Willie & Bobbie Nelson to Publish Joint Memoir in September

Nobody could call Willie Nelson a slacker, and at 87, the prolific musician, activist, cannabis entrepreneur, philanthropist, actor and author shows no signs of slowing down. In addition to his upcoming album First Rose of Spring, releasing July 3, Nelson and his sister and bandmate, Bobbie, are releasing a new memoir. Random House will publish Me and Sister Bobbie: True Tales of the Family Band, on Sept. 15.

Willie and pianist Bobbie, 89, have performed side by side since they were children. Orphaned by their parents, they were raised by their paternal grandparents in Abbott, Texas, and have been playing together full time since Willie formed the Family band in 1973. Though he has released several books, including two autobiographies, Bobbie has not previously told her life story in book form. (Her lone solo album, Audiobiography, was released in 2008.)

In the dual memoir, Willie and Bobbie alternate chapters as they tell their intertwined story of loves, losses and life on the road — and how their unbreakable sibling bond sustained them through triumphs and tragedies. The book, edited by Random House executive editor Ben Greenberg, will be released as a hardcover edition.

The pair are also working on a children’s book for fall 2021 release, titled Sister, Brother, Family: Our Childhood in Music. The picture book, written with Chris Barton, will be published by Doubleday Books for Young Readers, a Random House Children’s Books imprint.