Willie Nelson, Neil Young, Margo Price, and others make Farm Aid 40 one to remember
by Luke Taylor and Steven Cohen
September 21, 2025
The 40th Farm Aid benefit concert took place at Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis on Saturday (and a little bit of Sunday). The lineup included Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and collaborator Tim Reynolds, Margo Price, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, Billy Strings, Waxahatchee, Eric Burton of Black Pumas, Wynonna Judd, Kenny Chesney, and more.
Farm Aid launched in 1985. Co-founded by Willie Nelson, the idea was struck when Nelson heard Minnesota-born Bob Dylan playing Live Aid and musing aloud that he wished some of the money being raised could help American farmers. Following the energy crisis of the 1970s, U.S. farmers found themselves with higher expenses than earnings, and many family farms went into foreclosure. A nonprofit organization, Farm Aid assists farms in many ways, using music — provided at no charge by participating artists — to bring people together in one space to raise money and awareness, and to build community.
One of Farm Aid’s board members and performing artists, Margo Price, knows the farm crisis firsthand. “My family lost their farm in 1985,” Price told the Huntington Bank Stadium audience on Saturday. “I saw how affected they were, emotionally, physically, financially, mentally.
“It's so important for us to come together right now, this time in America,” Price continued. “I think shared struggle builds solidarity, and hope is an act of resistance.”
Forty years in, Farm Aid’s magnetism is extensive. Tyler and Caitlin Mayhew of Brighton, Colorado, came to Minneapolis pretty much to see Billy Strings, but they were also drawn by Nelson and Dylan. Candy and Adam Chudzinsky from West Lafayette, Indiana, traveled to Minneapolis with their 12-year-old daughter, Nora, specifically for Farm Aid. Candy was eager to see Mellencamp, a fellow Hoosier, while Adam was excited about seeing Strings, and Nora looked forward to seeing Nelson, “just especially because he's like a real legend.”
Farm Aid also lured many first-time attendees from around the state with a wide range of interests. Chanhassen-based Chad and Cara Morgan came to hear Nelson, Chesney, and local band Trampled By Turtles. Bill Erickson from Bemidji wanted to see Nelson, Mellencamp, Young, and Bob Dylan. Colin Larson of Eden Prairie was all about Strings and Young. Kristen Anderson of Minneapolis looked forward to seeing Nelson, Dylan, Young, Matthews, Price, and Strings, “one of my all-time favorites right now.”
The pull of Farm Aid was evident in the Homegrown Village, a space of educational activities set up outside of Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday. Throngs of music fans walked among the tents and tables to learn about regenerative agriculture, supporting pollinators, and joining food co-ops. As the set times approached, Jeanne Schaefer of Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, said she was excited for the music, but there was something more. “It just makes me feel hopeful that maybe all is not lost,” she said, “and we can just keep going forward in love.”
Indeed, just observing the environment around the stadium, it becomes clear that Farm Aid is much more than a concert. An untold number of attendees proudly show their loyalty and commitment to Farm Aid by looking the part, wearing T-shirts from previous Farm Aid events. It feels like a family reunion of sorts backed by an amazing music lineup. “I'm actually here because we are farmers here in Minnesota,” says Arlene Jones of Bemidji, who also runs the Sprout food hub in Little Falls. “We're looking forward to seeing all of our friends and all of the great headliners that are here tonight, and all of the regional artists that are here as well.”
Main stage performances began around 12:45 p.m., when Margo Price introduced the Wisdom Indian Dancers. What followed was a land acknowledgement that blended Indigenous and Christian spiritual practices. Following a sage blessing, Margo Price sang the Lord’s Prayer while the Wisdom Indian Dancers articulated the prayer through Indigenous sign language. It was then followed by a sacred Native song and dance.
Singer and songwriter Madeline Edwards took the stage and continued the theme with a performance of the hymn “Amazing Grace” then five original songs accompanied by her guitarist. Next, Jesse Welles, fresh off winning the Americana Music Association’s Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music Award on Sept. 10, showed just why he was that award’s recipient with a set of protest songs like “The Poor,” “Red,” “Philanthropist” and “War Isn’t Murder.” The songs felt in the spirit of artists like Bob Dylan, who laid the groundwork back in the 1960s. (Incidentally, Welles was one of four artists performing at Farm Aid who were recently recognized at the Americana Music Association’s Honors and Awards.)
Eric Burton of Black Pumas played to a steadily filling Huntington Bank Stadium. The early arrivals there to see Burton were standing up, swaying, and singing along to the Black Pumas hit “Colors.” Burton’s melodic vocals and Lead Belly-influenced guitar playing swept across the stadium.
After Burton was Waxahatchee. The group led by Katie Crutchfield and anchored by drummer Spencer Tweedy played a six-song set, including songs from Waxahatchee’s albums Saint Cloud and Tigers Blood, as well as “Problem With It,” a cut from Crutchfield’s collaboration with Jess Williamson, Plains. Waxahatchee’s performance of “Right Back To It” off Tigers Blood got a strong reaction from the audience, who were actively dancing and singing along.
Minnesota 2nd District Rep. Angie Craig introduced Wynonna Judd, saying “her powerful vocals have made her one of country music’s most beloved performers.” Judd showed exactly why by delighting the audience with her enduring hits like “Why Not Me” and “No One Else on Earth.”
Minnesota Commissioner of Agriculture Thom Peterson proudly introduced Duluth band Trampled By Turtles. The energy level inside Huntington Bank Stadium raised a notch as Trampled kicked out their high-tempo tunes “Victory,” “Whiskey,” and “Wait So Long.” Even the crescendo to the more reflective “Alone” elevated heart rates. “To be playing Farm Aid in our home state of Minnesota,” frontman Dave Simonett said, “feels like a dream.”
Steve Earle took the stage for the first of two brief sets, noting it was his first Farm Aid in a while, but that the event remains necessary. “As far as I can see,” he said, “there is still a farm crisis.” Earle then played “Guitar Town,” a song he performed at Farm Aid back in 1986 in Austin, Texas. He rounded out his first short set with “The Rain Came Down.”
Next it was time for Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Rateliff, who along with his band recently won Album of the Year accolades for South of Here at the Americana Honors and Awards, quoted Margo Price’s introductory remarks, “Hope is an act of resistance,” before launching into “I’m On Your Side.” The Denver band brought enthusiasm and energy to the space. Particularly notable throughout the set were Jeff Dazey’s lively tenor sax solos, and drummer Patrick Meese’s percussion that rattled the stadium with irresistible beats. Rateliff, bassist Joseph Pope III, and keyboardist Mark Shusterman ensured the audience clapped along. They also encouraged sing-alongs that filled Huntington Bank Stadium with the sound of a massive choir.
Following Rateliff and company, Steve Earle returned to the stage, this time just with mandolin. He opened with “Galway Girl” and segued from that straight into “Copperhead Road.”
Lukas Nelson was onstage next, and he had a couple of cool surprises up his sleeve. After opening with “Ain’t Done,” Nelson brought out Dave Matthews to perform a cover of the Daniel Lanois song, “The Maker.” But the biggest surprise of the day came when Nelson welcomed Sierra Ferrell onstage. Ferrell recently won the Americana Music Association’s Artist of the Year Award, her second consecutive year taking that honor.
Nelson and Ferrell performed four songs together, including one called “Friend in the End” and a cover of Neil Young’s “Unknown Legend,” which the pair announced they’d recently recorded with the Del McCoury Band. Throughout his set, Lukas Nelson showcased his excellent guitar-playing skills as well as his talent for sustained, vibrato vocals, something that took on added color when paired with Ferrell’s singing.
After Nelson and friends cleared the stage, Matthews popped on for a moment to welcome “generational talent” Billy Strings. As informal polling revealed before the concert, many fans were eager to see Strings’ return to Minneapolis; it hadn’t even been that long, given his most recent concert was at Target Center on Aug. 9. Strings himself pretty much let the music do the talking, captivating the crowd with songs like “Dust in a Baggie,” “Hellbender” and “Away From The Mire.” Strings dedicated his performance of “Gild the Lily” to his wife, whom he said had worked as a flower arranger. Among Strings’ bandmates is Americana Music Association Instrumentalist of the Year award-winner, fiddler Alex Hargreaves.
Kenny Chesney and his band took the stage next, and their songs seemed to have everyone in the stadium, including security and first aid personnel, singing along with every lyric.
Introducing Margo Price was Senator Amy Klobuchar. “I love Farm Aid!” Klobuchar enthused. “Margo’s newest album is Hard Headed Woman. Being in Washington right now, you’ve got to be a hard-headed woman, so from one hard-headed woman to another, I give you Margo Price.”
After recording Hard Headed Woman, Price did something unexpected and refreshed her entire touring band roster. She now has Logan Ledger on guitar and backing vocals, Sean Thompson on lead guitar, Alec Neman on bass, and Chris Gelb on drums. Strings was not the only adept flatpicker in the house: Thompson gave a clinic on how to play stunningly articulate lead guitar lines on a Telecaster. Meanwhile, Price and Ledger pooled their vocal talents on a few songs, including a notable cover of Woody Guthrie’s song, “Deportee.” Price’s husband and former bandmate, Jeremy Ivey, also joined the band onstage to play harmonica on several songs. Price then rounded out her set by bringing Jesse Welles and Billy Strings back onstage for her closing number, a rousing cover of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie’s Farm.”
As evening settled on Huntington Bank Stadium, it was time for Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds’ acoustic-guitar set. The Dave Matthews Band cofounders played gorgeous, stripped-down versions of many well-known songs, drawing comparisons to their excellent 1999 album, Live at Luther College, recorded nearby in Decorah, Iowa. Adding some extra color to the set and to the many cross-pollinations happening throughout Farm Aid, Matthews and Reynolds welcomed Lukas Nelson’s violin player Jake Simpson for three collaborative jams, ending with a performance of “Ants Marching” that raised the rhetorical question, “Who wouldn’t love that?”
Farm Aid board member and co-founder John Mellencamp turned up the volume during his set, in particular on “Small Town,” “Paper in Fire,” and “Little Pink Houses.” For his 1980s hit song “Jack and Diane,” Mellencamp’s band took five while Mellencamp played solo acoustic guitar and led the audience in singing that well-known radio hit. “Thank you very much for supporting Farm Aid,” Mellencamp told the audience. “We’ll see you next year.”
The lights dimmed during a band changeover, and Mellencamp returned to the stage to introduce Bob Dylan. It was poignant seeing Dylan playing in Minneapolis, particularly in sight of Williams Arena, around which 4th Street positively winds as it leads to Dinkytown. It was there that Dylan, as a U of M student, cut his teeth as a performing artist before making his way to New York. Saturday night, obscured by a piano, mellow stage lighting, and the black, hooded North Face raincoat he wore, Dylan opened the set with “All Along the Watchtower.” Dylan’s jazzy, five-song set, anchored rhythmically by drummer Anton Fig, included a Bo Diddley cover (“I Can Tell”) and a propulsive rendition of “Highway 61 Revisited.” Dylan ended his set with a free-jazz take on “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right” before he stood next to the piano, wordlessly yet warmly acknowledged the audience, then casually departed the stage.
Light rain misted the stadium as Dave Matthews introduced Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts, comprised of guitarist Micah Nelson (Willie’s son), bassist Corey McCormick, drummer Anthony Logerfo, and organist Spooner Oldham. Young wore his heart firmly on his sleeve and tore into his set with “Big Crime,” a rocker of a protest song. He and his band maintained that momentum into “Rockin’ in the Free World.” Young turned down the volume to sit down at the piano for a performance of his 1987 song, “Long Walk Home,” updating the references “From Vietnam to Old Beirut” to “From Canada to Ukraine.” Young returned to rocking for the rest of his set, four back-catalogue selections: “Be the Rain,” “Southern Man,” “Hey Hey, My My,” and “Old Man.” After Young and his bandmates took their bows, his partner Daryl Hannah, dressed as a doctor in a lab coat with a stethoscope in the pocket and a giant red cross painted on the back, assisted Oldham in his wheelchair from stage.
When the lights came up for the final set, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz thanked the union workers at the University of Minnesota for putting on Farm Aid. (The university’s union representing its custodians, maintenance staff, and food service workers and the university had just reached a tentative agreement on Sept. 13 to avert a strike.) Walz thanked Willie Nelson for co-founding and leading Farm Aid, noting the way it helps family farmers in Minnesota and across the United States. He called Nelson an “American icon,” and Nelson and his band kicked off the final set of the evening with “Whiskey River,” followed by the ballads “I Never Cared for You” and “Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground.” Nelson then welcomed vocalist Lily Meola to the stage to share lead vocals on the song “Will You Remember Mine.”
Nelson and company kicked things back up a notch with “On The Road Again,” which elicited a massive sing-along by the audience, encouraged by Nelson, who tapped his ear on the chorus. Willie and his son Lukas then shared vocals on their cover of Pearl Jam’s “Just Breathe” before segueing into Willie Nelson setlist favorites “Mamas, Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up To Be Cowboys” and “Georgia On My Mind.” The mic was passed to Waylon Payne for a performance of Kris Kristofferson’s “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” and then Micah Nelson, fresh off his set with Neil Young, led the band in playing his own song, “Everything is Bull----,” which Willie gleefully added backing vocals, harmonically repeating the BS word in the choruses.
As the set neared its conclusion, the songs took on a slightly somber tone; specifically, Willie Nelson is still an excellent musician, but at 92, the exertions of performing made him appear quickly winded at times. Nelson sang his song, “Last Leaf on the Tree,” a song that thematically aligns with John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud” sonnet, and followed it with the whimsical “Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die.” As the stadium’s cameras scanned the audience and projected their faces on the big screens, the looks on their faces communicated appreciation yet clear concern for Farm Aid’s (and country music’s) elder statesman. At Farm Aid, Willie’s more than a musician, he’s a hero.
Nelson and family — along with a massive contingent of performers from earlier in the day who returned to the stage for a big finale — continued the theme with a couple of traditionals, “Will The Circle Be Unbroken” and “I’ll Fly Away.” Then, perhaps wanting to lighten the mood, Willie called for a cover of Mac Davis’ humorous song, “It’s Hard to Be Humble,” after which the band added an encore of “I Saw The Light.” With the show ending at 12:45 a.m., things had to wrap before everyone in attendance saw first light.
As the event concluded, it seems fitting Huntington Bank Stadium is shaped like a bowl: Farm Aid is all about feeding people. Yes, it’s about supporting family farms, promoting sustainable practices in agriculture, and encouraging diets built on healthy foods. But it’s also about feeding people’s souls — through live music and through the messages of hope, love, cooperation, solidarity, and mutual support that cascade throughout the day, onstage and off.
And the commitment of the artists to Farm Aid is sincere; the board members and performers are passionate about why they do this concert. Price, as well as Nathaniel Rateliff, Madeline Edwards, and Jesse Welles, all participated in various informational sessions in the Homegrown Village. What’s more, the artists make sure the farmers themselves are costars of the event. For example, Minnesota farmers from Medicine Creek Farms, Twin Cities Berry Company, Forty Acre Co-op, Heirloomista and others were featured onstage and on the massive screen projections.
Although there was certainly a Minnesota flavor to this one — including proclamations from Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Gov. Walz declaring September 20, 2025, Farm Aid Day in the city and state — Farm Aid is a moveable feast whose relevance transcends its location on any given year. And with the legends who back it up, alongside several up-and-comers, Farm Aid looks set to continue its mission far into the future.
Set Lists
Madeline Edwards
Amazing Grace (traditional)
New Leaf
Seat at the Table
Hold My Horses
American Psycho
Jesse Welles
Walmart
The Poor
Domestic Error
Red
Philanthropist
War Isn’t Murder
Bugs
Eric Burton of Black Pumas
(Untitled)
OCT 33
Colors
Angel
Waxahatchee
Can’t Do Much
Problem With It (song by Plains)
Right Back To It
Crowbar
Much Ado About Nothing
Fire
Wynonna Judd
I Saw The Light
Rockin’ with the Rhythm of the Rain (song by The Judds)
Rock Bottom
She Is His Only Need
Why Not Me (song by The Judds)
No One Else on Earth
Trampled By Turtles
Victory
Quitting is Rough
Codeine
Alone
Whiskey
Wait So Long
Steve Earle (set 1)
Guitar Town
The Rain Came Down
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats
I’m On Your Side
Heartless
Look It Here
Intro
I Need Never Get Old
S.O.B.
Love Don’t
Steve Earle (set 2)
Galway Girl
Copperhead Road
Lukas Nelson
Ain’t Done
The Maker with Dave Matthews (Daniel Lanois cover)
Friend in the End with Sierra Ferrell
(Forget about) Georgia with Sierra Ferrell
Unknown Legend with Sierra Ferrell
Find Yourself with Sierra Ferrell
Billy Strings
Dust in a Baggie
Hellbender
Away From The Mire
New Country Blues (Emmitt-Nershi Band cover)
Gild the Lily
Doin’ My Time
Kenny Chesney
Beer in Mexico
Till It’s Gone
Here and Now
Somewhere With You
Living in Fast Forward
When the Sun Goes Down
American Kids
Don’t Happen Twice
Margo Price
Don’t Let the Bastards Get You Down
Red Eye Flight
Wild at Heart
Nowhere is Where
Kissing You Goodbye (Waylon Jennings cover)
Deportee (Woody Guthrie cover)
Don’t Wake Me Up
Love Me Like You Used To Do
Maggie’s Farm with Billy Strings and Jesse Welles (Bob Dylan cover)
Dave Matthews & Tim Reynolds
Oh
Grey Street
Peace on Earth
Don’t Drink the Water
Crush with Jake Simpson
Warehouse with Jake Simpson
Ants Marching with Jake Simpson
John Mellencamp
Lawless Times
Small Town
Paper in Fire
Longest Days
Jack & Diane
Rain on the Scarecrow
Pink Houses
Bob Dylan
All Along the Watchtower
I Can Tell (Bo Diddley cover)
To Ramona
Highway 61 Revisited
Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts
Big Crime
Rockin’ in the Free World
Long Walk Home (song by Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Be The Rain (song by Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Southern Man
Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black) (song by Neil Young & Crazy Horse)
Old Man
Willie Nelson and Family
Whiskey River
I Never Cared for You
Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground
Will You Remember Mine with Lily Meola
On The Road Again
Just Breathe (Pearl Jam cover)
Mamas Don’t Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be Cowboys (Ed Bruce cover)
Georgia On My Mind (Hoagy Carmichael cover)
Help Me Make It Through the Night (Kris Kristofferson cover)
Everything is Bull— (Particle Kid cover)
Last Leaf (Tom Waits cover)
Roll Me Up and Smoke Me When I Die
I’ll Fly Away (traditional)
Will The Circle Be Unbroken with most Farm Aid performers (traditional)
It’s Hard to Be Humble with most Farm Aid performers (Mac Davis cover)
I Saw The Light with most Farm Aid performers (Hank Williams cover)
External Link
Farm Aid – official site