Archive for September, 2012

Pegi Young and the Survivors, with Neil Young, Farm Aid XXVII (9/22/2012)

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

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Neil Young joined Peggy and the Survivors for her set at Farm Aid 2012.

Thanks to Mary Francis Andrews for her great photos from the show.

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Another Willie Nelson Fan

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

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“Dear Mr. Willie,

I’m tryin to figure out a way to write you directly but can’t really figure out how to more easily. My name is Brittany & I’m just wondering if the name Louise Elliot rings a bell to you? From Point Pleasant WV? Because of her you’re like a long lost uncle to me! She was my great aunt.

Everything she had of yours I now have. Hopefully you’ll read this, & remember her, & know that you’ve touched a strangers life you didn’t even know existed. I just wanted to let you know this… If Aunt Louise liked you, then you’re a good person!!  Thank you being good to my family!

Yours Truely – Brittany : )

PS I have proof if you want it : )”

Two Nights With Willie Nelson

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

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Stubbs always has such nice posters.

Willie Nelson, Farm Aid 2012

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

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www.FarmAid.org

Visit Willie Nelson’s website to see lots more photos from Farm Aid 2012, in Hershey, PA.
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Hot Chocolate! Farm Aid in Hershey, PA (9/12/2012)

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

Ryan O'Malley

www.thepittstondispatch.com
by:  Ryan O’Malley

“I’m a farmer…” were the words Max Yasgur said before thunderous applause erupted from a crowd a half a million strong at the Woodstock Music and Arts Festival in 1969. Since that time, there has been somewhat of a subliminal appreciation between music fans and the hardworking farmers in our country.

In 1985 – after a loose suggestion from Bob Dylan at Live Aid – Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp began organizing a yearly benefit concert for small town farmers throughout the nation known simply as Farm Aid. Since its inception, Farm Aid has focused on assisting farmers with the rising day-to-day costs of running one of the oldest professions in our country. With three top-level musicians as board members, the formula was easy: bring in some well-known musical friends for a day-long concert and spread the word.

While Farm Aid picks a new city for each concert, the organizers chose Hershey as the host site for this year’s event which took place on Saturday.

Keeping with tradition, prior to the event the annual press conference was held with Nelson, Young, Mellencamp, Dave Matthews (board member since 2001), Jack Johnson and farmers from Hershey. During their speeches, all four board members talked about how easy it was to pick Hershey, putting emphasis on the area’s dairy farming; but also spoke of the hardships the government has been imposing on farmers (notably, Young reading a letter he received from a local farmer known only as Joe, where he expressed dismay at the lack of available funding.)

After the conference, music started almost immediately with Young’s wife Pegi taking the stage for a brief set, which was followed by semi-new jam band Animal Liberation Orchestra (ALO.)

In between acts, video montages were shown with past Farm Aid highlights, and also touted all the locally-grown food available for purchase at the Homegrown Village which showcased the diverse naturally-grown products coming out of the Hershey area.

Following a short set by Nelson’s son Lukas and his band, The Promise of a Real, the soulful Grace Potter and the Nocturnals delivered one of the best sets of the day. Throughout the 45 minute set, the naturally-elegant Potter played guitar, organ and sang two duet songs with the elder Nelson, who received a standing ovation when he took the stage.

A new-comer to Farm Aid, Jack Johnson came out after Potter and put in a spirited set full of acoustic island-fused hits including his radio staples “Flake” and “Bubble Toes.”

For the country fans, the big names came out next with superstar Kenny Chesney, who played a 45-minute set full of hits including “No Shirt, No Shoes, No Problem.”

In what has become a rare setting, Dave Matthews took the stage with long-time friend and band mate Tim Reynolds who put in a solid, hour-long acoustic set beginning with a Matthews song Nelson has covered, “Grave Digger.” Throughout songs like “Funny the Way It Is,” “Dancing Nancies,” and “Don’t Drink the Water,” it was hard to not be impressed by what Reynolds can do with just an acoustic guitar.

Matthews and Reynolds ended with the Matthews solo cut “Some Devil,” before turning the stage over to Mellencamp.

Once the opening verse of the first number, “The Authority Song,” hit, it was clear Mellencamp does not have the voice we have all come to appreciate (on par with the last 20 years of Bob Dylan.) Though hoarse-voiced, Mellencamp put in a pleasing set of hits including “Check It Out,” “Pink Houses,” and “Small Town.”

Suspiciously, “Jack and Diane” was nowhere to be found.

After mostly acoustic music, it was a blessing for rock fans when Neil Young and Crazy Horse took the stage to deliver an hour of loud riffs beginning with “Love and Only Love.” Scorching solos were prevalent courtesy of Young and guitarist Frank “Poncho” Sampedro on cuts like “Homegrown,” Buffalo Springfield’s “Mr. Soul” and the set closing “Like a Hurricane.”

Coming on nearly an hour late, and 15 minutes after curfew, Willie Nelson and Family dove into a short but sweet set which featured a small four-piece backing band and son Lukas on guitar and vocals.

After nearly twelve hours promoting the event and chatting with farmers, Nelson had remarkable energy on songs like “On the Road Again,” “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys,” and “Crazy” which he wrote for Patsy Cline.

Wrapping up around Midnight, Nelson ended the night with the appropriate “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I’m Gone.”

In the 27 years since it started, Farm Aid has donated millions of dollars to the farming community in hopes of helping to maintain one of the most relied upon jobs in the country. With dozens of top-notch acts taking part in the concerts and millions of farmers eternally grateful for what Farm Aid does for them, it’s easy to see that Nelson, Young, Mellencamp and Matthews are on the right track.

And the beat goes on…

Ryan O’Malley is the music journalist for The Sunday Dispatch and a correspondent for The Weekender. He may be reached at  musicjournalman@hotmail.com

Happy Birthday, Marty Stuart

Sunday, September 30th, 2012

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Marty Stuart was born September 30, 1958, in Philadelphia, Mississippi. He plays mandolin for Lester Flatt as a teen before building a solo career that features rockabilly-tinged singles and a Golden Globe nomination for music. He marries fellow Grand Ole Opry star Connie Smith.

Thank you, Chipotle, for your continued support of Farm Aid and family farmers

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

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Last year we served ten million pounds of local produce grown within 350 miles of the restaurant) including bell peppers, jalapenos, onions and romaine lettuce.  It’s just another indication of our love affair with delicious ingredients that started nineteen years ago and is still going strong.”

Seems like a good time to post Chipotle’s commercial, Back to the Start, featuring Willie Nelson singing, “The Scientist”


[This song is included in Willie Nelson’s new album, “Heroes”

Press Conference, Farm Aid 2012 (Hershey, PA)

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

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Thanks to Mary Francis Andrews, for her great photos from the Farm Aid 2012 press conference.

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John Trudell talks about industrial hemp, Farm Aid 2012 (Hershey, PA) (/22/2012)

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

Concert de Willie Nelson à l’Olympia (Paris, France)

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

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Nous y étions au 1er rang. Superbe concert, 26 juin 2010

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Thanks to Toni Vuori, for sending link to this slide show from Willie Nelson & Family’s European tour in 2010.  He had just cut his hair before leaving for Europe, and this show in Paris.

You can see the entire slide show here.

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Trigger, Farm Aid 2012, Hershey, PA (9/22/2012)

Saturday, September 29th, 2012

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I think this is Trigger’s 27th Farm Aid, too. I’ll have to check and see if he anyone knows if he’s ever missed one.

Johnny Cash Music Festival, Arkansas State University (Oct. 5, 2012)

Friday, September 28th, 2012

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Willie Nelson (left), and Johnny Cash performed together on the stage of the ballroom of the Montreaux Palace Hotel in Switzerland, on Dec. 7, 1984. Photo: CBS

http://blogs.tennessean.com
by: Ken Beck

Fans of the Man in Black can get close to his roots, his family, his friends and his songs at the second Johnny Cash Music Festival Oct. 5 at Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Ark.

Headlining the bill, along with Cash’s daughter Rosanne Cash, will be Willie Nelson, Dierks Bentley and The Civil Wars.

Funds from the concert are going to restore the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home in Dyess, Ark., and also will support a scholarship fund in honor of the country music legend.

“Dyess is an area that really needs help, and this project (the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home) will help. We have a lot of good friends in Dyess, and the family is proud to see the project moving along. The best thing is that it is a continuing project, and we hope it will continue for many years to come,” said John Carter Cash, son of Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash.

Arkansas State University (ASU) is leading efforts for the Johnny Cash Boyhood Home Project, which will preserve the heritage of the Dyess Colony, a part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s New Deal Program during the Great Depression. More than $1.4 million has been raised, including $300,000 in proceeds from the first Johnny Cash Music Festival.

The redevelopment plan includes restoration of the Cash family home and renovation of the historic Administration Building and Theater Building in the Colony Center. Partnership between the town and ASU also will see a re-creation of the Cash farmstead outbuildings, historic markers placed throughout Dyess and a walking trail linking the Colony Center and the Cash house.

Cash’s parents, Ray and Carrie Cash, raised their seven children (Roy, Margaret Louise, Jack, J.R. (Johnny), Reba, Joanne and Tommy) in the house where they lived from 1935 to 1954 on an East Arkansas cotton farm.

The Johnny Cash Boyhood Home is scheduled to open late summer/early fall 2013, in time to mark the 10th anniversary of Johnny Cash’s death, which was on Sept. 12, 2003.

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For information on how you can attend, or support the efforts to refurbish Johnny Cash’s childhood home, and create museum/library:
www.JohnnyCashMusicFest.com.

 

 

Another Willie Nelson Fan, another Willie Nelson Tattoo: Trace Cyrus shows us his ink

Friday, September 28th, 2012

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http://tasteofcountry.com
by:  Megan Pacella

Trace Cyrus, the son of country music star Billy Ray Cyrus, has inked Willie Nelson‘s face onto his leg. It’s no surprise that Trace has a soft spot for country musicians, having grown up in a country household. But he’s not finished with Nelson (pictured) — rumor has it he’s going to ink Johnny Cash‘s face on his body soon, too.

Not one to hide any tattoos from his parents, Trace has covered a significant portion of his body with ink. He took to his Twitter page to inform fans and friends of his latest body art: an up-close portrait of Nelson smoking a joint.

In a series of posts, he tweeted, “It’s going down. Willie Nelson will soon be on my leg forever. Getting tatted by chrisgarciatattoos in my crib!”

Then later he added, “Willie Nelson tattoo!!! Love it!” with an Instagram photo of the fresh ink.

Back in May, Trace shocked the Twitterverse when he uploaded a photo of a tattoo on the side of his skull. The gigantic tattoo depicts an American Indian with a full headdress. Up next? Apparently, a tribute to Johnny Cash.

“Finished my Willie Nelson tattoo! Tomorrow getting Johnny Cash!” he tweeted. Keep your eyes out for the Man in Black somewhere on Trace’s body. The question is, does he have enough blank space left to fit a good portrait of Cash?

He has some beautiful tattoos

Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Farm Aid 2012 (“HomeGrown!”)

Friday, September 28th, 2012

Neil Young and Crazy Horse
Photo: Mary Francis Andrews, Tucson, AX

Willie Nelson joined Neil Young for a rousing version of ‘Homegrown’!

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Photo: Mary Francis Andrews

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photo: Mary Francis Andrews

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Willie Nelson & Friends, Farm Aid 2012 (Hershey, PA) (Sept 22, 2012)

Friday, September 28th, 2012