SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Farm Aid will hold its 40th annual concert later today in Minneapolis. The nonprofit was founded by musicians Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Cougar Mellencamp back in 1985 to support family farms across America. One of the newer voices taking to the stage this year is Jesse Welles, a musician whose social media posts have attracted a large online following. Minnesota Public Radio's Clay Masters has this profile.

CLAY MASTERS, BYLINE: Farm Aid was pretty surreal for Jesse Welles last year. He got an email from John Mellencamp asking him to play, that Welles says he had to vet to make sure it was real. When he showed up to the gig, Dave Matthews rushed up to him.

JESSE WELLES: And he said, my name is David Matthews. I'm a very, very big fan of everything that you're

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