AMNA NAWAZ: Legendary bassist Kim Deal has already had a storied career.

She was a founding member of the band The Pixies, the front woman for The Breeders.

But she's now moving into a new chapter as a solo artist at the age of 63.

Special correspondent Christopher Booker caught up with Deal before she kicked off a 25-city tour this month.

It's part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: The wooden steps that lead to Kim Deal's basement studio show all the hard-earned markings that come with 35 years of foot traffic.

KIM DEAL, Musician: I got the house in '90, and I started -- The Breeders came down in 92.

The Pixies had gotten some do-little money, like an advance or something.

I don't even know how much it was now, but it was enough for me to pay for a down payment on a house.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: After two albums as a founding member of The Pixies, Deal purchased this house and returned to where she was raised.

And since then, this tiny, subterranean space in Dayton, Ohio, has served as the launchpad for everything that came after.

First it was The Breeders, the band that includes her twin sister, Kelley, fellow Dayton, Ohioan Jim MacPherson, and bass player Josephine Wiggs.

Their breakout album, "Last Splash," stands as one of the most important records of the '90s.

Later came a brief side project with MacPherson called The Amps, and, most recently, at 63 years old, her very first solo record.

Do you remember how old you were when you wrote your first song, and more importantly, kind of what that felt like?

KIM DEAL: I remember the exact song that I wrote.

I was 15, and it was in my dad's room, bedroom, and he was finishing getting ready, and I was -- brought my piece of paper, and I sang my song that I wrote to him, yes.

And I know how it goes right now.

I didn't know to play along with it or anything.

There was no guitar with it.

I just sang the parts, and there was all sorts of different parts.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Would you ever bring it out?

Have you played it out?

KIM DEAL: I don't want to ask you to leave my house.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Despite her undeniable status as one of alternative rock's most accomplished, to some, Deal's output has been rather sporadic, and this solo record, "Nobody Loves You More," is long overdue.

KIM DEAL: It's interesting when people automatically assume, oh, she's not doing anything, but it's probably because the album's not popular enough for them to know that I did something.

Like an actor, so you haven't been in anything since "Star Wars."

It's like, I actually did 15 independent films.

So what -- you guys have a put on an album a long time.

One last year.

You just haven't heard it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: In the 32 years since "Last Splash," The Breeders have remained active.

There have been more albums and tours and for a brief time Deal returned to The Pixies.

But she leaves out a sizable detail in her explanation.

In 2002, shortly after getting sober, her mother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's and Deal moved in with her parents to help her father as her mom started what many call the long goodbye.

And it was this experience that provided the underpinning of this new solo offering, perhaps no more explicit than with her song "Are You Mine?"

KIM DEAL: My mother had Alzheimer's for 20 years.

In the middle of it, she's still walking.

She doesn't know what's going on.

She doesn't know my name.

She doesn't know who I am.

And I'm living with them.

And she passed me in the hallway and said, "Are you mine?"

And I knew that she thought that I was her baby, her -- like her -- like, are you mine, my little baby.

And I knew that that's what she was saying.

And I said: "Yes, mama, I'm yours, yes."

And then instantly probably gone in like 30 seconds or five seconds, but for that moment it was like she did see something that she recognized in me.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: That song is so beautiful, but, within that context, it's heavy.

KIM DEAL: Yes, yes.

It was really sad when I -- at the time, when I was making it, because anybody who's been living with Alzheimer's and taking care of people who have dementia, it's all-consuming.

It -- everything is -- everything is about that.

And seeing somebody slowly have their brain getting more and more destroyed and how much there is to lose, when you think it's all gone and there's still so much more to lose.

So -- but now, when I sing it, it feels good.

It's a good song to sing.

I like it.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: How come?

KIM DEAL: I think it goes.

It's a song -- the remnant is about love, where, before, it was about loss, losing my mother.

Now it's about I had my mother sort of thing.

This is a song about her love.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Deal's mother passed away in March of 2020, just months after her father.

While this album offers a distinct window into a difficult chapter of her life, the delivery is still unmistakably Deal, a mixture of heart, humor, silly, and serious.

Thinking of all of this, how would you describe the stops on your musical journey or career, Pixies, Breeders, solo artist?

Is there a way... KIM DEAL: Right, like the different stations that I... CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Yes.

Is there a way to describe that?

KIM DEAL: It's all sort of similar in a way that it's all just trying to find a group of people to play with.

And if that group of people isn't around, then just learn drums, do it myself.

The station isn't, here's The Pixies.

The station is, I'm on the road.

What has come in front of my car that I'm running over?

KIM DEAL: Did I crash into it?

And see what's left and then keep driving in the car.

CHRISTOPHER BOOKER: Deal's car will be on tour through much of the spring, bringing the songs of "Nobody Loves You More" on the road for the first time.

For the "PBS News Hour," in Dayton, Ohio, I'm Christopher Booker.