only way she could do it was through music.

"Immediately," said Jamail, "I went, 'Bing! OK, well, why don't we do that? Why don't we go back and pick songs that you feel connected to and that connect you to those time periods and tell those stories that way?' "

The result, "Audiobiography," released in the fall, takes listeners back to the popular boogie-woogie tunes of the 1930s and '40s and also features melodious jazz pieces.

Even while stepping out on her own, Bobbie —two years older than her brother — never strays far from Willie, who penned two songs to bookend the album.

"I think he's the best person on the planet," she said.

Both Nelsons spoke recently by phone from Columbia, Md., where they were touring with old buddies Merle Haggard and Ray Price.

"It's way, way overdue, and I'm glad she finally got around to doing it," Willie said. "She's been in the studio and put a lot down there, but never got serious about doing a CD."

After their grandfather bought her a piano for $35, Bobbie was playing by age 6. She retains a clear image of their grandmother singing the gospel standard "The Great Speckled Bird" as she and Willie played.

"We were in our little home at my piano," she said. "My grandmother stood at the right side of me and sang, and Willie sat at my left side with his guitar. She told us which chords to play and she sang the song, and Willie and I played together."

Bobbie married fiddler Bud Fletcher when she was 16, and she and Willie joined his band. After Fletcher died in a car accident in the 1950s, she concentrated on raising her three young sons.

For years, she worked for the Hammond Organ Co., demonstrating the instrument.

"That was a good experience for me, too, because I had so much music at my fingertips," she said. "I was like a little child in a candy store."

In 1972, she joined her brother's backing band and has been with him ever since.

"Our whole life has been one song after another," she said, "learning to play music and his beautiful ability to write songs. I love to play his music. It's actually my favorite thing in the world to play with Willie."