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Farm Aid virtual festival to feature Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews

Sept. 1 (UPI) -- Willie Nelson's Farm Aid festival is going virtual in 2020.

Organizers said Tuesday that Farm Aid 2020 will stream online Sept. 26 as a "virtual at-home festival experience" due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.

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Nelson and his Farm Aid co-founders Neil Young and John Mellencamp will perform, along with Dave Matthews, Chris Stapleton, Margo Price, Black Pumas, Bonnie Raitt and Boz Scaggs, Brandi Carlile and Edie Brickell with Charlie Sexton.

Jack Johnson, Jamey Johnson, Jon Batiste, Kelsey Waldon, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Nathaniel Rateliff, Particle Kid, The Record Company, Valerie June and The War and Treaty will also take the stage.

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Farm Aid is an annual benefit concert for American farmers. This year's festival will highlight the issues of sustainable agriculture, the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change and the struggle for racial justice.

"This pandemic and so many other challenges have revealed how essential family farmers and ranchers are to the future of our planet," Nelson said in a statement. "Farm Aid 2020 is going to give the whole country a chance to learn about the important work of farmers and how they're contributing to our well-being, beyond bringing us good food."

Matthews and Price discussed Farm Aid 2020 during Tuesday's episode of Good Morning America. Matthews said farmers are integral to the U.S. but often seem to be forgotten.

"I think that [farmers] are at the heart of everything that human beings have," the singer said. "It seems all too often that the farmers are forgotten or they are voiceless and their struggles remain very often unheard."

Farm Aid 2020 will stream on farmaid.org, the Farm Aid YouTube channel, AXS TV and Fans.com.

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