www.kansascity.com
by: Timothy Finn
He is a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Country Music Hall of Fame. On Saturday, Willie Nelson, 78, president of Farm Aid, will be inducted into the Agricultural Hall of Fame in Bonner Springs.
Nelson will be in town to perform at the live music benefit he founded 26 years ago to help distressed family farmers. The Farm Aid concert will be the inaugural music event at Livestrong Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kan., the new Major League Soccer stadium for Sporting KC. Nelson spoke to The Star by phone on Tuesday.
Q. You have been doing Farm Aid since 1985. Does one stand out among the others?
A. The first one was one of the most memorable ones. (Illinois Gov.) Big Jim Thompson and I were doing some campaigning at the state fair. Big Jim and I usually get together and have a beer and a bowl of chili and talk about the world and all that good stuff.
This particular time, the farmers had been telling me what a bad time they’d been going through. So I started checking it out and talking to some of my farmer friends, and sure enough, they were really having a rough time. So I decided to put on a benefit. Twenty-one days later I started calling my friends, like John Mellencamp and Neil Young, and we put on the first Farm Aid.
It sold out in no time at all because people in the farmland out there, they know the problems and know how hard it was on the farmers. It wasn’t hard to get a lot of pickers together to come play it. And we’ve been doing it ever since. Unfortunately, the problem still exists. At least we’re still out there swinging at them.
What is that problem, as you see it?
We’re still in a desperate situation with our farmers and the land and the big corporations taking over farms and ruining the soil with chemicals and pesticides. It’s been going on for so long.
I think the biggest problem is with politicians who either don’t know about it or don’t care. At one time there were more than 8 million family farms in this country. We’re down to less than 2 million. Farmers are not having a good time at all, and things aren’t getting better. It would be nice if our politicians would get their stuff together and do something for them.
What is one thing you’d like to see Congress do to address the problem?
Remember when Ross Perot ran for president? He and I had some plans about taking the land that the government owns — because they own millions and millions of acres that they’ve confiscated — and taking in farmers on that land and subsidizing them for a few years until they could afford to buy it. I still think it’s a good idea. We’ve got to figure out a way to get the farmers back on the land.
The same thing happened in Russia several years ago. But when the government finally decided it didn’t want the land they’d taken from the farmers, when it realized it didn’t know what to do with it, they tried to give it back. But the young people said, “We don’t want to farm. There’s no money in it. You took all the money out of it.” We’re almost at the same place. Young people don’t want to farm because there’s no money in it. We need to change that.
Talk about the spirit of Farm Aid, the concert. Is it one of your favorite shows of the year?
Yeah, but there are mixed emotions about it. You wish we didn’t have to do it, but you’re glad you are able to do it, and you’re glad people are willing to help you. Over the years, literally thousands of musicians have donated their time and services to Farm Aid. This year, it’s the same thing. There’s a great lineup of talent from all over the world coming to play for nothing.
It’s a bad deal when you have to do something like this, but I’m glad we’re still able to do it. Artists are still showing up, and the crowds are always great. People like to help people in need and hear good music at the same time. But we’re always hoping things will get better for the farmers.
Saturday’s lineup
Willie Nelson
Neil Young
John Mellencamp
Dave Matthews
Jason Mraz
Jamey Johnson
Jakob Dylan
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Ray Price
Billy Joe Shaver
Robert Francis
Will Dailey & the Rivals
Rebecca Pidgeon
John Trudell
The Blackwood Quartet
Local band: Hearts of Darkness