John Mellencamp, whose son is attending Duke, hinted that the 2014 Farm Aid concert will be in the Raleigh-Durham, area. John's remark came during the opening ceremony of the Chik-fil-A Bowl game, which the younger Mellencamp suited-up for. John is one of the charter members of Farm Aid's collective of musical organizers, but 'Maybe' is as close as the group is willing to come to confirming that this year's fund raising festival will be staged in North Carolina. The prospect that it will has the Director of the state's Rural Advancement Foundation International jacked up. Scott Marlow says RAFI has worked with Farm Aid on a number of initiatives that support farming. The boost having the concert there represents would be especially welcome to him because tobacco farmers will be losing payments put in place to assist them while they transitioned from a quota system to a free-market one this year. There's some irony in that; Mellencamp has tried to kick a smoking habit for years. One of his sons even waged a Facebook campaign to rally support for his efforts to get his dad to kick butts.
IndyWeek.com
