Photo Credit: Joshua Black Wilkins

Living until 91 years old, Bobbie Nelson spent 70 years performing music – most notably as part of her brother Willie’s family band. A new collaborative album with Amanda Shires marks the first time she’s had her name grace an album title. A collection of classic ballad covers – including “Summertime” and “Waltz Across Texas” – Loving You is an altogether lovely and timeless collection of tunes, performed so dutifully to the originals and with such great technical precision that it sounds most like a 1950s recording newly remastered. 

By design, there is little that is revolutionary about Loving You – an album designed primarily to give a music legend her long overdue flowers. “Her story still needs to be out there…”, remarked Shires in an interview, “….What a shame it would’ve been to just not put it out.” Every effort is made to center the late Nelson – with lots of gorgeous, long instrumental sections and selections from the great American songbook (“Summertime,” “Over The Rainbow”) that have long been Nelson family standards. 

However, this doesn’t stop Shires’ star from shining bright, and on many of these recordings her voice truly sounds better than ever – with Shires reaching into her upper register to hugely compelling results. Unsurprisingly, then, the LP’s best moments occur when Nelson and Shires work in unison to create some of the most compelling music of both their careers. The combination of Nelson’s playing and Shires’ voice reaches an affecting peak on “Always On My Mind,” where Shires sings, “And I guess I never told you // I’m so happy that you’re mine // Tell me that your sweet love hasn’t died.” It’s one of the countless moments on the LP that radiates a deep sense of love, gratitude, and connection. Also like a lot of moments across Loving You, this is one that takes on new levels of meaning in the wake of Nelson’s passing; a swan song dedicated to the relationships we build across our lives.

Loving You was created in the aftermath of Nelson’s stroke, and in interviews, Shires has spoken of both herself and Nelson being acutely aware of their mortality during the creation of this album (Shires, herself, has a rare heart defect). A sense of fragility, but also of deep gratitude for continued existence, illuminates the album’s most compelling number, “Angel Flying Too Close To The Ground.” Here, Shires sings, “If you had not have fallen then I would not have found you // And I patched up your broken wing and hung around a while.” Later adding, “Love’s the greatest healer to be.” The song, rendered beautifully by the duo, is a reminder of our ability to carry each other through the hardest times in our lives. The album in its entirety, meanwhile, is a reminder that it is never too late to secure our legacy and rewrite our own story.

Written by: Tom Williams