Willie Nelson has been writing, recording, and touring longer than most Top 40 country artists have been alive, and all those decades of experience have given him a hilarious go-to response to people who express concerns about his age.
He shared his method of handling age-related worries with Sammy Hagar of Montrose and Van Halen fame, who is 14 years Nelson’s junior, during an AXS TV interview as part of Hagar’s “Rock & Roll Road Trip” series.
Willie Nelson’s Go-To Response to Age Concerns
As an actively performing nonagenarian, Willie Nelson is no stranger to strangers and family alike asking him when he will consider hanging up his trusty guitar, Trigger, for good. He and Sammy Hagar commiserated over this downside to aging in the industry on Nelson’s tour bus over a cup of coffee. Hagar recalled people asking him, “Hey, Sammy, you’re 40 now, how long do you think you can keep on doing this?”
“You hear that every day,” Nelson added with a knowing smile. “They say it [to me] all the time.” When Hagar asked Nelson how he responded to those concerns, Nelson said, “I say, ‘This is my last tour. Every time, I say, ‘No, this is the last one.’” The country music legend has no shortage of opportunities to say that, either. He estimated to Hagar that he plays about 150-200 nights a year—a touring schedule he said he’s maintained for decades.
In June 2024, concerns over Willie Nelson’s age reached a fever pitch after his doctor recommended he cancel his performance at the Outlaw Music Festival. The subsequent back and forth of whether he would or would not return to the stage caused Nelson’s health to be one of the hottest topics of discussion in the music world that summer. Fortunately, he was back on stage in time for his Fourth of July picnic in Camden, New Jersey.
The Country Star’s Age Even Shocks Him Sometimes
As much as Willie Nelson is quick to silence concerns over his age—he turned 91 in April 2024—there is certainly a part of him that can understand why it shocks people. In a December 2020 interview with Slate, Nelson admitted, “I didn’t ever think I’d get this old. I always thought I was lucky to make it past 21.” When asked how he had changed from his early years to now, he glibly replied, “Well, when I was young, I was pretty dumb. And now that I’m older, I’m pretty f***ing dumb.”
Still, he’s smart enough to keep doing what works, and for him, that’s working. “Working is really good for me, no matter what kind of show it is,” Nelson told AARP in 2023. “Jokingly, I retire after every tour. But I’m always ready to go back again. I like the bus, I have everything I need on the bus, I never have to go into a hotel room anywhere. It’s not that bad.”
And indeed, with a decades-long musical legacy under his belt, plenty of music left to play, a tour bus to relax in, and countless friends and family surrounding him, we can only hope that we get to enjoy such a content ninth decade of life.
Photo by Bob Daemmrich/ZUMA Press Wire/Shutterstock
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