
photos: Janis Tillerson



Farm Aid II benefit concert was held on this date in 1986 at Manor Downs Racetrack in Texas. The lineup featured a loaded roster incl. Alabama, The Beach Boys, Bob Dylan, The Grateful Dead, Bon Jovi, Tom Petty and Willie Nelson.
The music at Farm Aid II will run from dawn until well past dusk. What follows is a tenative lineup of performers and emcees, in order of appearance.
From 7 until 10 a.m.
Cherokee Rose (with Willie Nelson), Jerry Max Lane, Jubal Clark, Danny Cooksey, Lee Clayton, Boxcar Willie. Johnny Bush, Gary P. Nunn, Rusty Wier, the Geezinsalw Brothers, Bill and Bonnie Hearne, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Steven Fromholz, Willie Nelson, Julio Iglesias, Willie and Waylon Jennings, Alex Harvey, Willie and David Lynn Jones, the Beach Boys, Johnny Paycheck, J.D. Souther with the Nelsons, B.W. Stevenson, David Allen Coe, Dusty Rhodes, War, Roy Head, Minnie Mouse and the Disney characters.
From 10 a.m. until 1 p.m.
Judy Collins, Patty Lovelace, Vern Gosdin, Charlie Haid, Little Joe y La Familia, Exile, the Blasters, Judy Rodman, Don Johnson, Jerry Jeff Walker, Rob Lowe, David Lindley and El Rayo-X, Sawyer Brown, the Rock and Roll All-Stars (Willie Nelson, John Bon Jovi, Vince Neil, Dickey Betts, Joe Walsh).
From 1 until 4 p.m.
George Jones, Gary Morris, Robert Guillaume, Nils Lofgren, Billy Joe Shaver, Playboy Girls of Rock n Roll, David Soul, Dave Mason, Dwight Yoakum, John Anderson, Bobbie Raitt, Roger McGuinn, Taj Mahal.
From 4 until 7 p.m.
William Lee Golden, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, John Prine, Roger Miller, the Nelsons, X, John Schneider, Asleep at the Wheel, Doug Kershaw, the Unforgiven, Joe Ely
From 7 until 10 p.m.
The Bellamy Brothers, Alabama, Green on Red, Christopher Hewitt, Los Lobos, Jack Wagner, John Couger Mellancamp with Maria McKee, Arlo Guthrie, Kris Kristofferson, Jason and the Scorchers.
From 10 p.m. until 1 a.m.
Rick James, Neil Young, Rita Coolidge, Steppenwolf, John Conlee, Delbert McClinton, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Kip Addotta, Leslie Phillips, Felix Cavaliere, Willie Nelson and Family, All Star Finale.
We still miss seeing Bee standing on stage beside Willie.
My friend Darrin Commerford took these photos on the 4th of July, in South Bend, Indiana, in 2009.
Jerry Blundell, his cat “Precious” and a friend try to hitchhike to Willie’s 1980 4th of July picnic, which was held at the Pedernales Country Club west of Austin. This may be one of my favorite all-time Texas photos!
Shared by the Austin American Statesman. pic.twitter.com/ZZaOHmOml1
— Traces of Texas (@TracesofTexas) July 5, 2020
Photo by Ron McKeown of Leon Russell and Willie Nelson opening Nelson’s Inaugural Picnic at sunrise on July 4, 1973. Who could have guessed that the picnic would still be taking place today? #oldschoolcool #leonrussell #willienelson pic.twitter.com/w5oQvRuNQM
— The Church Studio (@TheChurchStudio) July 27, 2019
photo: Willie Nelson
Charley Pride delighted everyone at Willie Nelson’s 4th of July Picnic. It was his first Picnic performance, and the sides of the stage were lined with other artists, who had come out to see the legendary Charley Pride perform. And he did perform, wow, so many hits: “Kiss an Angel Good Morning”, “Is Anybody Going to San Antone”, “Just Between You and Me”, “Does My Ring Hurt Your Finger”, “Kaw-Liga”, “Crystal Chandalier”, and more. Wow, right?
LB
He sang, he danced, he flirted with the girls in the front row.
photo: Janis Tillerson
photo: Janis Tillerson
Watching this video of Johnny Bush and his band at Willie’s 2014 picnic made me really miss Willie’s picnics. This is the only time I heard Johnny Bush sing, “Willie, please keep singing Whiskey River.”
Thanks, Phil Weisman, for sharing this poster.