Farm Aid board members, staff, farmers and advocates share information about family farming during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
Farm Aid 2019 took over the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Saturday night (Sept. 21), marking the second time the all-day festival has taken place in the state. As with prior years, the event boasted an impressive lineup of music led by the nonprofit organization’s Board of Directors — Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews — and offered a range of local, organic and family farm foods through their trademark Homegrown Concessions.
The day kicked off with a press conference, during which the Farm Aid board members engaged with family farmers, listening to their stories while also sharing their own thoughts on topics related to sustainable farming practices and other agricultural issues at hand.
Farm Aid board members, staff, farmers and advocates share information about family farming during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
“All you have to do is look at those cows, see the way they’re heading down into that field. They’re excited, they’re happy cows,” said Young, touching on the topic of managed grazing. “You’ve seen the other cows, we’ve seen them all in the line, in cages, and doing things according to someone’s plan. But it’s not the way it should be.” Mellencamp stressed the importance of human creativity in designing solutions to our farming problems and Nelson thanked everyone for their support of the festival.
Matthews later contributed his thoughts on the over-industrialization of farming, saying, “It makes us separate from the earth and it turns us into part of a profit-driven machine that doesn’t take into account anything but the dollar.” He elaborated, saying when we support local family farms “we’re not paying them ‘too much,’ we’re paying them what they’re due.”
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds perform during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
Later in the day, Matthews took the Main Stage, performing with guitarist and longtime collaborator Tim Reynolds. The guitar-centric acoustic set had the crowd singing and dancing along to fan favorites including the warm and mellow “Grace Is Gone” and oldie but goodie “Lie In Our Graves,” the second of which saw the duo mostly communicating with the sold-out crowd through the power of their strings alone.
Matthews led a “picky” rendition of the title track from Dave Matthews Band‘s 2018 LP Come Tomorrow, prior to ending the set with an explosive take on Under the Table and Dreaming single “Ants Marching,” which featured some mind-blowing twangy slide guitar work, courtesy of Reynolds.
Matthews later introduced Mellencamp, who subsequently rocked and rolled his way across the East Troy, WI stage with an infectious block of hits including “Small Town,” “Authority Song” and “Pink Houses.”
John Mellencamp performs during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
The Indiana native playfully corrected the eager audience for jumping into the chorus too soon on “Jack and Diane,” which he performed alone with nothing but his acoustic guitar, before exiting the stage for an instrumental medley from his band members — violinist Miriam Sturm and multi-instrumentalist Troye Kinnett on accordion.
Fellow Farm Aid board member Young later led an oscillating set of tunes including a pleasant rendition of “Harvest Moon” and a moody take on “Heart of Gold.”
“You really have to hand it to those farmers because they got a lot against them right now. And it’s about seeds. So here’s a story about seeds,” said the Canadian singer-songwriter as he charged into The Monsanto Years rocker “Workin’ Man.”
Neil Young performs during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
Backed by Promise of the Real, the guitarist and singer brought the audience of approximately 37,000 to their feet with blazing renditions of “Throw Your Hatred Down” and “Rockin’ in the Free World,” the former cuing some ferocious guitar solos from Young, the latter prompting one of the biggest crowd-wide sing-alongs of the night.
Earlier in the day, Farm Aid graced fans with a performance from Grammy darling Bonnie Raitt, who served up a blues-infused set including mega-hit “Something to Talk About” and “Unintended Consequences of Love,” from her 2016 LP Dig in Deep.
Raitt, who also appeared on a number of Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival dates earlier this summer, had fans wiping tears during her soft and sweet rendition of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery.” The singer and guitarist’s setlist included a handful of other covers including INXS’ “Need You Tonight,” Talking Heads’ “Burning Down the House” and Skip James’ “Devil Got My Woman.”
Margo Price, Yola, Nathaniel Rateliff and more join Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, along with country artists Jamey Johnson and Tanya Tucker also made notable appearances throughout the day-long event, which was rounded out by sets from Margo Price, Yola, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats, Jamestown Revival, Luke Combs, Particle Kid and Ian Mellencamp.
In keeping with tradition, Farm Aid founder Willie Nelson closed out the 2019 festival with a headlining performance that featured a slew of songs from over the years including the spirited opener “Whiskey River,” “Mammas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys” and “Still Is Still Moving To Me.”
“Let’s do one for Waylon [Jennings],” declared the 86-year-old country icon, before to launching into “Good Hearted Woman.” He followed it up with “one for Merle [Haggard]” — “It’s All Going to Pot” — before performing the playful fan favorite “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.”
Willie Nelson performs during Farm Aid at the Alpine Valley Music Theatre in East Troy, WI on Sept. 21, 2019
A slow-tempo 7+ minute rendition of the Larry Davis blues song “Texas Flood” saw Nelson and son Lukas smiling while trading guitar solos, prior to the Red Headed Stranger leading a show-closing jamboree with a little help from the above-mentioned earlier performers Johnson, Price, Rateliff and Young, among others, on “I Saw The Light.”
Thirty-four years on, Farm Aid is still going strong. The festival has raised over $57 million dollars throughout the decades, helping keep family farmers on their land since 1985.
Check out our complete photo gallery below and catch up on all things Farm Aid at www.farmaid.org.
(Photos by Laurie Fanelli)
