Farm Aid is an annual
benefit concert
A benefit concert or charity concert is a type of musical benefit performance (e.g., concert, show, or gala) featuring musicians, comedians, or other performers that is held for a charitable purpose, often directed at a specific and immediate h ...
held for American farmers.
History
On July 13, 1985, before performing "When The Ship Comes In" with
Keith Richards
Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...
and
Ron Wood Ron is a shortening of the name Ronald.
Ron or RON may also refer to:
Arts and media
* Big Ron (''EastEnders''), a TV character
* Ron (''King of Fighters''), a video game character
*Ron Douglas, the protagonist in '' Lucky Stiff'' played by Joe ...
at the
Live Aid
Live Aid was a two-venue benefit concert and music-based fundraising initiative held on Saturday, 13 July 1985. The event was organised by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure to raise further funds for relief of the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia, a m ...
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 farm
A family farm is generally understood to be a farm owned and/or operated by a family. It is sometimes considered to be an Estate (land), estate passed down by inheritance.
Although a recurring conceptual model, conceptual and archetype, archet ...
ers 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
John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation ...
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
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 ...
,
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
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
,
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
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist known for his distinctive and powerful voice, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. Orbison's most successful periods were ...
, 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
Carolyn Mugar (born c. 1943) is an American activist of Armenian descent, best known for founding the Armenia Tree Project and for serving as the executive director of Farm Aid. She is a prominent member of the Mugar family of Greater Boston.
B ...
, 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
David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB).
Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...
, 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
Margo Rae Price (born April 15, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter, producer, and author based in Nashville. ''The Fader'' called her "country's next star." Her debut solo album '' Midwest Farmer's Daughter'' was released on Third Ma ...
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
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food ...
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
Tinley Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, Cook and Will County, Illinois, Will counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 55,971 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is a suburb in the Chicago metropolitan ar ...
, 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
Randalls Island (sometimes called Randall's Island) and Wards Island are conjoined islands, collectively called Randalls and Wards Island, in New York City. in New York City (the first Farm Aid in New York) and was recorded in High Definition to be broadcast on
HDNet
AXS TV () is an American specialty television, cable television channel majority-owned by Canadian broadcaster Anthem Sports & Entertainment. It is devoted primarily to Music television, music-related programming (such as concert films, Document ...
as a 2 Hour Special highlighting many of the performances from the
Allman Brothers Allman may refer to:
Music
*The Allman Brothers Band
The Allman Brothers Band was an American rock music, rock band formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1969. Its founding members were brothers Duane Allman (slide guitar, lead guitar) and Greg ...
and
Counting Crows
Counting Crows is an American rock band from the San Francisco Bay Area, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of rhythm guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immergl� ...
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
Alpine Valley Music Theatre is a 30,000-capacity amphitheater located on County Highway D in East Troy, Wisconsin. The seasonal venue was built in 1977 and it features a wooden roof, covering the 7,500-seat pavilion and a sprawling lawn. It was ...
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, 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 ...
File:Ny-ottawa-jul-2006.jpg, 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 ...
File:John Mellenkamp 2007 (cropped).jpg, John Mellencamp
John J. Mellencamp (born October 7, 1951), previously known as Johnny Cougar, John Cougar, and John Cougar Mellencamp, is an American singer-songwriter. He is known for his brand of heartland rock, which emphasizes traditional instrumentation ...
File:DaveMatthews2.jpg, Dave Matthews
David John Matthews (born January 9, 1967) is an American musician and the lead vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist for the Dave Matthews Band (DMB).
Matthews was born in Johannesburg, South Africa and moved frequently between South Africa, ...
File:Margo Price 03 01 2018 -6 (27119807848).jpg, alt=, Margo Price
Margo Rae Price (born April 15, 1983) is an American country singer-songwriter, producer, and author based in Nashville. ''The Fader'' called her "country's next star." Her debut solo album '' Midwest Farmer's Daughter'' was released on Third Ma ...
See also
*
1980s farm crisis
The United States experienced a major farm crisis during the 1980s. By the mid-1980s, the crisis had reached its peak. Land prices had fallen dramatically leading to record foreclosures.
Farm debt for land and equipment purchases soared during ...
*
Farmers' suicides in the United States
Farmers' suicides in the United States refers to the instances of American farmers suicide, taking their own lives, largely since the 1980s, partly due to their falling into debt, but mainly as a larger Mental Health in United States Agricultura ...
References
External links
*
OfficialMySpace
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