American Music Honors: Jon Stewart hosts an event celebrating a vast tapestry of musical styles
Last night, Monmouth University’s Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music unveiled the first edition of the American Music Honors, an annual awards gala expressly designed to pay tribute to the artists behind the nation’s vast tapestry of musical styles and innovations
The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music was established in 2017 with the mission of preserving Springsteen’s legacy and celebrating the history of American music and its diversity of artists and genres. Founded by Robert Santelli, the organization’s executive director, the archives include a repository comprised of more than 35,000 items. Each year, scholars from across the globe visit Monmouth University to carry out research associated with Springsteen’s life and work.
But Saturday evening marked the Center for American Music’s turn to shine. With a spate of honorees that included Steven Van Zandt, Sam Moore, Darlene Love and Steve Earle, the star-studded event featured a host of show-stopping performances, while placing American music’s creative heritage front and center. Hosted by comedian Jon Stewart, the event was the brainchild of Santelli, whose leadership has been behind some of the nation’s most vaunted institutions, including the Grammy Museum, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and the Experience Music Project.
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According to Santelli, «American Music Honors aims to celebrate those artists who have demonstrated artistic excellence, creative integrity, and a longstanding commitment to the value of music in our national consciousness. All of our inaugural honorees are worthy of acknowledgment and appreciation.
