Abbott, Texas, is in the Hill Country, an area in the central part of the state with rolling hills, grassland, and canyons, per Texas Parks & Wildlife. Abbott began as a railroad town in the 1880s during the building of the Missouri — Kansas — Texas Railroad and is named after a local politician, Jo Abbott, per the Texas Almanac. In “It’s a Long Story,” Nelson says it’s located 70 miles south of Dallas and 30 miles north of Waco. Cotton was a major crop and Nelson — along with the rest of his family — picked the plant alongside his Mexican-born and Black neighbors.
His grandfather was a blacksmith, and Nelson enjoyed helping him at his work. They were “dirt poor” but “rich in love,” according to Nelson, and got by with a small garden and some livestock. The home he grew up in is a two-story wooden home with a screened-in front porch, per Belt Magazine. At night the family would listen to the radio, another source of the music — from mariachi to country to gospel — that would inspire Nelson as he grew up.
