 by Julian Spivey With much of the country in quarantine over the last month due to Covid-19 there has been lot of talk about “essential workers” and one group of essential workers who have been struggling during the terrible time in our country is the family farmer. Farm Aid committee members Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews got together to help out the family farmers and ranchers struggling at this time with a special “at home” version of the Farm Aid music festival that aired on AXS TV on Saturday, April 11, as well as streamed live on the network’s social media pages. Nelson, one of the founders of Farm Aid with Young and Mellencamp in 1985, released a statement before the broadcast that said: “One of [Covid 19’s] many impacts is that it has helped us to better see the value of essential people like heath care workers, grocery store clerks, delivery truck drivers, and farmers and ranchers. Farm Aid has worked for 35 years to build a family farm centered agriculture system, and we are here now to support farmers and ranchers in this crisis, without whom we could not eat.” The AXS TV telecast was hosted by Nelson and his sons, Lukas and Micah, from their home with most of the talking being done by Lukas and Micah. Nelson, who will turn 87 later this month, has dealt with health issues over the last few years and generally didn’t seem able to speak or sing well on Saturday. Matthews was the first of the four performers on the evening, as the youngest of the board members of Farm Aid. He seemed to have the longest set of the four starting things off with a beautiful cover of Nelson’s classic “Funny How Time Slips Away.” He would then perform a couple of his own notable songs back-to-back in “Satellite,” from his 1994 debut album Under the Table and Dreaming, and “Bartender,” off 2002’s Busted Stuff. The final performance of Matthews set was the most important in my opinion as he debuted a new song (that he didn’t share the title of) that he said he wrote a couple of weeks ago during this quarantine. It was a beautiful piece of hopefulness that really brings a tear to your eye. Of the four performers on Saturday night’s event the most philosophical was certainly John Mellencamp, who spoke of all the good things this moment in our life has brought to us – people making art and spending more time with loved ones. He performed a couple of tunes really applicable to our current world situation in “Save Some Time to Dream,” from his 2010 album No Better Than This,” and “Longest Days,” off 2008’s Life, Death, Love and Freedom. Mellencamp’s acoustics in his place were the worst of all four performances, but that didn’t really bug me too much on Saturday night, I was just happy to hear him perform classics like “Jack & Diane” and “Rain on the Scarecrow,” which ended his set and has somewhat become the anthem for Farm Aid and the plight of the American family farmer. During the quarantine Neil Young has been recording what he’s called Fireside Sessions from his home in Telluride, Colo. and sent some of these performances into the At Home with Farm Aid special. His cobbled together set from these Fireside performances began with “Vampire Blues,” from his 2016 album Earth. I had never heard this song before, but immediately enjoyed it. Young would break out some of his older numbers with “Love and Only Love,” off 1990’s Ragged Glory, and “Helpless,” which appeared on the legendary Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young 1970 album Déjà vu. Sometimes legendary artists like these playing songs that aren’t exactly considered among their “greatest hits,” but rather deep cuts would be controversial, but these performances truly seemed to be perfect for such a moment in our time. As mentioned earlier Nelson didn’t quite seem to be at his usual self vocally and this led to two of his three performances being led vocally by his sons. This wasn’t a disappointment though as it gave his kids the chance to show off some of Nelson’s deep cuts, as well, that you never hear at a Nelson concert. Micah kicked things off with “I Thought About You, Lord,” from 1996’s Spirit, and Lukas performed an excellent version of “Hands on the Wheel,” from his pop’s iconic 1975 album Red Headed Stranger. The trio of Nelson’s ended the hour-plus of spectacular music with Willie’s classic “On the Road Again” with Willie taking his turn on vocals. It was a fitting way to end the special and I’m sure Willie and his boys, like all touring musicians in today’s world, truly can’t wait to get back on the road again. If you would like to donate to Farm Aid and help our nation’s hard-working and absolutely essential family farmers and ranchers you can do so at its website.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |