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CNN Live Event/Special

Farm Aid Celebrates 40th Anniversary. Aired 11p-12a ET

Aired September 20, 2025 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[23:00:30]

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: Welcome back. One of the biggest music festivals of the year brought to you live right here on CNN. Legends of America's music industry taking the stage right here in Minneapolis. You got Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and the great Willie Nelson. That's still ahead of us all, just a few moments away. I'm Laura Coates.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: And I'm John Berman. And you're watching a CNN special presentation of the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid. This party has been going on all day and it's only getting better and better. You talk about legends, right? Neil Young, Willie Nelson, Bob Dylan, all still to come.

And it is a party with a purpose to raise money for America's farming families. Want to bring back our friend who's been here all night long with a senior editor for Billboard, Thom Duffy.

Let's just talk a little about John Mellencamp, the performance we just saw. You warned us with "Jack and Diane." We said we're excited to see "Jack and Diane" sing along. And you told us you're going to get this thing along. You know, the crowd does most of the work.

THOM DUFFY, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BILLBOARD: John has more top 40 hits than anybody in the Farm Aid organization. So, you know, you're out there. It's like one hit after another with him. And you saw Rain on the Scarecrow. It's absolutely riveting to see the way they present it here.

And John was talking about 1985, and were chatting earlier that right now there are suggestions that the economic crisis for family farmers is as bad as it was in 85 for multiple reasons. But so much has changed in the culture in 40 years.

40 years ago, you weren't going on Saturday to the farmers market. You didn't have farm to table restaurants. There's one in Saratoga Springs, Muzan House, run by my oldest friends, which was my introduction to family farming restaurants. You didn't have this consciousness by Americans of the importance of where their food came from to their health. Farm Aid was responsible for a lot of that culture change.

BERMAN: It's all happened here over the last 40 years. And we are in for another installment tonight. This is super special, one of the most anticipated moments of the night. Bob Dylan, introduced by his fellow star, John Mellencamp.

JOHN MELLENCAMP, CO-FOUNDER, FARM AID: Thank you very much, you guys. Right now, one of the best songwriters of our generation. One of the funniest, nicest guys I know. Been my inspiration forever. Like so many other people, he's my big brother. Ladies and gentlemen, Bob Dylan.

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[23:08:17]

COATES: More Bob Dylan right after the break.

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[23:25:21]

COATES: Lyrically, one of the most beautiful songs. And that rendition of it broke your heart. But to see Bob Dylan, oh my God. A legend.

BERMAN: I got to say in the hometown crowd here In Minnesota, Highway 61 Revisited. One of his two songs about Minnesota.

COATES: Yes.

BERMAN: Amazing.

COATES: I love it. When we come back, the legendary Neil Young takes the stage. And later, none other. Wait for it. Willie Nelson. Stay with us.

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COATES: A huge night here in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Just minutes away from Neil taking the stage here. But first, we've got a very special guest. He's a Nashville staple, a musician's musician, and of course, Willie's son, Lukas Nelson. Thank you so much for joining us here tonight. I was just saying this is my first barmaid. This has been your whole life.

LUKAS NELSON, GRAMMY AWARD-WINNING ARTIST: My whole. Yes. Whole life.

COATES: It's so exciting. How does it feel to have this be such ingrained in our culture and our society and, of course, your own life?

[23:30:06]

NELSON: Well, it's nice to see that so many people are coming out and supporting the family farmers and that it's a bipartisan issue. And you know, people from everywhere in the country can get behind this issue, you know, and it's kind of sad. We've had to do it for 40 years. But you know, we'll keep doing it till we don't need to anymore.

BERMAN: I got to say, you were born shortly after the first Farm Aid. This is your 36th with this amazing.

NELSON: Yeah. 36 years.

BERMAN: That's it. And I heard you performing now. You're watching and now you're performing. You were great earlier.

NELSON: I say 36 because that's how old I am. I haven't missed one.

BERMAN: You haven't missed one since you were born. Listen, let me play something because this is something that's so important to your family. I just want to play what one farmer, Rhonda Perry, had to say about your father and his work throughout this. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RHONDA PERRY, MISSOURI RURAL CRISIS CENTER COLUMBIA, MISSOURI: Billy has definitely done more for family farmers than probably any single person in the country. Every time he has had a chance to give farmers a voice and use his platform and use the fact that people love him around the world to give farmers that voice and that platform to tell their story of what is going on is amazing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's it like for you to hear something like that, how important this has been to farmers like Rhonda?

NELSON: Well, it makes me proud of my father and for his decision to take an initiative back in 1985 and start fighting for the family farmers. You know, it's been a long road, but he never has given up. And he's not the kind of guy to give up. And it's an important fight.

COATES: You know, something you said really struck a chord with me the idea. I mean, it's one of those opportunities and events that's so wonderful, so engaging, so needed and yet you hope you don't ever need to do it.

NELSON: Exactly.

COATES: That's such an interesting dynamic.

NELSON: Yes, well, you don't want to have to. I mean, the idea is that, you know, our government and legislators and all the congressmen, all, you know, hopefully the idea would be that they're there to support the family businesses and the family run farms here. These are the food, where it comes from, the quality of the food. It's such a nonpartisan issue.

And the only reason it becomes partisan issue is when money comes in and corporate interests come in, you know, and I think that corporate interest has ruined our country in a lot of ways. You know, and I think that, you know, this is something that every person, man, woman, child, left and right, up and down, can get behind. BERMAN: You know, yes, everyone should be able to get behind the

farmers.

NELSON: Yes.

BERMAN: I just don't think there's any question about that.

NELSON: Exactly.

BERMAN: You know, as we sit here now in 2025, what do you think the biggest obstacle is for these family farmers?

NELSON: Well, I think the biggest -- there's many obstacles. I mean, there's lobbyists that. I mean, the red tape they have to jump through just to keep their farms. I mean, what the conglomerate farms will do and the factory farms will do is they'll purposefully put these family farms out of business and then buy up their land.

You know, I mean, now there's even -- what seems to be a really scary thing is that there's like an app that people are using to sell land. And because it's an app, because there's some workaround, you can sell your land to foreign interests and these foreign interests will come and buy acreage. And, you know, that seems like a national security risk to me. You know what I mean? But it's an app that one Congress or somebody was promoting.

And, you know, so, you know that, like, people are making money off of this, but at the expense of our land and of our own farmers. You know.

COATES: You can't lose sight of that phrase, family farms.

NELSON: Yes.

COATES: I mean, it's not just a business. This is family. This is generational wealth.

NELSON: Yes. Exactly.

COATES: Legacy.

NELSON: And the food, you know, when you mass produce, if you don't do it in a completely meticulous and sound way, the quality is going to suffer of your food. And the bottom line is that most of the time there's no interest in, you know, they would much rather produce it en masse and make that extra dollar than to take a lot of those extra steps that are needed in order to ensure the quality of the food.

It just doesn't. It's not, you know, there's -- people will, unfortunately, because they have three jobs, you know, and they're trying to struggle.

[23:35:08]

They're not going to take the time they need to make sure they know what's in their food all the time and they're not going to take the time they need -- and they're also going to take the cheaper food and it's cheaper to go and eat it, you know, food stores that are supplied by these factory farms, you know, because they can sell it cheaper, you know.

And so it's a very -- it's a vicious cycle that happens. And you know, it's very sad. And I, you know, you hear stories here at Farm Aid of all these farmers that are just really at their last leg and the numbers are dwindling, you know, and at a scary rate. So the people need help.

And there's a hotline that Farm Aid has.

BERMAN: 1-800-Farm Aid and it's been there for 40 years.

NELSON: Yes.

BERMAN: It has made such a difference and so many of the people here, I'm sure have called it over time. Lukas Nelson.

NELSON: Yes.

BERMAN: Great to see you here.

NELSON: It's great to see you too.

COATES: Thank you.

NELSON: Thank you.

COATES: I've got my marching orders as a mom, I'll tell you that right now. The food I'm choosing, look, we are just minutes away from Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts. And later, tonight's biggest star, Willie Nelson. Stay with CNN.

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[23:40:12]

BERMAN: All right, John Berman with Laura Coates. Here we are back at Farm Aid, the 40th anniversary. What an incredible concert it has been. We just heard from John Mellencamp, Bob Dylan.

COATES: Wow.

BERMAN: That was legendary. We're going to hear from Neil Young and then Willie Nelson shortly. Let's go to Bill Weir, who's backstage getting a really close look at all the action. Hey, Bill.

WEIR: Hey, John, Laura. This has been something, that's for sure. He did all along the Watchtower.

COATES: Yes.

WEIR: He did "Highway 61 Revisited," he did "Don't Think Twice It's All Right." Interesting arrangements, but that's Bob Dylan. You know, Bruce Springsteen is maybe the cheerleader of America as we've been -- as it's been observed, trying to bring entire stadiums into the same emotions where Dylan has always been his own muse, his own poet, but the guy who floated the idea for this whole thing, who played "Maggie's Farm" with Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers and Willie Nelson back in '85 to see him here tonight, you know, was special for a lot of these fans as well.

It'll be interesting to see what Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts comes up with. He has very pointed political songs. This is, of course the guy who wrote Ohio about Kent State and with Crosby Stills and Nash, was one member of like one of the iconic protest bands of all time. Never shy about speaking truth to power and his sense of justice, socially and otherwise.

So he's coming up and then Willie capping this thing off later tonight, 92-year-old patriarch Farm Aid and she's truly one of the most beloved Americans of all time. Again, one of those things where you could say, I was there. I saw Willie at Farm Aid in '25, just anticipating. So we're just waiting for the next one.

BERMAN: I got to say, Bill, you were saying you could say you were there. I can see the smile on your face. I know Laura and I have been smiling all night long. We just feel so lucky to be here. I mean, it's been a dream for me for years to see Bob Dylan live. I just got to see it, you know, and it's just such a wonderful thing to be able to be in the presence of such greatness there. What a spectacular night.

COATES: Absolutely. I mean, I love storytellers more than anything. And so to hear the people sing what they have invested and been so just known for it's amazing to see Bob Dylan, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, I mean, just to name a few, Margo Price.

I mean, there are so many people here. And what I love about it is no one's phoning it in.

DUFFY: No. No. No.

COATES: Not with their music or with the mission. And in a world right now where so many people are more comfortable distancing themselves from that which is uncomfortable, they're leaning in.

DUFFY: They are, and they are doing it year after year. We all admire musicians who step up when the need is there. How many have stayed committed to a cause for four decades? It's really unprecedented.

BERMAN: Let me geek out for one second here. Let's talk a little bit about what we saw from Bob Dylan. Right there, were watching every song on the edge of our seat to see what would be next. "Highway 61 Revisited."

DUFFY: He hasn't played it all summer.

BERMAN: As far as I know, it's one of two songs directly about Minnesota "Girl from the North Country" and then "Highway 61 Revisited." Highway 61 goes through Minnesota, all the way down south. So the significance of that.

DUFFY: Yes, I think it's magnificent. He knew what he was doing. I mean, Bob is difficult to fathom, but he is always deliberate. I want to note just one thing about what Bill noted a moment ago about Dylan playing in '85 with Tom Petty. He then went on tour with Tom Petty and Farm Aid was the beginning of the Traveling Wilburys--

BERMAN: Yes.

DUFFY: -- because that's where Dylan connected first with Tom Petty and then George Harrison and, you know, and Roy Orbison and Jeff Lynn. So it's just remarkable, all of the things that have come from this event.

COATES: This is just one night, by the way.

BERMAN: Yes.

COATES: This is all happening within the last few hours, and we have more to come. Tonight is really a big party. Just look down here. But it's a party with a purpose. Farm Aid is all about supporting some of the hardest working Americans, farmers and their families for whom Farm Aid means so much. Let's watch.

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ANGELA DAWSON, FORTY ACRES CO-OP WILLOW RIVER, MINESSOTA: The whole reason why Farm Aid was started in the 80s was because there are times when farming just becomes impossible without support.

HIGH EPSEY, IOWA CITIZENS FOR COMMUNITY IMPROVEMENT: Farm Aid gave us a microphone, so to speak, a platform to build power, to build people power, so that we could get things done, tackle tough issues and get things done.

[23:45:00]

If it wasn't for Farm Aid, those connections that we made with all the community organizations across the country that are working on farm and rural issues, that would have been much tougher.

HANNAH BERNHARDT, MEDICINE CLERK FARM, FINLAYSON, MINNESOTA: I think Farm Aid is really important to continue raising awareness to the general public that farming -- the farming economy is still challenging and that, you know, farmers aren't out here getting rich and there is still a mental health crisis amongst farmers.

SARAH VOGEL, FORMER NORTH DAKOTA COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE, FARM ADVOCATE AND AUTHOR: Farm Aid is just a savior for all these farmers, and they've been doing it for 40 years.

EPSEY: Farm aid gave us that opportunity and gave us an opportunity on the national stage to talk about farm and rural issues, issues impacting rural communities, issues impacting our environment, issues impacting family farmers.

PERRY: Hundreds of families every month in rural Missouri are getting food from a program that was initiated in 1986 with Farm Aid funds. As soon as we got our check from Farm Aid, were giving checks to farmers just to survive.

STEPHEN CARPENTER, FARMER'S LEGAL ACTION GROUP, ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA: Farm Aid supports the farm organizations themselves so they can organize, they can use all the volunteer time and all the resources that they have with the bit of money that Farm Aid gives them to create viable, efficient organizations.

VOGEL: The fact that there was a Farm Aid just gave everybody hope, and it was a vindication for the farmers. Instead of being told they were bad farmers or they should have done things different or whatever, it was like, no, this is a crisis. This is not your fault.

PERRY: Nobody has been there for family farmers like Willie has, from 40 years ago, when he started Farm Aid, to when farmers were going up against some of the biggest corporations in the world.

DAWSON: It's important to highlight what is happening in rural America for all farmers.

BONNIE HAUGEN, SPRINGFIELD FARM, CANTON, MINNESOTA: Keeping the awareness out to all of the country, not just the farmers. We need the urban people to understand what's going on out here.

VOGEL: Farm Aid is the support for this huge network of tiny groups with grassroots groups that reach the farmers and that the farmers trust.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: We are seconds away, we think, from Neil Young, who's about to take the stage with the Chrome Hearts, one of the founders of Farm Aid, one of the founding fathers of Farm Aid 40 years ago. Such a special performer, someone who is always sort of pushing musical boundaries every decade. Thom Duffy with Billboard back with us.

Let's just talk about Neil Young in general. He's still doing it and what he's meant to Farm Aid over the decades.

DUFFY: Well, Neil is the one. I can't possibly predict what he'll do this evening. Nobody would. But Neil is the one who's used the stage as the platform to speak out more than really any of the other performers. He has been the one to speak on the stage about the link between family farming and climate. He's the one who's spoken on the stage about the connection between consumer economic choices. He would simply say, look, if you drive past a farm stage, farm stand, stop, buy something, you know, these are economic choices that we're making every day in deciding what we eat.

And Neil has been the one on the stage to speak out about that during his performances. Now the performances are nothing short of incendiary when he's playing with an electric group as he has through the years, either Lukas Nelson's Promise of the Real or Crazy Horse or now Chrome Hearts. But also if he is even doing a solo set at Farm Aid, which he's done before, just riveting.

COATES: Well, you know what? Bill Weir was somebody who comes back time and again maybe because of that incendiary sets that Neil Young does. Bill, who do you have with you right now? Who has been there before?

WEIR: I just made an -- I just made a new friend named Michael from Apple Valley, Minnesota. Fine town. And who is in a band with. Everyone is named Mike and they're called All Mic'd Up.

UNDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. Correct.

WEIR: I like -- I like it. You're a self-taught guitar player. You're telling me Dave Matthews.

UNDENTIFIED MALE: Correct. Yes. Yes.

WEIR: He's your instructor.

UNDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WEIR: Is it thrilling night for you?

UNDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Very, very exciting. This is my second Farm Aid. 2019 when they played in Wisconsin. I got a chance to go and love Neil Young. Obviously. Willie Nelson is a legend. So fun.

WEIR: What'd you make of Bob Set?

UNDENTIFIED MALE: It was great. I saw him a couple times before and it was really awesome. But yes, I mean, just to see him back home in Minnesota is really great as well.

WEIR: Yeah. Describe the vibe here. You know, we're living in sort of tense days. It's good to see people coming together.

[23:50:01]

UNDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. It really is nice to have everyone come out and they all want to listen to music and hear music. Kind of brings the best out of people. I mean, you know, we're so divided most times, so it's really nice when everyone just comes together and it's for a good cause. And obviously, we're trying to help farmers and, you know, promote other things. So it's really, really great. Really great.

WEIR: Thanks for hanging out making introducing yourself, Michael.

UNDENTIFIED MALE: I appreciate you guys. Thank you guys for having me on. I appreciate it. Thank you.

WEIR: Yes. Enjoy. Neil Young. He's coming up next. We got Willie as the capstone tonight. So, so much excitement as we get into the final big acts of the OGs, the Founding Fathers.

COATES: Wow. I mean, think about still ahead. We still have Neil Young. You still have Willie Nelson. I mean, first of all, the. The number of years we're talking about, this is the 40th year. But for these performers, they don't perform once a year.

DUFFY: No.

COATES: They're gone a lot of the year getting dynamic performances.

DUFFY: Neil and Willie are on tour all summer.

COATES: Wow.

DUFFY: And, you know, this is obviously a major, major event for them. But they have been out there on the road.

BERMAN: And Neil Young's been out there for decades and decades. I mean, a true legend in rock. And right now, we're kind of on Neil Young rockstar time, to be honest. Right. I mean, we're on Neil Young.

DUFFY: You don't rush. You don't rush deal.

BERMAN: Why? How could you rush deal? If you rush deal, what would happen to Buffalo Springfield?

DUFFY: Yes.

BERMAN: What would have happened to Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young? I mean, you just can't do that kind of thing. I, you know, typically speaking of Farm Aid, does he go like, you know, "Harvest Moon" or what?

DUFFY: You know, harvest. One of the things on this tour is that he has really been playing a lot of fan favorites. You'll almost certainly hear "Harvest Moon." I said a moment ago, don't predict what Neil will do. And I'm trying to predict it.

BERMAN: Yes.

DUFFY: There will be acoustic songs that we know and love, you know, from "After the Gold Rush," but there'll be some unusual "Ambulance Blues" from on the beach. Huh. You know, some ones that we haven't heard and some new songs that are rather pointed. I'll just leave it at that.

COATES: What I have loved throughout the whole day. You have seen artists collaborating.

DUFFY: Yes.

COATES: In real time. You've seen duets, and you've had the crowd react and say, when they say, I want to bring so and so up, and the crowd is excited. They think, oh, my gosh, I thought I was going to hear you a little bit later. Now I get to hear you now. And others who they never thought they were going to hear from tonight that might happen.

DUFFY: I mean, I'm not sure during Neil said. I haven't seen a lot of that during Neil said. But Margo Price, earlier tonight, bring up both Jesse Wells and. And Billy Strings. That was really a special moment. Yes. BERMAN: You said Willie Nelson, you know, 92, and he's out here

touring. You just talk to me about what that's. And you've seen a bunch of these shows. How? How does this happen?

DUFFY: You know, the only concession that I've seen Willie do is decide to sit during his performances. But I've commented earlier that his musicianship is remarkable.

BERMAN: Dave Matthews. That must mean Neil Young's coming up. Let's listen.

DAVE MATTHEWS, MUSICAN AND FARM AID BOARD MEMBER: So I, you know, I -- there's no reason to say much about this next artist because it's, I mean, it's just pointless. I could tell you know, how many mountains he's moved and how many rivers he's redirected and that he's been with Farm Aid from the first year and that he's a legend and that he's serenaded people around the world and he's changed people's lives. And I still cry when I listen to him. I cry for joy.

But anyway, it's my great honor and great pleasure to introduce my dear friend, Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts.

(MUSIC)