People wondered why Farm Aid didn't save Kenny and Sue Massey's farm after they were put in the spotlight of the first benefit concert in 1985.

The Masseys turned down offers to help them keep the land, saying they couldn't accept money when others were going under.

Willie Nelson flew the couple and their five children to the second Farm Aid concert in Austin, Texas, several months after they lost their Iowa County egg farm to foreclosure.

They hadn't been to a Farm Aid concert since, until Saturday at Miller Park.

"Isn't it amazing these musicians are still here for the farmer, paying their own way," Kenny Massey said. "They haven't gotten older. But we have."

As singer-songwriter John Mellencamp delivered his populist brand of heartland rock one more time, Kenny put his arm around his wife and remembered what life was like 25 years ago, the first time Mellencamp took the stage on behalf of family farms. Kenny recalled the anxiety that kept him up at night. The what-ifs. The pain of losing his family's livelihood.

"I still wake up sometimes, thinking about what I could have done differently," said the farmer-turned-landscaper. "I'm a better person for losing the farm. I'm not judgmental; there's only one person who can really judge you... And sometimes you have to leave the farm to reinvent yourself."

As Mellencamp launched into "Rain on the Scarecrow," Kenny grew quiet.

"Four hundred empty acres that used to be my farm. I grew up like my daddy did. My grandpa cleared the land."

Kenny was the third generation of his family to work the land.

"Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow."

Sue looked at Kenny: "There were some very difficult, sad, trying times. But I always thought, 'We've gotta stay together and make it,'" she said.

She remembered telling him as the farm auction neared, they needed to start packing and come up with a plan: "Kenny said, 'We're not leaving 'til they shove us off the land.' I went into the attic and started to pack.'"

"Rain on the scarecrow, blood on the plow."