Forty Days and Forty Nights and Forty Years of Farm Aid
It appears to me that we are still engulfed in an extended period of trial and tribulation here in the USA. Gone are the days of Peace and Love. Folks on both sides of aisle aren’t talking to one another and when they do communicate they’d rather deliver a verbal tongue lashing via social media then sit down and hash things out civilly, eye to eye. The art of listening has faded away.
Why, dare I ask, can’t we just get along?
Farm Aid 40 @ University of Minnesota
Which brings us to Farm Aid, a concert and a non-profit organization all rolled into one whose mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America. From my seat in the audience, it appeared on the surface that everybody in the crowd, the stadium staff and the performers got along just fine at Farm Aid 40. Everything seemed to go off without a hitch on the 40th anniversary of the festival. A picture-perfect day in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
But there were some things simmering below the surface for me that I hope the passionate readers of Thrasher’s Wheat can answer. Don’t worry, I’ll get to the actual concert review and Neil Young in a moment.
Willie Nelson Prepares to Take a Bow w/ Farm Aid Board
Days before the concert was due to take place at the stadium used by the University of Minnesota, service and maintenance workers from the Teamsters Union threatened to strike putting the show in jeopardy. Thankfully everything was resolved so the concert went on as planned but it made me wonder many things. First and foremost, how would the Farm Aid Board have framed a concert-ending strike by the union? My guess is that the Farm Aid Board and organization are composed of many union loving members. Before you cast tomatoes my way, please know that the person typing this story has 2 jobs, his spouse has 2 jobs, and we belong to 4 separate unions between us. In my opinion, unions are good for many, many things and not so good for others.
Farm Aid Board
Second question: Finances. I’m not going to get into the “Where’s the Farm Aid money going?” rabbit hole. The Chicago Tribune once did a story on that which rankled Neil Young to no end. But I am curious about the quote from Farm Aid tied to a potential strike: “It is critical to understand that if Farm Aid 40 is forced to move or cancel, the financial impact could be devastating. The expenses already incurred to bring this historic event to Minnesota may well threaten the survival of our organization after four decades of service to family farmers.”
Neil Young
Math is not my strong suit and I’m not the CFO of a major bank. Does it not seem odd, though, that the cancellation of Farm Aid 40 could have spelled the death knell for the corporation? Ticket purchases were non-refundable so somebody was keeping that money. Do the performers participate free of charge? Is the money being made on the sale of food and merchandise, of which Farm Aid only gets a cut, the major revenue stream for the organization which ultimately keeps it solvent? Perhaps this precarious financial situation is tied to Neil Young’s plea and major point at the pre-show press conference [
see embedded video below] that he only wants your money for Farm Aid. He was pointing his finger, mostly, at the billionaire class and mega corporations who should, in his view, be paying a Conscience Tax to the organization. [See
Neil Young Archives | Times-Contrarian | "American Conscience Tax (ACT)" ]
Third: Performer harmony. Fellow Hoosier John Mellencamp gave some short, blunt remarks at the press conference which had him heaping praise on Willie Nelson by stating that “none of us would be here without Willie and that “we wouldn’t have raised a f***ing dime if it wasn’t for him.” True.
But seeing as though Willie is 92 years young, in a show of harmonious brotherhood and love of his fellow man, how could John not join in on Willie’s concert closing numbers which brought many of the performers out on stage for rousing renditions of Will the Circle Be Unbroken and I Saw the Light? If I missed John in the background, I offer my sincere apologies, but I was informed by a respected individual with many Farm Aid concerts under their belt that John is rarely, if ever, seen at Willie’s group closing songs.
Lukas Nelson, Willie Nelson & Micah Nelson
Can we finally get into the actual music? Yes. I imagine that attending Farm Aid is much like what it was back in the 1950’s and 60’s when Dick Clark brought his Caravan of Stars on tour across the U.S. You got a handful of songs by a great number of performers, just like Farm Aid. Just enough to wet your appetite and get you to go out and seek your favorite stars latest 45 single or long playing album.
Listing one’s favorite acts or songs at Farm Aid 40 is a hopelessly subjective endeavor. But if you stuck around this long I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed Waxahatchee, Steve Earle, Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, the old Bob Dylan and the “newly crowned Bob Dylan” - Jesse Welles. Jesse’s song Bugs immediately brought young Bob Dylan’s performance of Woody Guthrie’s Riding in My Car (Car, Car) to mind.
Jesse Welles
I hope you let me dwell a bit on Jesse. He’s relatively new to the game with 3 albums under his belt, both self-released. I bumped into him as he was taking part in a mid-day TV interview and I asked him afterwards if he was planning to come to Chicago. He said yes, he had a couple of shows coming up in October. As soon as I parted ways with him I looked up his concert schedule. One show in Toronto, Canada was listed before the two Windy City shows. All were sold out. By the time I’m typing this up, 47 additional shows around the entire world are now listed. Almost all of them are sold out. The kid has hit the Big Time! And it’s well deserved as his guitar playing and singing were superb and his lyrics are clever, catchy and thought-provoking all at the same time. You’re missing out if you don’t check him out live.
Steve Earle
Margo Price
Billy Strings
Sierra Ferrell & Lukas Nelson
Dave Matthews & Lukas Nelson
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
God bless Bob Dylan for showing up and rocking the house. He did so totally unannounced at Farm Aid 38 back in 2023. This time, he gave fans 3 days’ notice that he’d be playing in his home State of Minnesota. Not faulting Mr. Dylan, but if he could have possibly had his name on the bill from the get-go, perhaps the audience would have been even larger which would have meant more…well you know where I’m going. I may not have recognized all of his songs in his set but does it matter? No. It’s Bob Dylan for God’s sake. Be quiet and listen. All Along the Watchtower (also covered earlier in the day) and a be-bop version of Don’t Think Twice, It’s Alright stood out for me.
The 5 members of the Farm Aid Board: John Mellencamp, Margo Price, Dave Matthews, Neil Young and Willie Nelson put on fabulous performances. I was concerned that John’s guitarist had to be helped off stage for what appeared to be a medical reason. He originally performed standing, then had a chair brought out to sit on before being brought backstage. He came back to finish the show. Hopefully all is well. His songs Longest Days and Rain on the Scarecrow brought a somber mood followed by a full battle attack mode.
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts?
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts
Well, if Neil doesn’t get sued into oblivion for copyright infringement over the use of the Chrome Hearts name, hopefully we’ll see him and the band on tour again in 2026 when the weather warms up and the swallows come back to Capistrano. The band members are a young force to be reckoned with. Old timer Spooner Oldham is there for a reason, although his keyboard playing for the 3 shows I’ve recently seen were almost inaudible. Song highlights for me from Neil’s 7 song set were Long Walk Home and Be the Rain. He had his infamous pump organ at the back of the stage but I don’t believe he actually used it. Someone will correct me if I’m wrong. Time limits may have factored in.
Spooner Oldham
This was the year where I really noticed “The Growl.” Songs by Dylan, Mellencamp, Nelson & Young were not necessarily sung, but growled or spoken like a fine poem. A nod to the aging process which escapes no one. I’d rather hear them read the lyrics then not be up on stage at all.
All in all, an absolutely fantastic concert experience! Will there be a Farm Aid 41? Yes. Will there be a Farm Aid 50? I don’t know, but I made a vow at this show with a nice fellow who graciously took me under his wing on his birthday and we promised to that be there together at Farm Aid 50 come hell or high water. Happy Birthday Thrasher. Thanks to you, Paul & Renee of the FarmAidians and everyone involved in pulling this great event together.
John Kwit
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