Pete Seeger , Bruce Springsteen and others pay tribute to Woody Guthrie as part of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's first American Music Masters event in 1996. CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame couldn’t have opened in a more riveting fashion.
One of those things was American Music Masters, an event honoring the roots of rock artists who preceded rock and roll but whose music led to its development. First up, in 1996, was America’s Troubadour, Woody Guthrie. Santelli began plotting the museum’s first big event following the Concert for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. His concept for the American Music Masters stretched beyond just a singular event. It would be a week’s worth of educational programs and live music that could prove the young museum’s worth.
Nora Guthrie was busy with projects of her own in 1996. It marked the first year the Woody Guthrie Archives collection was made available to the public. She’d also begun work onan album of previously unheard Woody Guthrie lyrics put to music written and performed by British singer Billy Bragg and American band Wilco.
Springsteen had slowed down by the mid-1990s. He was still active, temporarily re-organizing the E Street Band for a few new songs recorded on his first greatest hits album in 1995. Springsteen also released his second folk album “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” whose title track took inspiration from Guthrie’s own “The Ballad of Tom Joad.”
But it was the night’s opening act that threatened to steal the show. Buffalo, N.Y. native Ani DiFranco was six albums deep into her career. But none of them charted on the mainstream charts. Of course, the night’s major draw was Springsteen who kept things very traditional during his six-song set. He opened with a fiery acoustic version of Guthrie’s “Tom Joad,” followed by “Blowin’ Down the Road,” “Oklahoma Hills” and “Deportee .” Springsteen even got a kick out of performing “Car Song,” a theme Springsteen is very familiar with.
Springsteen’s career would enter an exciting new chapter in the 21st century with a series of successful albums that included “We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions,” featuring 13 covers of songs made popular by Pete Seeger. In 2021, Springsteen became the eighth recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize, honoring artists who speak out for social justice.
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