Todd Eddy Interview

Interview with Todd Eddy

 

April 1, 2023

Memorial Stadium

Champaign, IL 

 

TE = Tom Eddy

DS = Daniel Shepherd

SI = Secondary interviewer (Will revise after finding out his name)

 

(Interview starts 36 seconds into the recording)

 

TE: There is going to be some dead air, I am horrible at multitasking

 

DS: No, do not worry about it. We usually leave a little bit of space anyway.

 

TE: Sure

 

DS: Perfect, thank you so much. Right, so let's start.

 

(INTERVIEW BEGINS)

 

DS: So this is an interview with Daniel Shepherd, we're in the 77th Club in Memorial Stadium. We're here for a history harvest for farm aid, and so sir, if you'd like to introduce

yourself, spelling your last name for the record, if that's okay.

 

TE: Yeah sure, Todd Eddy, E-D-D-Y, 

 

DS: Absolutely perfect. So first thing, why are you here today?

 

TE: I heard on the radio a couple days ago that there was going to be… there was a call for

oral history on the farm aid show that occurred here in September 22nd, 1985.

 

DS: Perfect.

 

TE: And I was here.

 

DS: Oh, so you were up the show?

 

TE: I was at the show.

 

DS: Do you want to tell us a little bit about it?

 

TE: Well, wow, there's all kinds of things that you're talking about. I just turned 17 years old.

I came up from a small town, Pana, Illinois, about an hour and a half away with an older

cousin. We were a couple of the first hundred people in the stadium that day.

 

DS: Oh wow.

TE: We actually were just right up against the stage wall, the wall that separated the crowd

from the stage. We were there for most of the morning through the rain into the afternoon. It was pretty awesome. We slept across from the doors to the stadium. So we weren't actually in line. We were in line adjacent.

 

DS: Right I see.

 

TE: So whenever the doors opened, we just kind of squirreled our way in, that's how we got

in so quickly. Yeah, I mean, what to talk about. There was, we came in, we made immediate friends with some, I don't know, I was 17 then. I'm going to call them women at the time. They were probably in college. I don't know. My eyes were just, wide open. We met some people from Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota that was our immediate crew, if you will. There was probably 12 of us, we'd hung for most of the day on and off. Man, stories I could tell.

 

DS: So you say you were one of the first people to get there,

 

TE: Yeah.

 

DS: What time did you actually arrive and start cueing for the event?

 

TE: Well, so we came up the night before. I think we showed up in Champaign, Urbana here, and approximately, I don't know, maybe 10 o'clock on 10 p.m. on the 21st, the night before.

 

DS: So you were very eager?

 

TE: We were very eager. We got here. There was a large queue. There was a large line already, people, it was snaking around, yeah, we just wanted to be here, and get in and getting up to the front of the stage, that seemed to be a big thing.

 

DS: So what actually brought you to the concert in the first place?

 

TE: Well, we lived in the middle of the corn fields. I was watching Live Aid, like the entire world was at that time, and Bob Dylan made a comment during his bit on Live Aid that, you know, why don't we take a couple million of these dollars and give it to the family farmers here in America, and that was kind of the impetus to farm aid. So Bob Dylan, big hero at the time, Neil Young, big hero at the time, the highwaymen were going to be here, they were huge, you know, Johnny Cash, Willing Nelson, Wayland Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, that's a great story. That's my near religious experience I've ever had in my entire life was when the highwaymen were playing, it was at night, like I said, we were very close to the stage, and the highwaymen were singing their song, Highwaymen, and Johnny Cash was just getting ready to sing, and he stepped in front of the rest of the singers, in front of Willing Nelson, and Wayland Jennings, and Kris Kristofferson, who was here earlier in the day, he was not part of the quartet that night, Glenn Campbell actually was singing for Kris Kristofferson, but Johnny Cash, when it came his time to deliver his first verse, he kind of stepped in front of

everyone, and he's wearing black, and he's saying, “I flew a star ship across the universe

divide,” and it still brings me goosebumps, 80,000 people in this stadium just roar, it

was a huge roar, it sounded like a rocket ship going off, phenomenal, I mean, still, I mean, 40 years later, it gives me goosebumps, that was probably closest to a religious experience

I've ever had 

 

DS: So, who would be, some of the other big acts that you wanted to see that day?

 

TE: So everybody, I mean, B.B. King, you know, B.B. King was awesome, he actually broke a string during one of his songs, and he was like in mid-song, and I wish I could remember

which song it was, but I mean, it's 38 years ago, but he was playing his guitar Lucille, he broke a string mid-song, he kept going, kept playing, he motioned for someone to bring him a new string, they brought it out the whole time, just playing, the band was rocking, he re-strung his guitar, tuned it, and just kept going, it was just, that was phenomenal. Let's see, there was, obviously, John Malencamp, you know, he had, what was it, the scarecrow album out at the time, very popular here in the Midwest, because he's from Indiana, we're in Seymour, Um, he was, he was a great highlight, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers came to see them, they were, I mean, heaven's sakes, there was, I don't know, over a hundred artists, you know, from, you know, Carol King, Billy Joel was here, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers backed Bob Dylan, was Bob Dylan's backup band that night, and from that moment on, they did like a tour together, it was just, just crazy, 

 

DS: so you say that you got that really in the day, but what time did you eventually leave? 

 

TE: Oh geesh, 

 

DS: Did you, did you weather the storm? 

 

TE: We weathered the storm, um, we left when the concert was over, 

 

DS: really? 

 

TE: Yeah, we stayed the entire time, um, I remember, gosh, what was it, it was like the Beach Boys were playing, or right before the Beach Boys played the, the rain stopped, and, um, I remember, remember them singing Barbara Ann. I left the front of the stage to go to the restroom and is coming back and, uh, that's a funny story, um, as I was approaching the,

the crowd, you know, I, I stayed on the field the whole time, as, uh, was approaching the crowd to worm my way back up to the front of the stage, uh, out of the crowd came, uh, some security holding this guy, they were dragging him, you know, he was in a pair of shorts and barefoot, you know, no shirt, and as they were getting, he passed out or something bad, as he was getting towards the edge of the crowd, uh, he, he just threw up, it was totally disgusting, but I mean, it was just one of those moments, it was right in front of me, it was, it was hilarious, um, I think John, John Denver, I think it was raining during the John Denver bit, and, uh, I can remember this gnarly looking biker guy, you know, he was flying colors, he had his, his club, uh, on his jacket, so he was flying colors, he was doing this hoe down with this, like, grandma, and it was just beautiful, and, you know, I was 17 at the time, these people were probably 40, I don't know if they just seemed so old, uh, they were, you know, they were hoe down into, thank god I'm a country boy, it was a magical moment. 

 

DS: So would you say that, like, with obviously that example, it was quite a community event, something that definitely brought people together in the local community?

 

TE: Oh my god, it was local, it was all across the Midwest, like I said earlier, um, some of the people we hooked up with were from Wisconsin and Michigan, Minnesota, I mean, people came from everywhere, and I didn't see a single fight, it was just all smiles, it was a great time, uh, we felt we were doing something really important. 

 

DS: So obviously the reason that the event came on was due to the farm crisis, um, are you local to the Midwest?

 

TE: Mmm Hmm

 

DS: If you don't mind, how did the farm crisis affect you, or like, your community, in some sense? 

 

TE: Yeah, so I'm from a town of, uh, originally from a town of 6,000 individuals, it's a mile, or an hour and a half away from here, uh, Pana in Illinois, um, my dad had 11 brothers, he's from, uh, they were all from a small community called Ramsey, Illinois, that's a village, um, highway 51, population 400, uh, many of my uncles were farmers, um, many of my uncles, uh, stopped farming during the farm crisis of the 80s, um, I think I have two, they're, they're since retired, but I think, uh, two of them finished their life farming. 

 

DS So, (Coughs) my apologies, so would you say that that was maybe a lot of the reason why

you, would you say that that maybe that's part of the reason you went as well? 

 

TE: Uh, I went because I was a great fan of the 1960s, and this was the closest thing I was ever going to get to Woodstock, and with the amount of people that were here, uh, there was, there was kind of a huge overlap with, uh, Woodstock era artists and farm maid. 

 

DS: Do you want to…? (Directed to SI)

 

SI: Um, I was going to ask a question and I don’t mean to be crass, but how rampant were illicit substances during the concert?

 

TE: Oh, quite, uh, you know, we were, uh, what did we have? I think I snuck in a bottle of

schnapps, uh, the people that I was with, you know, we, they had weed, um, speed, you know, not, not meth or anything, you know, pills, little white crosses and things like that to

call it, uh, back in the day. Um, you know, there was a lot of alcohol being consumed,

obviously, it is probably being sold. I was 17. I couldn't buy anything like that, but, um,

I totally partook. So yeah, nothing crass about that. It was weird though. You, you asked that

question and we were on the field, uh, like I said, the whole day and, um, at some point I looked up here to the press box and, uh, all along the top of this, this press booth that we're in, um, were state police and they had binoculars and they were scouring the crowd. It was insane. And then I just forgot about them because, you know, there were things happening. But yeah, uh, I would say it was not quite Woodstock, but, you know, wasn't a grateful dead show, but everyone was having a good time. 

 

DS: So what did you think about the, um, the concert of like, what did you, what were your initial impressions of it? And is there anything that you look back on that you may feel different about it? Or like, what were your opinions of the concept like

before and after it? 

 

TE: Well, I've been telling stories about Farm Aid since I was here, so I've been telling stories for 38 years, um, about different bits and pieces that I can recall. It was a big day and it was a long time ago. So I'm, I'm really appreciative of everyone that's involved with the history harvest here. I mean, it's just really fantastic. I brought a concert ticket, my concert ticket I donated,

 

DS: Oh brilliant. 

 

TE: To the cause, uh, and how I've kept that all these years I don't know. Uh, but you know, as I said, I was an idealistic, uh, 17 year old growing up in the middle of the cornfields. Uh, I had high hopes for the show. Uh, it totally delivered on all fronts. Um, and, and, you know, from, from that day on, I mean, it's just been wonderful memories. Uh, I did go to the Farm Aid 4 in, uh, Terre Haute, who's over in the Hoosier dome, uh, a few years later. And that was, um, that was also, there's a near religious experience at that show. Um, that was the night that, um, Ryan Light, um, from Indianapolis, uh, he passed away of AIDS. And Elton John had been at the hospital, um, with the white family when he passed away. And he came over to the Hoosier Dome to play Farm Aid. And he did candle in the wind and it

just dedicated it to, uh, Ryan Light and his memory. Uh, that gives me goose bumps as well. Uh, so these Farm Aid's phenomenal. Just, just phenomenal one. You know, one comment by Bob Dylan.

 

DS: So I, I think we've made only have a few more questions, but, so what would you say the

Farm Aid actually did for like the local community? 

 

TE: Um, it, it raised a lot of awareness. Um, it brought a lot of pride back to, to us in, in Central Illinois. Um, you know, farmers are farmers. They're not white collar. They're not blue collar. They're, you know, they're, they're of the, of the land and it, you know, often forgotten and, um, they feed the world. And it just really kind of resurrected, especially around here with the Mellencamp Scarecrow, um, album that came out in small town. There's so many family farmers that are from the small towns, the small communities and, um, yeah, it, it was, it was dynamite.

 

SI: Related to that, I was actually going to ask, do you feel that people or, better question is, uh, how come you think that now people are kind of forgetting about the Farm crisis or even Farm Aid itself?

TE: Uh, I don't think they're forgetting about it. Um, you know, there's you know, America, pop culture, you know, we're all, it's cyclical. You know, things come into our, um, collective consciousnesses and kind of go away. Farm Aid has never gone away. Um, even during the pandemic, they were able to, uh, pull something together, um, mostly videos from different people. You know, I, I lived in New Mexico for 14 years and during the pandemic's Farm Aid show, there was, a (cant understand name) Indian Pueblo, uh, farmer that did a, a bit. And he talked about how, um, you know, he's been, they've been family farming for, you know, um, 800 years.

 

DS: Mm hmm. Wow, that's very impressive. 

 

TE: It's, it's very sculptures. (Unsure)

 

DS: Yeah, It's something that transcends across a lot of groups. 

 

TE: Sure. 

 

DS: Um, I've just got one final question list, unless you have another one here. Um, so what was your, what was some of the big takeaways that you had from the event, whether that was like, I have a physical items or like something that you feel yourself. What was some of the big things that you took away straight after that concert? 

 

TE: Um, we walked out of here, uh, no pun intended, uh, quite high. I mean, there was

really, really an awesome event. I mean, um, as I said, there, there were so many bands that were here, um, from so many, you know, generations, you know, uh, many heroes. We, we, we had to see many heroes perform. Um, and, you know, when we, I don't remember the drive home. Um, you know, we kind of just floated out of here with 80,000 people and somehow, you know, we all made it somewhere. Uh, and then I made it back here today. So it was a good will and it was, it was a good time. 

 

DS: That's amazing. Um, I think we'll end the interview there. That's, that's a great note to

end on. 

 

TE: Sure 

 

DS: So thank you very much for your time and thank you for coming down. That's brilliant.

 

TE: Excellent.

 

DS: Thank you so much, we’ll end the recording there. I'm just gonna… 

 

(END OF INTERVIEW)