The Springsteen Archives' 2025 American Music Honors: These machines, songs, and voices kill fascism
- Shawn Poole
- Apr 30
- 10 min read
April 30, 2025
For those of us who were in the audience for The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music's 2025 American Music Honors, and who are more than a bit concerned about the current state of the U.S. (to put it extremely mildly,) as well as its relationship to the rest of the planet, Saturday night's event was a sorely needed shot of hope and sanity on a stage filled with beloved artists and great music. It couldn't have come at a better time.
As has been the case since the Honors' inaugural ceremony in 2023, the evening opened with the Honors' house band, Little Steven's Disciples of Soul, brilliantly performing a set of songs made famous by the evening's honorees (one song to salute each of this year's five honorees.) This opening segment quickly has become one of the highlights of each year's ceremony, and having the Disciples of Soul serve as The American Music Honors' house band throughout each evening is now one of this annual event's biggest draws.
It quickly became clear, however, that this year's American Music Honors would be very different on many fronts. You could feel it right from the start, with the ceremony addressing current events in a decisive manner that it hadn't done previously. It wasn't just the evening's M.C., Brian Williams, joking about how topsy-turvy the world feels right now, but it also was his early announcement that New Jersey's Governor Phil Murphy would be missing an American Music Honors event for the first time, due to his attendance at The 2025 International March of the Living, and Williams noting why he feels that such international gatherings are especially important now, given the current geo-political climate. (Lieutenant Governor and Secretary of State Tahesha Way attended and spoke in Murphy's stead.)
Shortly thereafter, Archives and Center Executive Director Robert Santelli asserted in his welcoming remarks, "At a time when the nation’s culture is under attack, and institutions that celebrate and preserve that culture are threatened with censorship, firings, forced resignations, and financial starvation, The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, though in its infancy at the moment... will not waver in its commitment to promote artistic freedom.”
This also was the first American Music Honors event in which one of the honorees was not present to accept. Unfortunately Joe Ely, who was the honoree for the evening's first presentation, was unable to attend due to his ongoing health issues. Nevertheless, Bruce Springsteen spoke eloquently of Joe Ely's enduring importance and influence, as well as his longtime friendship with Ely.
He also paid tribute to Ely with an incendiary version of "All Just To Get To You," the song that Ely and Springsteen recorded together for Ely's 1995 album Letter To Laredo. The song also was performed with a brilliantly edited set of film and video clips of Ely through the years, playing on the large screen behind Springsteen and the band. It was a beautifully moving visual accompaniment to the musical performance, and I wouldn't be surprised if somebody like, say, Thom Zimny was responsible for it.
Bruce dedicated his performance of "All Just To Get To You" to "my baby," Patti Scialfa, "because she's here with me." Indeed, having Patti Scialfa present and participating in an American Music Honors event for the first time was cause for celebration indeed, as was Brian Williams noting at one point that Scialfa's next album is imminent and "will knock your socks off." Patti being in the house was the perfect counterpoint to the sadness of Joe Ely's absence, and yet another development that made this year's event different from the previous two American Music Honors.
After Ely was honored, Nils Lofgren presented Tom Morello with his American Music Honor, describing him not only as "a good friend and bandmate who I love and admire," but also as "a visionary, a social justice warrior, and a fearless purveyor of truth. It’s simply who he is and what he has been called to do, share the truth through amazing music."
Morello, in both his acceptance speech and the musical performance that followed, proved that Lofgren wasn't joking. Nobody with any sense, however, could say for sure exactly how much Morello himself was joking - if at all - when he began his speech by saying, "It is an honor to be here at the last big awards event before they throw us all in jail." In any case, it was crystal-clear how serious Morello was when he asserted, "All music, in my opinion, is political...the right combination of rhythm and rhyme, when it washes over a huge throng or transmits through an earbud, can feel like the truth, deep in our reptilian brain in a way that can provide a spark for action or a life raft for survival." He cited the important role of music in the organized-labor movement, the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam-era anti-war movement, and then added proudly that "one or two Rage Against the Machine songs were heard pumping in the streets at anti-Trump demonstrations last weekend," getting a hearty round of cheers and applause from the audience. Morello concluded his remarks by proclaiming, "There is solidarity in song. If we can sing together, we can work together, fight together, win together. When we stand up for each other, we’ve got a shot to create the world we’d like to one day see. And so thank you, brothers and sisters... I hope to see you at the barricades and in the mosh pit."
Bruce Springsteen then took the stage again to join Morello for their great, appropriate, and electrified duet version of "The Ghost Of Tom Joad." Before diving into the performance, however, Springsteen first expressed his support for Morello's speech by saying, "I second that emotion," with a smiling glance towards Smokey Robinson. For his part, Robinson would later add during his own acceptance speech, "Tom...if you ever run for anything, I’m voting for you, man."
"Okay, some girl time now," said Patti Scialfa as she took the stage to present Emmylou Harris, the only female 2025 American Music Honoree, with her honor. Scialfa spoke of Harris' artistic impact, and of Scialfa's longtime friendship with Harris, similar to the way that husband Springsteen had spoken about Joe Ely earlier. "She has changed the landscape of American music," Scialfa said, "and done so with grit and elegance, that only women like her can pull off... She’s a brilliant role model for women, for any kind of music that you choose to do."
In accepting her honor, Harris stated, "This award actually means even more coming from Patti, because she’s one of my favorite singers... She really understands a woman’s heart. I love her singing and I love her lyrics... [W]e’re sisters under the skin." Harris was joined by Scialfa on a beautifully moving version of Harris' self-penned song "Red Dirt Girl," the title track of her 2000 album on which Scialfa and Springsteen contributed vocals to "Tragedy," the song that Harris co-wrote with Rodney Crowell.
Bruce Springsteen returned to the stage to present John Fogerty with his American Music Honor. "Both solo and with his great band Creedence Clearwater Revival," said Springsteen, "John’s been able to condense everything good and painful, joyful and serious about this country we live in, in two minutes and thirty seconds... I’ve always described John as the Hank Williams of our generation... Now, I’m often asked if I’ve heard a song I’ve ever wished I’d written.... Yeah, John Fogerty’s entire fucking catalog... Thank you, John, for the beautiful gifts your music has given the world, and especially the American people. You constantly make us aware of who we were, are, and who we could be. That’s something we need more than ever right now."
In his acceptance speech, Fogerty - as he often has over the years - also spoke of the bitterness mixed with the sweetness that have marked his long career in music. He briefly recounted his many battles with the recording industry for artistic control. "The worst part about it was I didn’t own my own songs," said Fogerty, later adding, "At some point, for a long time, I didn’t even sing my own songs, because I was so angry or bitter about the whole thing." These days, however, his story ends on a much more hopeful note, with Fogerty's wife Julie having led successfully the effort to buy back the majority stake in publishing rights to his music just over two years ago. "You girls already know all this," exulted Fogerty to the audience, "Behind every man there is a great woman!" He then concluded, "I still love music. I’m having the time of my life right now. My two sons are in my band with me, and my beautiful baby’s always right offstage, supporting me.”
Springsteen then joined Fogerty in performing the CCR classic "Bad Moon Rising." The original hit CCR recording of "Bad Moon Rising" was first released in April of 1969 as the Nixon presidency reached its first one-hundred days. It was a perfect song for describing what was happening then, and on April 26, 2025, it felt like the soundtrack for what's happening right now.
Stevie Van Zandt presented the final 2025 American Music Honor of the evening to the legendary Smokey Robinson. Speaking as a true Disciple of Smokey, Van Zandt detailed how much of his own work was affected by Robinson's songwriting, singing, and production work over the years. "One can obviously connect, easily, a dozen of my songs directly to his influence, from ‘I Played the Fool’ to ‘Forever,’ ‘Save Me,’ ‘Checkpoint Charlie,’ ‘Trail of Broken Treaties,’ ‘A World of Our Own,’ etc., etc. He continues to inspire and motivate me to this day. I keep climbing, knowing I will never get halfway to that mountaintop that is ‘Tracks of My Tears,’ ‘You Really Got a Hold on Me,’ ‘Ooh Baby Baby,’ ‘Going to a Go-Go,’ ‘I Second That Emotion,’ to the masterpiece that is ‘Tears of a Clown.’ And he was just getting started... " Stevie also praised Smokey's newest album, the just-released What The World Needs Now, a collection of Smokey covering some of his favorite "positive-vibe" songs, to quote Van Zandt (including two previously released recordings by Smokey of songs he wrote himself.) Stevie also called it an album "which I highly recommend." (SiriusXM subscribers can check out Stevie's fun sit-down with Smokey to discuss and play the tracks from What The World Needs Now before an audience of lucky fans. Recorded exclusively for the Smokey's Soul Town channel shortly before The American Music Honors took place, it's available for on-demand listening on the SiriusXM app. Just search for "Smokey's Album Release Party.")
"Thank you very much," Robinson said to Van Zandt upon accepting his American Music Honor. After his shout-out to Tom Morello, Robinson added, "This is a great night, and I’m really flattered to be here. I don’t have a long speech written that I’m gonna say to you guys, and I know you're happy about that, but like I said, I have been looking forward to this and I’m honored to be a member of your American Music Honors. Bruce, I can’t even tell how much it means to me.”
Van Zandt and Robinson then performed Robinson's classic "Tears Of A Clown" together. Stevie later tweeted, "One of the unforgettable honors of my life will always be sharing a stage with Smokey Robinson."
Springsteen then joined Robinson and Van Zandt onstage to kick off the group-performances section of the show with Robinson's "Going To A Go-Go." Previous American Music Honorees Jackson Browne and Darlene Love were in the audience, and they also became surprise additions to the closing performances. As Brian Williams noted, how cool it is that the likes of Darlene Love and Jackson Browne showed up essentially to just "hang out!"
For his part, Browne spoke from the heart about attending the evening to get some sorely needed inspiration and renewal, and then proclaiming - in reference to a great story that Tom Morello told during his acceptance speech about his late father's assessment of one of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's 2014 South Africa shows, "My expectations were met." Browne performed "Take It Easy," which he co-wrote with the late Glenn Frey of The Eagles, at the request of Morello, who joined with Lofgren, Springsteen and of course the Disciples of Soul (who played behind everyone on every song throughout the evening) in backing Browne.
Fogerty returned to the stage for "Proud Mary," performed with Springsteen and Lofgren, as well as "Fortunate Son," performed with Springsteen. Bruce then performed - after expressing some (feigned?) onstage reluctance to do so - one of his own songs, "Tenth Avenue Freeze-Out," which is the only song that has been performed at every American Music Honors event to date.
Finally, the most overtly political American Music Honors event yet came to its close, most fittingly, with a group sing-along on "This Land Is Your Land," featuring special guest Nora Guthrie (Woody's daughter) joining the ensemble onstage. Not surprisingly, with both Guthrie and Morello onstage, it was ensured to be a decidedly non-truncated version of what Bruce Springsteen once called "just about one of the most beautiful songs ever written." I'd like to think that somewhere Pete Seeger was smiling.
As with almost every live event, there were a few flubs and awkward moments along the way. All that aside, however, this was a great event that so many of us in the audience downright needed to experience right now. It also was filmed and recorded professionally, no doubt with plans afoot for the Archives/Center to plan something special with the footage, perhaps a big-screen presentation of it back inside Pollak Theatre at some point, as was done last November with the footage of last year's American Music Honors. That's one of the main reasons why this report does not contain any of the numerous fan-shot cellphone videos that are online, inevitably and virtually immediately. As I noted similarly in my April 2024 report on last year's American Music Honors event, the American Music Honors remains among the biggest fundraising sources for The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music, and that includes its potential revenue from future television/video/screening/streaming presentations, so as I wrote last year, "here's hoping that eventually all interested fans still will want to see a professionally filmed and edited version of this year's American Music Honors, in a way that helps the Archives/Center to grow in its mission and purpose."
In the meantime, dear readers, enjoy John Cavanaugh's great set of professional photos accompanying this essay. And also linger on the best thing that Bruce Springsteen could (and did) say at the end of the 2025 American Music Honors event: "We'll see ya next year!"
