Mellencamp, Young and Matthews Bring Farm Aid to New England

John Mellencamp has revealed the details of this year's Farm Aid concert, to be held September 20th at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts. Mellencamp will be joined by co-headliners Neil Young, Dave Matthews and Willie Nelson, with more top artists to be announced soon. This year also marks the first time in the event's history that the concert will take place in the New England area. "New England was built on the strength of independent family farmers," said Mellencamp. "We can honor that independent spirit by joining Farm Aid to grow the movement that is changing the way all of America eats." As in years past, the concert will "feature family-farm identified, local and organic foods at concessions, setting an example of the many ways that family farm food can be integrated into the general marketplace." Since its creation in 1985, Farm Aid has helped raise over $30 million for programs that support farmers, expand the Good Food Movement and promote food from family farms. Tickets for this year's Farm Aid, which is presented by Whole Foods Market and Horizon Organic, go on sale July 28th via Ticketmaster.

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Song Stories

“Piano Man”

Billy Joel | 1973

Billy Joel’s first hit, “Piano Man,” was – ironically – an autobiographical lament about how his first album wasn’t a hit. When Cold Spring Harbor didn’t take off, Joel briefly became a lounge pianist in Los Angeles, and this song, about that experience, expressed his frustrations and fears at the time: “And they sit at the bar and put bread in my jar/And say, ‘Man, what are you doing here?’” “It was all right,” Joel said later, about the gig. “I got free drinks and union scale, which was the first steady money I’d made in a long time.”

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