40 years ago today, the first Farm Aid benefit concert was held to raise money for family farmers in the United States. The concert was organized by Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young, spurred on by Bob Dylan’s comments at Live Aid earlier in that year that he hoped some of the money would help American farmers in danger of losing their farms through mortgage debt. The show at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium in Champaign raised $7 million, with a crowd of 80,000 people enjoying performances by Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, B.B. King, Roy Orbison, John Fogerty, Bonnie Raitt, and Tom Petty. WATCH a little story about how it happened… (1985)

Willie and the other founders had originally thought that they could have one concert and the problem would be solved, but they

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