De Amerikaanse country-diva Amanda Shires en wijlen pianiste en zangeres Bobbie Nelson hebben hun krachten gebundeld om samen te werken aan “Loving You”. Het album werd in 2021, ongeveer een jaar voor Bobbie’s overlijden op 91 jarige leeftijd, in de Arlyn Studios (Austin, Texas) opgenomen.
Deze studio is mede-eigendom van Willie Nelson’s zoon Freddy Fletcher, die op dit album ook een aantal drum-partijen voor z’n rekening nam.
Broer Willie Nelson
Country-legende Willie is de jongere broer van Bobbie, die haar muzikale loopbaan al in de jaren ‘40 van de vorige eeuw begon. In de jaren ’70 trad ze toe tot Willie Nelson’s Family Band. Samen brachten ze in 2016 het tribute-album “Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin” uit, en deze titel-song staat ook op dit album, ‘in a new aching, emotive and stirring rendition’, met een vocale bijdrage van Willie. Daarnaast staan op het album “Loving You” nog 8 andere cover-songs, ‘which Bobbie Nelson and Amanda Shires played and treasured their entire lives and are meant to pay respect to and are a reflection of the life and music of Bobbie’, en een nieuwe versie van Bobbie Nelson’s eigen titel-track “Loving You”.
Op 14 juli verscheen het album: “Loving You”
TRACKLISTING:
1. Waltz Across Texas
2. Always On My Mind
3. Old Fashioned Love
4. Summertime (featuring Willie Nelson)
5. Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground
6. Dream A Little Dream Of Me
7. Tempted And Tried
8. La Paloma
9. Loving You
10. Over The Rainbow
“Loving You” is a reflection on the life and music of Bobbie Nelson. Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, violin-player and multi-instrumentalist Amanda Shires had a mission to pay respect with “Loving You”, produced by Lawrence Rothman, to the only woman she saw working in a band and pursuing a career as a sideman. “I first saw Bobbie singing and playing piano when I was 16 at some festival in Texas where I grew up”, she explains. “Much of my path seemed possible, because I saw a woman working and making a career of music at a young age, and that woman was Bobbie Nelson”.
The musical career of Bobbie Nelson dates back to the 1940s. Naturally gifted on the piano, she played and sang in churches, revival tents, concert halls and honky-tonks, eventually joining her brother Willie Nelson’s Family Band in the early ‘70s. Willie admired Bobbie, and she was a huge inspiration for him. They both had a passion for the songs of George and Ira Gershwin, and in 2016 they recorded the Grammy-winning album “Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin”. Here, they revisit the title-song; Willie features as guest appearance on this new aching, emotive and stirring rendition of the Gershwin-classic “Summertime” by Bobbie Nelson and Amanda Shires.
They got together in 2021 to record at Arlyn Studios in Austin, Texas – a facility co-owned and operated by Willie Nelson’s son, Freddy Fletcher, who also plays drums on the album making the endeavor a true family affair. “Loving You” features 9 cover-songs Nelson and Shires played and treasured their entire lives, along with Nelson’s own elegant solo piano title cut “Loving You”. This haunting album (“a labor of love for all involved”, said Bobbie Nelson) would eventually trace Nelson’s musical story, and personal journey.
Bobbie Lee Nelson died in Austin, Texas, on March 10, 2022, at the age of 91.
