Willie Nelson New Album: Willie Nelson has been making music with his sister since their grandparents, who raised them, propped Bobbie Nelson up on a piano and stuck a guitar in Willie's hands when they were kids. So, first, a personal thanks to their grandparents because these two can almost read each others' minds by now and they've been playing with the same musicians for so long that all the players possess that musical telepathy.

Willie's new album includes the last session he recorded with the late, great bass player Bee Spears. Spears, who has been in the Willie Nelson Family Band since they first came together, plays on "What'll I Do."

Willie and Bobbie are still recording with the other Family Band members, including harmonica player Mickey Raphael, who wrote the liner notes for December Day.

"As long as I can remember, Willie and Bobbie, who ride together on Willie's bus, spend some of their traveling time jamming on their favorite songs," Raphael wrote.  "Bobbie has a travel size keyboard on the bus and Willie's guitar, Trigger is always by his side. This is where the idea for December Day was born. 'Why not record our favorite songs like we play them for ourselves?' Bobbie asked."

"When it comes to a brother-sister collaboration with the longevity of Willie and Bobbie, there is beauty in keeping things simple. 'Less is more' is the underlying theme. We've heard these songs before but not like this. The spontaneity born out of familiarity is what this record, December Day, is all about," Raphael continued.

Nelson announced the first release in Willie's Stash Archival Series. You can put  18 unreleased songs from the Willie Nelson Family Songbook in your pipe and smoke 'em.

Legacy Recordings will release Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie's December Day on Tuesday, December 2.

December Day is an eclectic album collaboration from the outlaw country legend and his sister performing 18 songs they love. Willie and Bobbie personally selected these songs, which includes new versions of some of Willie's tunes like "Permanently Lonely," and "My Old Peculiar Way" alongside some covers like Al Jolson's "The Anniversary Song," Irving Berlin's "Alexander's Ragtime Band," "What'll I Do" and "Always".

Willie and Bobbie Nelson learned to read music and play instruments before they were teenagers growing up in Abbott, Texas. Early in their careers they played together in Texas bands. Bobbie has been tickling the ivories in Willie's Family Band since he put it together in 1973. 

You know the album Red Headed Stranger? That classic crossover album that was almost never released because it was deemed "UNFINISHED" by the record label? Willie and his sister started recording that alone together because they were too into the excited to get into the music to wait for the rest of the band.

The Musicians on the album include Willie Nelson on Trigger, that iconic guitar that's had a hold where the pick guard should be, and Bobbie Nelson (piano, B-3 organ) with Mickey Raphael (harmonica), Kevin Smith (bass), Bee Spears (bass), Billy English (drums, percussion) and David Zettner (acoustic guitar).

According to a press release "Willie and Bobbie's deeply intuitive musical bond, formed and developed through of decades of practice and spontaneity, can be felt throughout December Day."

The Willie's Stash series was personally curated by Willie Nelson who nabs nuggets out of decades of recording and touring as an American musical icon.

December Day is produced by Buddy Cannon and recorded by Steve Chadie at Pedernales Recordings Studio in Austin, Texas.

December Day is Willie's fifth release since he signed to Legacy Recordings in 2012. Willie's last Legacy album, Band Of Brothers, came out in June 2014 and hit No. 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart.

Willie Nelson and Sister Bobbie

December Day

(Willie's Stash, Vol. 1)

1. Alexander's Ragtime Band (Irving Berlin)

2. Permanently Lonely (Willie Nelson)

3. What'll I Do (Irving Berlin)

4. Summer of Roses / December Day (Willie Nelson)

5. Nuages (Django Reinhardt)

6. Mona Lisa (Ray Evans & Jay Livingston)

7. I Don't Know Where I Am Today (Willie Nelson)

8. Amnesia (Willie Nelson)

9. Who'll Buy My Memories (Willie Nelson)

10. The Anniversary Song (Al Jolson & Saul Chaplin)

11. Laws of Nature (Willie Nelson)

12. Walkin' (Willie Nelson)

13. Always (Irving Berlin)

14. I Let My Mind Wander (Willie Nelson)

15. Is the Better Part Over (Willie Nelson)

16. My Own Peculiar Way (Willie Nelson)

17. Sad Songs and Waltzes (Willie Nelson)

18. Ou-es tu, mon amour  (Emile Stern & Henri LeMarchand) / I Never Cared for You (Willie Nelson)