Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert held for American farmers.

History

On July 13, 1985, before performing "When The Ship Comes In" with Keith Richards and Ron Wood at the Live Aid benefit concert for the 1983–1985 Ethiopian famine,

Bob Dylan Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan; born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Described as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture over his nearly 70-year ...

remarked about family farmers within the United States in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt, saying to the worldwide audience exceeding one billion people, "I hope that some of the money ... maybe they can just take a little bit of it, maybe ... one or two million, maybe ... and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks." He is often misquoted, as on Farm Aid's official website, as saying "Wouldn't it be great if we did something for our own farmers right here in America?" Although his comments were heavily criticised, they inspired fellow musicians

Willie Nelson Willie Hugh Nelson (born April 29, 1933) is an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, actor and activist. He was one of the main figures of the outlaw country subgenre that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the conservative restr ...

, John Mellencamp and

Neil Young Neil Percival Young (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter. After embarking on a music career in Winnipeg in the 1960s, Young moved to Los Angeles, forming the folk rock group Buffalo Springfield. Since the begi ...

to organize the Farm Aid benefit concert to raise money for and help family farmers in the United States. The first concert was held on September 22, 1985, at the Memorial Stadium in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

, before a crowd of 80,000 people. Performers included

Billy Joel William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Piano Man" after his Signature song, signature 1973 song Piano Man (song), of the same name, Joel has ha ...

, B.B. King,

Loretta Lynn Loretta Lynn (; April 14, 1932 – October 4, 2022) was an American country music singer and songwriter. In a career spanning six decades, Lynn released multiple gold albums. She had numerous hits such as "Hey Loretta", "The Pill (song), The P ...

, Roy Orbison, and

Tom Petty Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. He was the leader and frontman of the Rock music, rock bands Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Mudcrutch and a member of the late 1980s sup ...

, among others, and raised over $9 million for U.S. family farmers. Willie and the other founders had originally thought that they could have one concert and the problem would be solved, but they admit that the challenges facing family farmers were more complex than anyone realized. As a result, decades after the first show, Farm Aid, under the direction of Carolyn Mugar, is still working to increase awareness of the importance of family farms, and puts on an annual concert of country, blues and rock music with a variety of music artists. The board of directors includes Nelson, Mellencamp, Young, and Dave Matthews, as well as David Anderson, Joel Katz, Lana Nelson, Mark Rothbaum, and Evelyn Shriver. On April 8, 2021, it was announced that Annie Nelson and Margo Price have joined as board members. Board member Paul English, who was Willie Nelson's longtime drummer, died in February 2020. The organization operates an emergency

hotline A hotline is a Point-to-point (telecommunications), point-to-point information transfer, communications Data link, link in which a telephone call, call is automatically directed to the preselected destination without any additional action by t ...

that offers farmers resources and advice about challenges they're experiencing. Early on, Nelson and Mellencamp brought family farmers before Congress to testify about the state of family farming in America. Congress subsequently passed the Agricultural Credit Act of 1987 to help save family farms from

foreclosure Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...

. Farm Aid also operates a disaster fund to help farmers who lose their belongings and crops through natural disasters, such as the victims of

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a powerful, devastating and historic tropical cyclone that caused 1,392 fatalities and damages estimated at $125 billion in late August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and its surrounding area. ...

and massive flooding in 2019. The funds raised are used to pay the farmer's expenses and provide food, legal and financial help, and psychological assistance. The 2005 concert, marking the 20th anniversary of Farm Aid, took place at the Tweeter Center in Tinley Park, Illinois, with events in downtown

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

as well. The 2007 Concert took place at Randall's Island in New York City (the first Farm Aid in New York) and was recorded in High Definition to be broadcast on HDNet as a 2 Hour Special highlighting many of the performances from the Allman Brothers and Counting Crows to John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson. The September 2019 lineup includes Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

star

Luke Combs Luke Albert Combs (born March 2, 1990) is an American country music, country singer. He was born in North Carolina and grew up there, performing as a child. After leaving college to pursue a career in music, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, Nas ...

. The concert at Alpine Valley Music Theatre was Combs' first show at Farm Aid. In 2022, Farm Aid sought national recognition for the effort to encourage Americans to buy domestic beef.

List of concerts

Board of directors

File:Willie Nelson.jpg,

File:Ny-ottawa-jul-2006.jpg,

File:John Mellenkamp 2007 (cropped).jpg, John Mellencamp File:DaveMatthews2.jpg, Dave Matthews File:Margo Price 03 01 2018 -6 (27119807848).jpg, alt=, Margo Price

References

External links

*
Official

MySpace Myspace (formerly stylized as MySpace, currently myspace; and sometimes my␣, with an elongated Whitespace character#Substitute images, open box symbol) is a social networking service based in the United States. Launched on August 1, 2003, it w ...

Farm Aid 2006 - Behind The Scenes
{{Rock festival Charities based in Massachusetts Musical advocacy groups Hunger relief organizations Rock festivals in the United States Benefit concerts in the United States 1985 establishments in the United States Dave Matthews John Mellencamp Willie Nelson Neil Young Music festivals established in 1985 Country music festivals in the United States

History

List of concerts

Board of directors

See also

References

External links