Country legend Willie Nelson, aged 93, posted an open letter on social media Tuesday opposing the spread of AI-powered data centres near Abbott, Texas, the small Hill County town where he was born and still keeps a home and farmland. The Texas Tribune has tracked as many as 56 proposed data centre projects across Central Texas, part of a statewide total nearing 250. While Nelson did not name a specific project, reporting has pointed to a planned Nexus Data Centers campus roughly 25 miles from Abbott in nearby Hubbard. Nelson described the facilities as “loud, water thieving, light polluting” and warned against a data centre landing “anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).” He wrote that “the strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints” but from “generations of people, open spaces, local businesses and a connection to the land.” Nelson co-founded Farm Aid in 1985 and has long advocated for small farmers. It is unclear whether any construction near Abbott has been formally approved or if his letter will translate into organised local opposition.