Bob Dylan has been announced as a last-minute addition to the Farm Aid 40 lineup.
The announcement Wednesday came just days before the festival, adding unexpected weight to an already significant anniversary.
The addition of Dylan brings the event full circle. At Live Aid in 1985, Dylan made an offhand comment about wanting to see some of the money raised go to help struggling American farmers.
“I hope that some of the money … maybe they can just take a little bit of it,” Dylan said in his signature halting manner. “Maybe … one or two million, maybe … and use it, say, to pay the mortgages on some of the farms and, the farmers here, owe to the banks."
That remark inspired Willie Nelson, Neil Young and John Mellencamp to create Farm Aid later that year.
For Minnesota audiences, the presence of Dylan has additional significance. Aside from his origins here — Dylan was born in Duluth, raised in Hibbing and briefly attended the University of Minnesota — the singer recorded his critically lauded 1975 album “Blood on the Tracks” in Minneapolis.
He also co-owned the Orpheum Theatre in Minneapolis and owned a farm on Crow River.
Dylan last performed in Minnesota earlier this year in Mankato.
