Michael McDonald and Willie Nelson have teamed with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo to cover “Dreams Of The San Joaquin” for today's Bandcamp Friday, with all proceeds going to benefit RAICES, the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services, and the United Farm Workers of America. The song, written by Randy Sharp and Jack Wesley Routh which has been famously covered by Linda Ronstadt and Kenny Rogers, tells the story of a field worker during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression of the '30s and '40s.
“The migrant farm worker is as responsible if not more for maintaining our country’s position as one of the largest agricultural economies in the world,” McDonald said in a statement. “The labor that falls squarely on their shoulders allows farmers to bring produce to our stores and food to our tables as reasonably priced as possible. COVID has ravaged this quadrant of the American workforce disproportionately.”