Nearly a decade after it made its Wisconsin debut at Miller Park, Farm Aid returns to Wisconsin on Sept. 21 at Alpine Valley, bringing along top-notch artists like Willie Nelson (who just performed at Summerfest), Neil Young, John Mellencamp, Bonnie Raitt, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dave Matthews, who just played the same venue last week, and others.
Tickets range from $54.50 to $249.50 and will be available for purchase at LiveNation.com beginning Friday, July 12 at 10 a.m. A pre-sale starts Wednesday, June 10 at 10 a.m.
Founded in 1985, Farm Aid celebrated its 25th anniversary at that Miller Park gig in 2010. Since it was launched, Farm Aid has raised $57 million to support American farmers.
"With devastating weather, low prices and harmful farm and trade policies, America’s family farmers are facing immense challenges to hold onto their farms," said Willie Nelson in announcing the show.
"It’s not right … family farmers are essential for all of us. By bringing our festival to the heart of the struggle, we will stand side-by-side with farmers. At Farm Aid 2019, we’ll highlight solutions and show our support for family farmers’ contributions to our health, economy and environment."
Other performers announced including Margo Price, Tim Reynolds, Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real, Margo Price, Jamey Johnson, Tanya Tucker, Brothers Osborne, Yola and Particle Kid. Additional acts are expected to be announced in the coming weeks.
Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., where he lived until he was 17, Bobby received his BA-Mass Communications from UWM in 1989 and has lived in Walker's Point, Bay View, Enderis Park, South Milwaukee and on the East Side.
He has published three non-fiction books in Italy – including one about an event in Milwaukee history, which was published in the U.S. in autumn 2010. Four more books, all about Milwaukee, have been published by The History Press.
With his most recent band, The Yell Leaders, Bobby released four LPs and had a songs featured in episodes of TV's "Party of Five" and "Dawson's Creek," and films in Japan, South America and the U.S. The Yell Leaders were named the best unsigned band in their region by VH-1 as part of its Rock Across America 1998 Tour. Most recently, the band contributed tracks to a UK vinyl/CD tribute to the Redskins and collaborated on a track with Italian novelist Enrico Remmert.
He's produced three installments of the "OMCD" series of local music compilations for OnMilwaukee.com and in 2007 produced a CD of Italian music and poetry.
In 2005, he was awarded the City of Asti's (Italy) Journalism Prize for his work focusing on that area. He has also won awards from the Milwaukee Press Club.
He has be heard on 88Nine Radio Milwaukee talking about his "Urban Spelunking" series of stories, in that station's most popular podcast.
