Bruce Springsteen has been announced as the 2021 recipient of the Woody Guthrie Prize.
Per the official website of the Woody Guthrie Center, The Boss will accept the award during a virtual event for the members of the Woody Guthrie Center on May 13.
Springsteen said in a statement about receiving the award, “I’m honored to receive the 2021 Woody Guthrie Prize. Woody wrote some of the greatest songs about America’s struggle to live up its ideals in convincing fashion. He is one of my most important influences and inspirations.”
Past recipients of the Woody Guthrie Prize include Joan Baez, Chuck D, John Mellencamp, Norman Lear, Kris Kristofferson, Mavis Staples, and Pete Seeger.
The Woody Guthrie Center bestows this particular honor on “an artist of any medium who continues in the footsteps of Woody Guthrie: A champion for the voiceless with an understanding of how a platform can be used to shine a light on our world, showing us what needs to be fixed and how to fix it.”
Woody Guthrie Center Director Deana McCloud said in a statement, “As an observer of the human condition and a reporter about the plight of common people, Bruce Springsteen is a true child of Woody Guthrie. He continues Woody’s work by writing about our struggles in this land of hope and dreams and provided one of our favorite performances of ‘This Land is Your Land’ with Pete Seeger at the first Obama inauguration.”
McCloud’s statement concluded, “The Woody Guthrie Center is proud to present Bruce with this well-deserved recognition for his lifetime of speaking for the disenfranchised and inspiring generations to find the power of their own voices.”
