Farm Aid: 20th Anniversary Concert

Featuring 16 artists spread (unevenly) over two-and-a-half hours, it's no surprise that this 29-song compilation from a 2005 concert celebrating the 20th anniversary of Farm Aid (an annual one-day festival designed to raise money for American farmers) offers something of a mixed bag. The musician-chairmen of the board for Farm Aid—Dave Matthews, John Cougar Mellencamp, Neil Young, and Willie Nelson—don't take the stage for their sets at the Tweeter Center in Tinley Park, IL until the halfway point, following single song performances by Kate Voegele, Shannon Brown, Supersuckers, Widespread Panic, and Emmylou Harris (one solo song!?!—while country-flavor-of-the-month Kenny Chesney merits three !?!). What saves the opening half are two standouts: Buddy Guy and John Mayer jammin' on the former's “What Kind of Woman Is This,” and Arlo Guthrie's full-length rendition of his classic “Alice's Restaurant.” As far as the headliners go, Matthews does serviceable renditions of “Gravedigger” and “Ants Marching,” while Young scores with the haunting “When God Made Me,” but it's Mellencamp who electrifies the crowd with a rousing four-song set featuring “Love and Happiness,” “Crumblin' Down,” “Pink Houses,” and the perfectly apropos “Scarecrow.” Which leaves Willie's tried-and-true (if also somewhat predictable six-song closer) featuring the umpteenth live performances of “Whiskey River,” “Crazy,” and “On the Road Again.” Presented in DTS, Dolby Digital 5.1 and stereo, the disc features no extras (although there is a 10-minute promo piece for Farm Aid that appears in the middle of the concert). Recommended, overall. Aud: P. (R. Pitman)