Farm Aid II and Willie's 4th of July Picnic: the Backstory

“If you see Willie, tell him we said thanks.”

A series of epic battles followed Willie Nelson's announcement in 1986 that he planned to combine his annual Fourth of July picnic with his second Farm Aid concert. Willie had proposed the football stadium at the University of Texas as the venue. The athletic department vehemently objected. 

Jim Hightower, the Texas Commissioner of Agriculture and staunch ally of Willie, immediately contacted members of the University of Texas Board of Regents with a pointed question.”You want to tell me that you're going to tell Willie Nelson he can't come to an agricultural event in Texas? And you're going to tell the farmers in Texas that their champion can't be a part of a state event?”

“Well, no, they didn't want to say that, and so we had our way," Hightower laughed at the memory in a recent interview with People’s History in Texas.

The Board said yes but the athletics department wasn’t…how shall we say it…totally on board.

”The University grudgingly agreed that Hightower and Willie Nelson could hold a press conference to announce the event at 11 am at the football stadium. But, just as Willie comes roaring up in his silver Mercedes, Hightower's staff radios that there's a problem. UT's ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) marching band had commandeered the public address system and were marching up and down the field playing the Star Spangled Banner and The Yellow Rose of Texas. And UT had also hired a jackhammer crew to tear up the concrete on the space where the press conference was going to be held," recalled Heather Ball, TDA economist.

"Hightower steps up to the mic and starts to talk, and the band starts playing. He tries to talk and the band's playing louder and louder.  You can't hear a freaking word he's saying," remembers Demetrius McDaniel.

Willie eventually moved the venue to Manor Downs. He lined up VH1 to broadcast the concert. He omitted to tell them that he'd be sharing the stage with the Rev. Jesse Jackson. VH1 yowled that they had turned down 11 US senators – and Jimmy Carter. They finally consented when Jesse agreed to close his eyes at the beginning of the national anthem and end with an amen.

"The farm crisis of the 1980s brought farming and ag to everyone’s radar. Farm Aid highlighted the crisis for urban consumers, who were asking, 'What can we do to help?” TDA's Robert Maggiani explained in a PHIT interview.

Farm Aid was a lifeline to struggling farmers.  Among other programs, Farm Aid II helped fund the Texas Farmers Market Coupon Program to provide food assistance to 3,600 WIC (Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants and Children) clients in San Antonio. The pilot program also aimed to increase income for members of the San Antonio Farmers Market Association, and—most important--to develop a long-term relationship between Texas family farmers and low-income consumers. "In terms of WIC and the WIC Farmers Market nutrition program, it's now annually nationally about $17 million dollars a year", says Kate Fitzgerald, who directed the pilot program for TDA.

Several of the same musicians who performed for the July 4th Farm Aid II were back for Willie's 50th Fourth of July Picnic this year. Dwight Yoakam, Steve Earle and Willie Nelson are still in the fight to preserve family farmers and convey the message through music. 

Hightower commented on the festival“Politics is not just about issues and candidates. It's also expressed through our music, cartoons, photographs, food, literature, movies, just all different aspects of our life…Good drink, good food, good music and good laughs. That's what creates a movement that brings us together.”

The devastation being wreaked on rural Texas was spelled out by Greg Moses is his July 31, 1986 Texas Observer article, Farm Aid for the Betrayed. "Seventy-five Texas farmers went out of business during the July 4th weekend. At the rate of 173 farms per week , the farm crisis is destroying this state's most experienced producers, causing economic blight and emotional bitterness which may never be repaired. If Farm Aid II came up short on expected donations, it did offer a symbol of hope to rally around, a living monument for those 32,000 Texas farmers who said in February that they did not expect to be farming in 1987…

Farm Aid was making it possible for farmers to hope and to work for reform and survival. That's why Nancille Gallimore of the Texas Farm Crisis Hotline was able to report several calls in early July from farmers who said, "If you see Willie, tell him we said thanks.”

by Heather Ball

This was originally in the PHIT newsletter which comes to your mailbox once a month and presents monthly highlights of PHIT current and past work. We would be honored if you would allow us to deliver the newsletter to you mailbox once a month. Please follow this link to subscribe. https://mailchi.mp/peopleshistoryintexas/2023-july-9365502. The subscription link is in the top left corner of the newsletter.