Farm Aid and Neil Young have been a perfect match from the start. Since its inauguration on September 22, 1985, the benefit festival for US farmers in need has been closely associated with the Canadian rock legend.
Young is one of the co-founders of the annual concert cycle, which at the time was also a pragmatic statement against the unleashed capitalism of President Ronald Reagan’s administration (“Reaganomics”). Small, independent farmers in particular suffered from the price pressure of “industrial farming” in corporate agriculture. Many of them could no longer pay their loans for agricultural machinery, fuel or seeds – and went into foreclosure.
Neil Young is not ready yet
But this year the founding father will not be there. He confirmed this in a response to a fan post on his Neil Young Archives website. “I’m not ready for that yet,” he wrote
76 year old. “I still don’t think it’s safe in the pandemic.” Not without the addition: “I miss it a lot!”
It is therefore clear that Young continues to have serious concerns about becoming seriously ill with new Covid variants. Last year, when the concert circus had already started again in the USA, he canceled for pandemic reasons.
Neil Young vs Spotify
Earlier this year, Young had various skirmishes with the Swedish streaming platform Spotify. He repeatedly pointed out “misinformation” to those responsible for moderator Joe Rogan’s hit podcast. Young ultimately had his music removed from the platform by CEO Daniel Ek because of the evasive statements. He later encouraged Spotify employees to quit their jobs at the company.
Farm Aid 2022 will take place on September 24th in Raleigh, North Carolina. This year’s headliners again include prominent (country) names such as Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp, Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Margo Price and Sheryl Crow.