Everyone remembers the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s inaugural concert in September 1995. It was a massive, star-studded, stadium event featuring an array of rock icons past and present.
With superstars like Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, and Jon Bon Jovi backing pioneers like Chuck Berry, Martha Reeves, and Eric Burdon, the first Hall of Fame concert announced the arrival of the Cleveland institution with one heck of an exclamation point.
There’s just one problem with introductory events like that: where do you go from there?
The Hall was still trying to answer that question a year later. That job fell to Bob Santelli, the Hall’s original Director of Education and Public Programs. Santelli wanted to do more than just spotlight the genre–he wanted to contextualize it.
Santelli envisioned an annual event honoring and exploring the life and work of artists who preceded but influenced and informed rock and roll. He brought his vision to life when his team introduced the American Music Masters series in 1996.
Over the course of two decades, the series honored a panoply of influential artists. Muddy Waters, Bessie Smith, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, The Rolling Stones, and Roy Orbison (the series eventually embraced early rock artists as well) were just a few of the artists featured in an annual week-long festival of lectures, concerts, exhibits, and special events. Each year, the week ended with an all-star tribute concert.
Santelli and team selected Woody Guthrie as the series’ inaugural honoree, working with Guthrie’s daughter Nora to bring it to life. Santelli and Guthrie collaborated on a ten-day program of events illuminating Woody Guthrie’s life and work. However, to draw the attention they hoped for, they needed a finale that would establish the series as an annual can’t-miss event.
They succeeded–and it couldn’t have happened without Bruce Springsteen. Santelli knew that Bruce had to be the evening’s headline performer, and he explained why in an episode of the CLE Rocks podcast.
Bruce agreed to do to the show, and when Santelli chose the Cleveland Orchestra’s Severance Hall as the venue for the closing concert (a selection that raised eyebrows at a time when rock musicians and symphony halls didn’t mix), Bruce donated more than his time and talent.
Nora Guthrie explains:
With Springsteen and his Ghost of Tom Joad Tour crew on board, a host of Guthrie-inspired artists flocked to join the line-up. Ani DiFranco, Billy Bragg, Joe Ely, Arlo Guthrie, The Indigo Girls, and more all performed that night, along with Woody’s friend, contemporary, and iconic influence all on his own, Pete Seeger. (The event marked the firs time Springsteen and Seeger shared a stage together.)
Bruce played a set of Guthrie’s songs that night, including “Tom Joad,” “Blowin’ Down This Road,” “Oklahoma Hills,” “Riding in My Car” and “Plane Wreck at Los Gatos (Deportee)“–all featured on this blog previously–along with his own Guthrie-inspired song, “Across the Border.”
Following his set, all of the evening’s featured performers joined Springsteen on stage for a four-song encore leading off with Guthrie’s oft-covered ode to the working man, “Hard Travelin’,” first recorded in 1941.
Bruce took the lead on a verse, as did Woody’s son Arlo, The Indigo Girls, and Ani DiFranco. The joyous ensemble performance was given an official release in 2000 on a compilation album called Til We Outnumber ‘Em, one of Bruce’s most under-the-radar official releases.
“Hard Travelin'” was a one-time-only performance for Springsteen, but he went on to have a long relationship with Nora Guthrie and the Woody Guthrie Center, culminating in Bruce receiving his own honor from Nora and Santelli in 2021.
For more background on the American Music Masters series and Bruce’s involvement, check out this excellent episode of CLE Rocks below.
Hard Travelin’
First performed: September 29, 1996 (Cleveland, OH)
Last performed: September 29, 1996 (Cleveland, OH)
