John Mellencamp- Rain on the Scarecrow- Dallas 10-1-91

He had no way of knowing of course, but when John Mellencamp used his first-hand knowledge of the crippling economic, climate-related, and legislative squeeze play that befell the independent American family farmer in the 1985 song “Rain on the Scarecrow”, he was writing about my maternal great-grandfather Frank Warford, who lived, farmed from 1933, and died just a few miles away as the crow flies from Mellencamp’s rural Central Indiana home. Along with similar sentiments from Willie Nelson and Neil Young ( living on his Broken Arrow Ranch in Northern California since 1971 ), this song helped to galvanize the second Farm Aid benefit concert near Austin in 1986.   This acoustic performance of “Rain on the Scarecrow” was absolutely live on my Q102 Dallas/ Ft Worth afternoon radio show in October 1991 with Mike Wanchic on guitar and Kenny Aronoff playing alongside John Mellencamp, with an empty office space filled with a small but appreciative audience. Straight up live, no overdubs. –Redbeard