37th Annual Farm Aid Scores Again For Planet Earth With Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Bob Weir, John Mellencamp & More (SHOW REVIEW/PHOTOS)

The 37th annual Farm Aid that took place in Noblesville, Indiana at the Ruoff Music Center on September 23rd, will once again go down in history as one of the strongest to date with its cavalcade of musical legends. The press conference started the festivities with the board, local farmers, members of the band, and other Farm Aid officials in attendance. The purpose of every year is to deliver vital information on the progress of Farm Aid’s efforts to help family farmers. The local farmers spoke of challenges in the state and educating the local population on eating organic foods and the effects on human health.

Neil Young always has vital comments on concerns of the day regarding family natural farming.  Here’s what he had to say.

”How important it is that the family farmers do what they do by sustaining organic food. They bring back the earth from the ground up. There are all great things, but they all pale in comparison to one thing, the people who go to the stores. People who are out there right now. We are all together in this. The climate change crisis is out there. If we go to our media, we don’t hear about it. We hear about ridiculous stuff that doesn’t mean anything. We hear about the pontificating about political views. All of this meaningless in today’s world. We as people all around this world can do something about it. We can work together and try to do natural things. Things that help you make decisions about what foods to gather, and where to go to buy it. Don’t go the the wrong place to buy the right food. Research, and read a little bit to find out what they are doing. It would be great if we could stop using fossil fuel but, things could come to a crashing halt anyway. We need to forget about that kind of thing and think about natural things we could do.”

Young continued, “What’s the best way to get a mile and a half down the road? Probably the best way to do that is to walk. It’s the natural thing to do. It makes you stronger and it makes you hungry for good food. In the world, you make the right decisions, the natural decisions. The natural way of life. Try to do things the way they used to be. Before we got so smart and so greedy. When I first came here with Willie and John, and Dave, we had a lot of these red shirts around that said stop factory farms. This was in the first and second years of Farm Aid. There’s a couple of them out there in the crowd. This is a serious business. This factory farm thing doesn’t work. It doesn’t work for us. It doesn’t work for humanity. It doesn’t work for the planet. It doesn’t work for the animals. It doesn’t work for the humans. It doesn’t work for anything that grows naturally. Everything that we do, we need to think about natural ways.”

The festival is always headlined by the board members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, and Margo Price. This year’s surprise guest was Bob Dylan. This was one of the most packed lineups of entertainers seen in recent years. 

Immediately following the press conference, the entertainment started with the Wisdom Indian Dancers, Clayton Anderson, and the Black Opry. The Wisdom Indian Dancers are a permanent act at Farm Aid and their colorful set is very short. 

Clayton Anderson is originally from Bedford, Indiana, and is inspired by board member, John Mellencamp. Local fans seemed to be very familiar with Anderson and gave him a warm welcome during his uplifting set. The Black Oprey featured Lori Rayne, Tylar Bryant, and Kyshona. The band was conceived to support black artists in country music. All of the members were superb singers. Their set demonstrated the reason Allison Russell introduced Kyshona as one of the best singers in show business.

Particle Kid is Willie’s son Micah Nelson who is following in his father’s footsteps as a songwriter. The multi-instrumentalist always delivers an innovative set with new music offered. He often performs with The Flaming Lips and Neil Young and most recently filled in for Nils Lofgren in Crazy Horse.  Nothing like singing “Everything is Bullsh*t” to a country crowd as his hard-driving guitars easily pumped up fans.

The String Cheese Incident has been celebrating 30 years as a band. They are celebrating their upcoming album Lend Me a Hand featuring their bluegrass-inspired music as fans were on their feet dancing to their loosely structured jam music.

This is the third year for multi-instrumentalist, Allison Russell, to appear at Farm Aid. Doesn’t matter if she is playing clarinet, banjo, or guitar, her performance is stellar. Her vocals are compelling and emotional.  

Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats delivered another outstanding folk and Americana set prior to Lukas Nelson and The Promise of the Real. Nelson has come a long way since his appearance opening for BB King in 2009. “Sticks and Stones” and “Finding Yourself” were some of the performer’s offerings..

Bobby Weir and the Wolf Brothers’ bandmates included bassist Don Was, drummer Jay Lane, keyboardist Jeff Chimenti, and pedal steel guitarist Barry Sless. The band was joined by Sturgill Simpson on guitar and Margo Price on vocals and Lukas Nelson on guitar. It was a three-song set that started with an extended version of “Truckin’”

The Jim Irsey Band featuring Ann Wilson and Kenny Wayne Sheperd were up next with Wilson and Sheperd performing the bulk of the set, thankfully. Both entertainers are the best. Also session guitarist, Tom Bukovac, thrilled the crowd. Margo Price followed with Sturgill Simpson sitting in during her set as well. They covered Simpson’s “Life of Sin.” “Paper Cowboy” and “Hurtin’ (On the Bottle)” were extra treats performed.

Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds gave another spectacular acoustic set, prior to hometown boy, John Mellencamp, who gave the fans a run for his hit songs. Once “Jack and Diane” was started, Mellencamp stopped the song to chastise the fans for not singing it right. It was all in fun and I must say the fans knew the lyrics to all of his songs. It was definitely Mellencamp’s crowd.


Neil Young’s set was a solo set with Young playing harmonica and guitar as he walked around the stage. It has been three years since Young has made a live appearance at Farm Aid. He was very apologetic regarding his absence. Young at one point shouted,” What’s your favorite planet?” and everyone roared back: “Earth!” The set seemed to be far too short with only four songs, granted they were long versions of the songs. One has to wonder if the set was cut short because of Bob Dylan being added to the list of performers.

Dylan’s surprise set was also short with only three songs including “Maggie’s Farm,” “Positively 4th Street,” and “Ballad of a Thin Man.” Dylan was accompanied by three members of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers (Mike Campbell, Benmont Tench, and Steve Ferrone) making his Farm Aid reunion with that band very special. He took the stage without uttering a word to the crowd. 

Willie Nelson and Family had the final set of the day and it was one of the best this reviewer has seen in many years. Nelson delivered exceptional guitar solos. He was flanked by sons Lukas and Micah as well as Waylon Payne. Some songs performed were “Always on My Mind,” “Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Be Cowboys,” and “Texas Flood.” Nelson’s energy level could not have been higher. And Farm Aid could not have had a better day of music. 

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