 Dylan sang on USA for Africa 's famine relief single " We Are the World " . On July 13 , 1985 , he appeared at the climax at the Live Aid concert at JFK Stadium , Philadelphia . Backed by Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood , he performed a ragged version of " Hollis Brown " , his ballad of rural poverty , and then said to the worldwide audience exceeding one billion people : " I hope that some of the money ... maybe they can just take a little bit of it , maybe ... one or two million , maybe ... and use it to pay the <unk> on some of the farms and , the farmers here , owe to the banks . " His remarks were widely criticized as inappropriate , but they did inspire Willie Nelson to organize a series of events , Farm Aid , to benefit debt @-@ ridden American farmers . 
