On This Day, Sept. 22, 1985 …
Forty years ago, Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp headlined the first-ever Farm Aid concert in Champaign, Illinois.
The trio organized the all-star event to raise money to help family farmers in the United States. They were inspired by comments Bob Dylan made during the Live Aid concerts, in which he said he hoped some of the money could go to help struggling farmers.
Dylan also performed at the first Farm Aid, as did Billy Joel, Tom Petty, B.B. King, Loretta Lynn, Roy Orbison and others.
The first concert raised over $9 million.
Since then, Farm Aid has held concerts almost every year and has raised nearly $80 million to help American farmers.
The 40th anniversary edition took place Saturday in Minneapolis, with Nelson, Young and Mellencamp once again headlining, along with Dylan, Margo Price and Dave Matthews with Tim Reynolds.
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