I had the good fortune to attend the first Farm Aid concert held Sept. 22, 1985 in Champaign, Illinois to raise money for family farmers in the U.S. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan’s comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt.
In order of appearance: Johnny Cash, June Carter, Loretta Lynn, Bonnie Raitt, The Beach Boys, Neil Young, Lou Reed, Arlo Guthrie, Billy Joel, Charlie Daniels Band, Merle Haggard, Randy Newman and Willie Nelson.
The concert scenes are interspersed with footage I shot on my family farm in northeastern Kansas.