Willie Nelson’s first all-star Farm Aid benefit concert in Champaign, Illinois, in September 1985 began as Bob Dylan’s idea. And before the night was through, Dylan had found a new touring partner and creative collaborator — Tom Petty.

Two months earlier, in Philadelphia, Dylan had taken the stadium stage of Live Aid, the mega-benefit organized to raise funds for Ethiopian famine relief. Between songs Dylan mused: couldn’t some of the money be used to help American farmers?

Read here about how Farm Aid came to be and the influence of Dylan, Petty and other musicians to take on the plight of our nation’s farmers.