Willie Nelson to host online ‘Farm Aid’ concert with Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews

The hour-long virtual show begins Saturday at 7 p.m.

Willie Nelson will join Farm Aid co-founders Neil Young and John Mellencamp for an hour-long concert Saturday at 7 p.m. to benefit U.S. family farmers affected by the coronavirus pandemic.

At Home With Farm Aid will air at farmaid.org and on AXS TV’s cable channel and social media sites, with Nelson and others performing from their own homes and studios. Farm Aid board member Dave Matthews will also play, as will Nelson’s sons Lukas and Micah. The show is free, though viewers are encouraged to donate to Farm Aid, the organization Nelson spearheads.

In a statement, Nelson said the coronavirus crisis “has helped us to better see the value of essential people like health careNelson, Young and Mellencamp launched Farm Aid in September 1985 after being inspired by Bob Dylan’s onstage plea for American farmer debt relief earlier that year at Live Aid, the African famine relief event. Farm Aid has staged benefits concerts almost every year since then, including a 1989 show at Cowboys Stadium featuring Paul Simon, Guns N’ Roses, Elton John and Garth Brooks. workers, grocery store clerks, delivery truck drivers, and farmers and ranchers. Farm Aid has worked for 35 years to build a family farm-centered agricultural system, and we are here now to support farmers and ranchers in this crisis, without whom we could not eat.”

Nelson, Young and Mellencamp launched Farm Aid in September 1985 after being inspired by Bob Dylan’s onstage plea for American farmer debt relief earlier that year at Live Aid, the African famine relief event. Farm Aid has staged benefits concerts almost every year since then, including a 1989 show at Cowboys Stadium featuring Paul Simon, Guns N’ Roses, Elton John and Garth Brooks.

In addition to At Home With Farm Aid, AXS TV will also air The Best of Farm Aid 2019 at 7 p.m. Sunday. The 2 1/2-hour special features performances from Bonnie Raitt, Tanya Tucker, Nathaniel Rateliff and others who played the fundraiser last September at Alpine Valley Music Theatre in Wisconsin. 

At Home With Farm Aid marks Nelson’s second high-profile coronavirus fundraiser in less than a month. On March 19, he joined Paul Simon, Edie Brickell and others for ‘Til Further Notice, an online concert that rose from the ashes of his canceled Luck Reunion festival.

By Kim Cyr-Goodyear 

Editor in Chief