Bruce Springsteen performs at 2nd annual American Music Honors
The second annual American Music Honors, hosted by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center For American Music at Monmouth University, took place in New Jersey on Wednesday, with The Boss on hand to induct one of this yearâs honorees, John Mellencamp.
âSeymour, Indiana, is the birthplace of our next honoree, and I have been there and I can tell you it is a small town,â Springsteen shared, according to the Asbury Park Press. âHis eye for the details of working-class life in the belly of the country has been flawless and unforgiving.”
He noted of Mellencamp’s songs, “[H]eâs captured and remained true to an unflinching vision of a country at war with itself, a country caught between its hard realities and better angels.”
Mellencamp took the stage to perform an acoustic version of âJack and Diane,â but later in the night, Springsteen honored him by performing his take on Mellencamp’s classic âSmall Town,â with the Indiana rocker joining him.
This yearâs other honorees included Jackson Browne, who performed âRunning on Emptyâ and âTake It Easyâ; Mavis Staples, who performed âCome Go With Meâ; and Dion DiMucci, who performed âKing of New York Streetsâ and âThe Wanderer.â
The night ended with Springsteen returning to the stage, backed by the house band, Steven Van Zandtâs Disciples of Soul, to perform “Glory Daysâ and âTenth Avenue Freeze-Out.” Staples and the other acts also performed the gospel hymn âWill The Circle Be Unbroken.â
The first American Music Honors event was held in 2023. Van Zandt, Sam and Dave‘s Sam Moore, Darlene Love and Steve Earle were the honorees.
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