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CNN Live Event/Special
Spooner Is Part Of The Old Muscle Shoals Gang From Alabama; Family farms Are Degrading Agriculture, As We Know It, In Rural Communities. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired September 21, 2025 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[00:00:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "ROCKIN' IN THE FREE WORLD")
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "LONG WALK HOME")
[00:05:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "LONG WALK HOME")
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "BE THE RAIN")
[00:10:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "BE THE RAIN")
[00:15:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "BE THE RAIN")
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "SOUTHERN MAN")
[00:20:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "SOUTHERN MAN")
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "HEY HEY, MY MY (INTO THE BLACK)")
[00:25:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "HEY HEY, MY MY (INTO THE BLACK)")
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "OLD MAN")
[00:30:00]
(NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS SINGING "OLD MAN")
JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: It takes your breath away, one of the legends of music singing one of his most legendary songs, "Old Man", and I got to say, putting in a performance for the ages. It takes your breath away. LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: You were getting nostalgic.
BERMAN: I got to say --
COATES: They're conjuring something for you.
BERMAN: -- I got to say, as someone who used to listen to hours and hours of classic rock, seven days a week, to hear Neil Young sing that song live and to hear that performance, which really was just chilling, I'm so glad that I got to see that, and I guarantee you there are tens of thousands of people behind us, just as happy as I am right now.
COATES: The crowd was almost quieted with respect and admiration. And by the way, this artist pulled no punches. He came out with a set that was exactly what he wanted to do, what he wanted to pay you and to perform. He was his own news in so many ways. Let's turn to you because he is unapologetically himself.
BERMAN: Rocking in the free world --
COATES: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- is just an astounding number that he just ripped into. And it's also interesting, though, that unintentionally there was a little bit of hope I took from a psalm that he wrote that's rather bittersweet. It came after "Rockin' in the Free World". "Long Walk Home" has a line in it, America, America, where have we gone? And in the current moment, it feels very bittersweet. But he changed the lyric, because originally it was U.S. to Beirut --
THOM DUFFY, SENIOR EDITOR, BILLBOARD: Yeah.
COATES: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- and it was at that time of that conflict and changed to Ukraine. But to realize, we have lived through things before, and these guys have guided us through times before that have been tough.
DUFFY: I was being told in my ear that "(Into the Black) Hey Hey, My My", he played that at the first Farm Aid --
BERMAN: That's interesting.
DUFFY: -- so 40 years ago. So, there was a lot in there.
BERMAN: Yeah.
DUFFY: I mean, each song you had a sense and it was chosen for a reason.
BERMAN: Yeah.
DUFFY: Some of them fiercely political --
BERMAN Yeah. DUFFY: -- whether it be the crime one at the beginning, which was
written like months ago --
COATES: Right.
BERMAN: Yeah.
DUFFY: -- or weeks ago --
BERMAN: Yeah.
DUFFY: -- at this point. And then he had songs about the environment, the "Long Walk Home" song about war --
BERMAN: Yeah.
DUFFY: -- the 40th anniversary, one of the songs saying the first time, and then to end on "Old Man".
BERMAN: "Old Man", just that whole era we just look back on, and it's marvelous that he is still with us. He is still playing these songs as beautifully as ever.
COATES: Tell me about the moment. I mean, we saw there was almost like nursing aides who are coming out.
DUFFY: Yeah. So, I think kind of a goof --
COATES: Talk to me there.
DUFFY: -- it's a bit of a goof because he has got Spooner Oldham playing on keyboards with her. And I was saying to you during the set that Spooner is part of the old Muscle Shoals gang from Alabama. He played with Wilson Pickett. He played with Percy Sledge. He played with Aretha Franklin. And however much you can hear the keyboard in the mix, it is just such a sign of respect on Neil's part to have Spooner on the road with him. I don't know how aged he is. I think that little bit of theater was Neil goofing on us.
COATES: It was pure respect I saw.
DUFFY: Oh yeah.
COATES: They wanted to be together. What I see about this, the entirety of Farm Aid, there is so much --
DUFFY: Mutual respect.
COATES: -- mutual respect --
DUFFY: Yes.
COATES: -- and admiration --
DUFFY: Yeah.
COATES: -- not only for the work, but the body --
DUFFY: Yes.
COATES: -- of work, and I do mean musically, but I also mean the mission and the cause as well.
DUFFY: Yes.
COATES: These performers, these artists, they seem to be in awe of one another's stamina --
DUFFY: Yes. Yeah.
COATES: -- and of course their artistry. And Bill, look, way out here, John Berman, I think he may have had a tear in his eye. Bill, we're -- take me down to where you are. What are you seeing?
BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Laura, I'm hanging out. We're still buzzing from Neil Young's set, ripping it up, and I ran into a bunch of Midwestern lawmakers.
[00:35:00]
We've got state senators and representatives from Wisconsin, from --
REP. KAREN DESANTO, WISCONSIN'S 40TH ASSEMBLY DISTRICT: Michigan. I'm Wisconsin.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iowa.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michigan.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: South Dakota.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Iowa.
WEIR: Tennessee.
SEN. SARAH KEYESKI, WISCONSIN'S 14TH SENATE DISTRICT: Midwest right now.
WEIR: You used to be the big 10. Go big 10. Tell me why you're here. What has this been -- mean for you right now?
KEYESKI: So, we are thinking about, how do we support our family farmers? How do we support our small rural communities? How do we have better rural livability? And so, we are trying to talk about and think about, how can we make sure that our policies support these important initiatives to make sure that our farmers are protected, and our land is not turned from soil to dirt, but stays soil, really healthy, so that we can feed America?
WEIR: That's right. The soil, those little microbes, they feed us all. Right?
DESANTO: Absolutely, absolutely. WEIR: What is the politics around agriculture now, do you think, as
opposed to 1985? What are the problems?
DESANTO: Oh, my God. Well, you heard all -- every artist has said it, right, tonight, that it's now more than ever. We need to fight for our land. We need to fight for what's right. On the federal level, we're seeing it from all over, they're just degrading. Family farms are degrading agriculture, as we know it, in rural communities. This is where the work happens. This is what we have to fight for. Seriously, it's a fight. We have to get up. We have to speak. We have to be here. We have to show up.
WEIR: Yeah. And it's good to sing the same songs, right? But you hope people carry this fervor.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
REP. MAUREEN MCCARVILLE, WISCONSIN'S 42ND ASSEMBLY DISTRICT: Right. Absolutely. And beyond the governmental level, it's also working with the farmers at a local level to protect the environment and water and make sure that we're doing all the things that we can, when we interact with farmers, because when we all do better, we all do better, right? Right? And we're all in this together, right? Everybody loves to eat. So, that's --
WEIR: I know I do. Give me your names real quick. I didn't introduce you.
DESANTO: Sure. I'm Karen DeSanto. I'm a representative from the 40th District in Wisconsin.
WEIR: OK.
MCCARVILLE: Maureen McCarville. I'm the representative from the 42nd District in Wisconsin.
KEYESKI: And I'm Sarah Keyeski, Wisconsin State Senator in District 14.
WEIR: Go badgers. Thank you, ladies. Thank you all for being here. Really enjoyed talking to you. So, you got a really interesting mix out here, Laura and John, excitement, of course --
COATES: Yes.
WEIR: -- but we're just getting ready for the man himself, the patriarch, the founder, Willie Nelson, coming up any minute.
BERMAN: I got to say, this has got to be the way to write laws.
COATES: I know.
BERMAN: Go to a great concert. Write some laws. Listen to Willie Nelson. The world will be a better place.
WEIR: Yes. COATES: It's all coming up. So, maybe some laws coming up. We got a living legend coming to take the stage. Willie Nelson, of course, live at Farm Aid. Where else? Minneapolis. Stay with CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:40:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BERMAN: All right. The biggest moment of the night, which is an amazing thing to say, given that we've already seen Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price. But still to come, country music superstar Willie Nelson. Welcome back to Farm Aid 40, a CNN special event. I'm John Berman.
COATES: And I'm Laura Coates. You are watching a CNN special presentation of the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid, a festival really dedicated to raising money for America's farmer families.
BERMAN: Willie Nelson engineered the very first Farm Aid 40 years ago. Now, at age 92, he is still a highway man and dedicated as ever to making sure farming tradition survives.
CNN's Kaitlan Collins, what an assignment, spent time with Willie Nelson earlier this week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: You've got a really big show coming up on Saturday in Minneapolis --
WILLIE NELSON, PRESIDENT & FOUNDER, FARM AID: Yeah. Farm Aid.
COLLINS: Farm Aid.
NELSON: Yes.
COLLINS: -- not just Farm Aid in here, but it's the 40th anniversary.
NELSON: Yeah.
COLLINS: What inspired you to do it 40 years ago?
NELSON: Well, I was a farmer, and I knew what they were going through. I still know what they're going through. They need all the help they can get. Small family farmers, and now, pretty much all farmers need help. But I started out working for the small family farmers because I could relate to.
COLLINS: And did you think then, when you were performing and having that concert in 1985, that you'd be having it still to benefit farmers 40 years later?
NELSON: No. I believed in it so much that I thought we would knock it out in a little while. But obviously, there is a few things in the way.
COLLINS: Like what?
NELSON: Big government trying to tell you what to do and what you can't do and what you can grow and can't grow, and they tell a farmer, you can have the money to grow next year's crops, but you got to put this much fertilizer on it, and if they don't want to do that, then they don't get to help. So, I think there is a lot of -- too much control.
COLLINS: You wrote a really nice letter to young farmers earlier this year. I was reading it, and you said, how -- even with the wave of uncertainty farmers are facing right now, the work you're doing has never been more critical for our country.
NELSON: Yeah. That's true. That's true. We need the farmers to be strong and stand up for themselves and others, and we'll stand up with them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Welcome to Farm Aid, the concert for America.
COLLINS: That first concert in 1985 was at Memorial Stadium in Illinois.
NELSON: Yeah.
[00:45:00]
COLLINS: It was you, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, B.B. King. What was it like on that stage that night?
NELSON: Any night on the stage with those guys is great. I was glad to see all the people join us and coming together and making it happen.
COLLINS: When you called people to come and help you do something called Farm Aid, what did Billy Joel, what did everyone say?
NELSON: Oh, they all say, yeah. What can we do? They realize the importance, and most -- everybody I know is all for it.
COLLINS: Do you think people in Washington understand what farmers deal with on a daily basis?
NELSON: One or two might.
COLLINS: Out of all of them?
NELSON: Yeah. Yeah.
COLLINS: I mean, if you had to kind of explain to somebody in Washington who has maybe never been on a farm, what it's like? What would you tell them?
NELSON: Well, I would tell them to pick cotton for a few days, and then call me, tell me what they think about farming. Bail somebody. Do something, farm work, so you'll know what you're talking about. And then let's talk.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BERMAN: Pick some cotton for a time, then call me. That's what Willie Nelson says to the politicians in Washington --
COATES: Yeah.
BERMAN: -- the he man who really created Farm Aid. This tradition from 40 years is still going strong. We're here at the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid right now.
COATES: What's so wonderful about him is just this connection that he does not want to, in any way, make people think that he wants us to go on forever, because he wants the help for the farmers more than he wants to just simply do this. And while he does it, thank God he is doing it, because we're having a great time out here.
Still more to come, Willie Nelson.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COATES: This is amazing. We are here the 40th Farm Aid right here in my home state of Minnesota. We're in Minneapolis. The Gophers play here. Did I mention that? We know who is going to play in a second. Willie Nelson. The crowd has not moved.
BERMAN: No one has left this stadium even after hearing Bob Dylan, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews, Margo Price. Glued to their seats to see Willie Nelson.
Thom Duffy from Billboard here with us. Willie Nelson, he closes Farm Aid.
DUFFY: He does indeed every year. It is his show. It is his community, his family, and you'll see at the end of his set, he brings everyone together. We are listening to something that he has been doing notably on the opening of his tour this summer. He is playing a video of a song "Promiseland". It's about immigrants. It's about immigration to this country, and it is so notable that he is choosing to do that song on this tour, and here today.
COATES: And the connection, of course, with farming and Farm Aid and what's needed --
DUFFY: Of course. Of course. The labor.
COATES: -- the collateral damage really.
DUFFY: Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So, Farm Aid stood up for the union movement in this past week, and Willie is there for us.
BERMAN: So, 40 years on, he did the first one. He is here doing the 40th. How much of a central force has he been?
DUFFY: Very much so. You very much have the feeling through the years that Willie shapes this show, that people get chosen. He is advocating for young artists. Billy Strings is a perfect example. The two of them recorded a great song called "California Sober" two years ago. And Billy is on the bill in part because of his support from Willie Young. Young artists coming up.
COATES: Let's just talk about the significance of the moment that we're 40 years in that he has been devoted to this cause, the artists around him. We talked to Dave Matthews, 30 years, and he has been doing as well others, Neil Young and Beyond. You've got people who are devoted to this cause, and the just the unity that we're seeing, people don't want to leave because it's such a good feeling, and it's all for a good cause.
DUFFY: Absolutely. I mean, one of the things that always amazed me is, as you say, nobody leaves early.
BERMAN: Nobody leaves early. They're all sitting in their seats, waiting to see the show closer, the man behind it all, Willie Nelson. Very shortly, we're going to see Minnesota Governor Tim Walz walk out on that stage and introduce the great. Let's listen.
TIM WALZ (D), GOVERNOR, MINNESOTA: Good evening, Minnesota. Join me in giving our union sisters and brothers and the stage production crew a big hand. And thank you, Minnesota. Thank you for showing up for your neighbors, for those agriculture producers across this country who feed, fuel and clothe, not just us in our nation but the world. They do it on land that's been in their families for generations, and from the farm crisis of the 80s to the crisis in rural America today, Farm Aid has been there to lend a helping hand. And over those 40 years, there has been one constant, the Co-Founder and the President of Farm Aid, a man who truly embodies the American spirit, fiercely independent, generous, kind, irreverent, decent and a bit of a hell raiser.
[00:55:00]
Minnesota, let's give a big round of applause to an American icon, Willie Nelson.
(WILLIE NELSON & FAMILY SINGING "WHISKEY RIVER")
(WILLIE NELSON & FAMILY SINGING "I NEVER CARED FOR YOU")
