On Wednesday morning, Willie Nelson, 87, started her car at her ranch in Spicewood, Texas, and headed to a drive-up clinic near Cedar Park to receive her Covid-19 vaccine.
“We are lucky,” says Nelson’s wife, Annie Rolling Stone. “We guarantee that [he] he was not cutting anyone – in fact, health professionals were a little irritated that we had waited so long, because he is 87 and has COPD ”.
Bobbie Nelson, Willie’s sister and pianist, who turned 90 this month, also received the Modern vaccine. Immunization will be the first step to get the two musicians back on the road; Nelson did his last show on March 4 at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo to an audience of over 80,000 people. “I’m not sure if we haven’t been exposed to [the virus] there, ”says Annie Nelson.
While they were locked up, Annie says she has been “insanely type A” about keeping her husband safe. “Things don’t even come into the house unless they’re sterilized,” she says. Still, Willie has been working hard, writing songs and recording several projects in his home studio, including an album with his sons Lukas and Micah. “We work three times a week to maintain sanity, and he sings, which is very useful,” says Annie. “Sometimes, he just puts his [SiriusXM] channels Willie’s Roadhouse and sings with his music at the top of his lungs. This is a good exercise. “
The Nelsons applied online for the vaccine. “We drove… and we just gave them our arm, they gave us the chance, you get a card. And you get an upcoming appointment. Then you register with the CDC. They need to ask you questions and we’re all helping, so that’s what we did. We want as much information as people can get. “
What was Willie’s reaction to the shot with his left arm? “He was bragging yesterday, after he did that, that he didn’t even have a sore arm,” she says. “Now, today, it is clear that your arm is sore. We are both a little tired. I don’t know if we wouldn’t be tired anyway, but we are going to do what they said and let the vaccine do its job ”.
As for getting back on the road, Annie says Willie hopes to resume touring in the fall: “It will probably be late August, September before things get back to normal, and if everyone gets vaccinated, then we can get some kind of collective immunity. [Willie] said, ‘Now, it’s basically poo immunity.'”