John Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Willie Nelson will headline the 2018 annual Farm Aid concert set for September 22nd at Hartford, Connecticut’s Xfinity Theatre. Among the other high profile artists set to perform are Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds, as well as Chris Stapleton, Sturgill Simpson, Kacey Musgraves, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real, and Particle Kid. Additional artists will be announced later this summer.
Farm Aid President and founder Willie Nelson said in the official announcement: “Family farmers are the backbone of our country, but today, they are endangered. Whether we live in cities like Hartford or the rural areas of New England, each of us has the power to create positive, lasting change in our farm and food system and strengthen farm families to help them stay on the land for generations to come.”
John Mellencamp has been involved in the issues facing the American farmer for well over 30 years — both with his time and his music. It was his 1985 album Scarecrow that first got the attention of Farm Aid co-founder Willie Nelson: “We had some mutual friends that were hanging around with him, and they told him I had just made a record called Scarecrow that dealt with the family farm crisis. And he, at that time, had been thinking about putting together Farm Aid, and he just called me up out of the clear blue one day and said, ‘Hey I’m in Bloomington and I’ve been thinking about doing this. . . ‘ and ‘Would you help organizing?’ And I said, ‘Yeah.’ And that’s my involvement.” (Pulse)
Tickets go on sale this Friday, (June 29th) at 10 a.m. ET, with prices ranging from $54.50 to $279.50. For more information, log on to FarmAid.org.
SIDE NOTES
- It was on July 13th, 1985 that Bob Dylan shed light on the American farmer when he planted the seed for Farm Aid during his performance at Live Aid in Philadelphia. Dylan mentioned that maybe some of the millions raised for African famine relief could go to help the struggling American farmers.
- Within two months Dylan shared the stage with such legendary acts as Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, John Mellencamp at the first Farm Aid on September 22, 1985 in Champaign, Illinois at University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium before a crowd of 80,000 people.
- Among the notables that took part in the first Farm Aid concert were Bon Jovi, Don Henley, Eddie Van Halen & Sammy Hagar, John Fogerty, Huey Lewis & The News, John Denver, Joni Mitchell, Billy Joel & Randy Newman, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King, the Beach Boys, Alabama, Bonnie Raitt, Lou Reed, B. B. King, and many, many more.
- Farm Aid has taken place every year since then — except for 1988 and 1991.
FAST FACTS — according to FarmAid.org
- Farm Aid’s mission is to build a vibrant, family farm-centered system of agriculture in America.
- For more than 30 years, Farm Aid, with the support of the artists who contribute their performances each year, has raised more than $53 million to support programs that help farmers thrive, expand the reach of the Good Food Movement, take action to change the dominant system of industrial agriculture and promote food from family farms.
- Net farm income has dropped 53 percent since 2013 and median farm income is expected to be negative $1,316 in 2018.
- In New England alone, more than 10,000 family dairy farmers have gone out of business since 1970. Farmer stress is growing, and a 2016 report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that the suicide rate for people working in agriculture, fishing and forestry is nearly five times that of the general population.
