LEWISTON – Country singer Lee Jollota never imagined making records, even when she was performing every day on TV.

It wasn’t until the 78-year-old native of Mexico, Maine, went into the recording studio – to record songs as a keepsake for her children and grandchildren – that a friend and musician convinced her to share the songs with others.

At first, she was a bit shy.

“It’s not the voice of a 35-year-old,” Jollota said, describing her slight rasp. “It’s not bad, either.”

Her voice seems to hold up well on the disc’s 18 tracks of classic country tunes, including Hank Williams’ “Hey, Good Lookin,'” Willie Nelson’s “Crazy” and Ernest Tubb’s “Waltz Across Texas.”

The disc, sold online at www.upstreetproductions.com, is titled “It’s About Time.”

The cover shows now-and-then pictures of Jollota. In the current one, she is singing with a guitar during one of her many nursing home visits. The other photo goes back to 1956. By then, she was already a seasoned performer, having started at 3 years old.

As a girl – born Doris Waite – she played local shows and sang regularly on WRUM radio in Rumford.

In 1956, the same year Elvis shook up popular music, Waite joined a traveling country band from Vermont: Duke and the Swingbillies.

She changed her first name to Lee when her new bandleader wanted a cute pairing with his other swingbilly, named “Vi.”

For six years, she played dance halls, legion halls, schools and barns around Vermont. She also appeared on two daily shows at WCAX, a TV station in Burlington.

By the time Duke decided to relocate to Maine, Jollota had married and grown roots. Other bands followed, but the young country singer grew tired of dealing with nights out and boozy audiences.

She got a job working in a hospital office and stopped singing in public until she began volunteering in 1996 for elderly folks near her home in Marshfield, Vt.

She sings many of the same old songs.

“For me, it’s always been country music,” Jollota said. Though she likes a few of the perennial hit-makers on today’s charts – George Strait, Alan Jackson and Vince Gill – she has little patience for so-called “new country.”

Too many of the women wear their blouses too low and their skirts too high for Jollota.

“It’s not about the music,” she said. “It’s just different now.”

In contrast, Jollota’s disc reveres the simple melodies and lyrics of country classics.

It’s something she hopes to share with her granddaughters, ages 7 and 9. Last Christmas, she bought them each guitars and tried teaching them a few simple chords.

“Those girls are my life,” she said.

Her disc is for them.