Farm Aid 2023
Farm Aid is far more than just our annual festival. We work tirelessly year-round to strengthen family farm agriculture and advocate for fair farm policies that promote resiliency, sustainability, equity and diversity across our food system.
Make a donation at farmaid.org/give
Photo of Farm Aid Board Members, Neil Young, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson and newest member, Margo Price.
Jenny shared this photo she snapped in Saint Louis, on drive home from Farm Aid yesterday.
Jodi, Mary Francis and me
Meeting up with friends that you only see at Farm Aid is the best, right up there with the music. So much fun to hang out with other music lovers and folks who want to support family farmers. I got to see old friends and meet new friends I have only known on-line. So much fun.
Janis and me.
Mary Francis, me and Jenny
If you want to learn more about what Farm Aid does and where the money goes and find ways to help, visit: www.FarmAId.org
Budrock, WIllie Nelson & Family’s lighting director extraordinaire, and me.
| This new collection is a career spanner jam-packed with 25 songs across two LPs, with each era of Willie’s illustrious six decade career chronicled. It includes massive hits like “On The Road Again,” “Always On My Mind” and “Blue Eyes Crying In The Rain” next to a number of his 21st century gems, including latter day classics like “Ride Me Back Home” and “Roll Me Up.” It features classic collaborations with the likes of Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings and Julio Iglesias, Willie’s early versions of songs made famous by others in the early 60s like “Crazy” and “Night Life,” alongside interpretations of others’ songs that he made his own from Hoagy Carmichael’s “Stardust” to Arlo Guthrie’s “City Of New Orleans” to Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe.”The exclusive bundles include a Willie Nelson Christmas Ornament and a Greatest Hits Guitar Pick Tin with picks! |
More great photos from Carol Roshkind.
www.Billboard.com
by: Thom Duffy
Bob Dylan astonished thousands of fans at Willie Nelson‘s sold-out Farm Aid festival with a surprise late-night performance Saturday (Sept. 23) at the Ruoff Music Center in Noblesville, Indiana.
Joined by members of The Heartbreakers, the black-clad Dylan walked onstage without any introduction and played a short but intense set of “Maggie’s Farm,” “Positively 4th Street” and “Ballad of a Thin Man.” Playing the guitar, against the stark backdrop of a silhouetted windmill, he took a spot in the festival lineup between sets by Farm Aid co-founders Neil Young and Nelson, who closed the show near midnight.
The appearance took place 38 years after Dylan conceived the idea for what became Farm Aid.
On July 13, 1985, in Philadelphia, Dylan had taken the stadium stage of Live Aid, the mega-benefit organized to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. Between songs, he mused to the event’s global audience: couldn’t a similar benefit help America’s family farmers?
“The question hit me like a ton of bricks,” Nelson recalled to Billboard in 2015. The musician was on the road that day, watching Live Aid on his tour-bus TV, and began looking into the economic crisis that was then forcing family farmers off their land and into bankruptcy. Then he called his friends, including the musician who made the suggestion.
www.MSN.com
by: Nouman Rasool
A kaleidoscope of tie-dye fervor enlivened the Pine Knob Music Theatre on Friday, September 22, during Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival. Evoking memories of the 60s psychedelic era, the event remained true to its moniker, underscoring music’s intrinsic spirit rather than mere genres or visuals.
Nelson, flanked by opener Waylon Payne—Jody Payne’s son and a stalwart of Nelson’s ensemble, The Family—delivered the country and Americana vibes which form the festival’s core. Simultaneously, Bobby Weir of the Grateful Dead, with his ensemble Wolf Bros, and the String Cheese Incident, brought a distinct “jam band” flair.
Their extended instrumental improvisations harmoniously complemented Nelson’s classic renditions.
Harmony Among 12,000 Fans
For an audience exceeding 12,000, the diverse musical styles effortlessly converged. Imagine cowboy hats swirling to the Dead’s “Ramble on Rose” while hippie fans, spanning generations, belted out lyrics to Nelson classics such as “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Be Cowboys” and “On the Road Again”.
Demonstrating camaraderie, Weir joined Nelson and The Family for their hour-long performance. In a moving finale, String Cheese Incident united on stage for soulful renditions of “Will the Circle Be Unbroken” and “I’ll Fly Away”.
Thanks to Janis Tillerson for her great photos from Farm Aid 30, in Chicago in 2015.
Kevin Smith
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