** Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp and Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds will assemble Sept. 20 for the 40th anniversary of Farm Aid, which will take place Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. Billy Strings, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Trampled by Turtles, Waxahatchee, Black Pumas‘ Eric Burton, Jesse Welles, Madeline Edwards and Margo Price will also perform.
“Family farmers are the heart of this country, and we depend on each other for good food and strong communities,” says Nelson, who helped found the organization in 1985. “For 40 years, Farm Aid and our partners have stood with farmers, supporting them to stay on their land even when corporate power, bad policies and broken promises make it harder to keep going. This year, we’re proud to bring Farm Aid to Minnesota to celebrate the farmers who sustain us and to fight for a food system that works for all of us. Family farmers aren’t backing down, and neither are we.”
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** Mumford & Sons are reprising their 2011 Railroad Revival tour this summer for four outdoor shows in New Orleans (Aug. 3), Spartanburg, S.C. (Aug. 4); Richmond, Va. (Aug. 5) and Burlington, Vt. (Aug. 7). The venues for each are located near local train stations. Mirroring the concept of the original run, Mumford will be complemented by different guests at each gig, including Nathaniel Rateliff, Chris Thile, Trombone Shorty, Madison Cunningham and Lucius.
“We felt we had some unfinished business on the great American railroad,” says Marcus Mumford. “So, we’ve spent a lot of time cooking up this idea for another rolling festival to rip through the south and east of the U.S. The spirit of what we do, at its core, is always about people and collaboration. So, every show will be a collaborative performance from a bunch of our favorite people on the planet, and every show will be different. This will, without doubt, be the coolest house band we’ll ever get to play in.”
Tickets go on sale Friday (May 16). Mumford will also tour behind their newest album, Rushmere, in standard venues beginning June 5 in Bend, Or.
** Flying Lotus and Nubya Garcia have been added to the lineup for the Newport Jazz Festival, which will be held Aug. 1-3 at Fort Adams State Park in Newport, R.I. The event takes place the weekend after the Newport Folk Festival on the same grounds. Previously announced performers include Janelle Monae, the Roots, Jacob Collier, RAYE, Jorja Smith, Esperanza Spalding, the Yussef Dayes Experience. Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Kokoroko and De La Soul.
For Flying Lotus, Newport is the only upcoming show on his calendar beyond Friday’s (May 16) Cosmic Music: The Celestial Songs of Alice Coltrane at New York’s Carnegie Hall. There, Lotus, who is Coltrane’s grandnephew, will join Ravi Coltrane and several other family members to perform world premiere orchestral arrangements of her compositions.
** A stellar lineup of electronic music performers and DJs will head to Philadelphia’s Fort Mifflin from Sept. 19-21 for the long-running, DIY Making Time ∞ festival, now in its 25th year. Four Tet, ¥ØU$UK€ ¥UK1MAT$U, Boy Harsher, Panda Bear, and Moodymann will headline, with Ben UFO, Optimo (Espacio), Moor Mother, Suzanne Ciani, Windy & Carl, Laraaji, John Talbot, Avalon Amerson and VTSS also on board. Loidis and DJ Python will team for a B2B set, which will follow the former staging an ambient live show under his Huerco S alter-ego. Click here for all the details.
To see our running list of the top 100 greatest rock stars of all time, click here.
