I just attended (and volunteered at) the 24th Farm Aid concert. This year was in St. Louis, MO. Farm Aid raises money to help family farmers.

One tool in that battle apparently is the t-shirt.

Rhonda Perry of the Missouri Rural Crisis Center gave a powerful speech at the press conference before the show. She thanked the main Farm Aid supporters, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews, John Mellencamp, and Neil Young. She thanked Neil Young for wearing a “Stop Factory Farms” t-shirt made by her organization. She said that his years of wearing it on stage during his tours almost single-handedly brought public attention to the problems of factory farms.

Besides thanking him, I think she was prompting him a bit to wear it again, and during his remarks he commented that he didn’t know why he was wearing the shirt that he had on.

We delivered a fresh Stop Factory Farms shirt to his tour bus and sure enough he hit the stage wearing it.

However, he wasn’t done with wearing his heart on his sleeve (or in this case chest.)  After a couple songs he spoke to the audience at the concert hall and on TV and ripped his red stop sign design Stop Factory Farms shirt right down the middle and it revealed a second shirt. This shirt was green and said “Go Family Farms.”

T-shirts at their best, direct and to the point, making a statement. In this case in the inimitable style of Neil Young.

Neil Young at Farm Aid wearing a "Stop Factory Farms" shirt.

Neil Young at Farm Aid a few moments later, red shirt ripped in half revealing a green "Go Family Farms" shirt