The recipients of the 47th Kennedy Center Honors have been announced.
The award for lifetime artistic achievements will recognize director and filmmaker Francis Ford Coppola; blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Bonnie Raitt; jazz trumpeter, pianist and composer Arturo Sandoval; the Apollo Theater; and the four surviving members of countercultural rock band the Grateful Dead.
Guitarist Bob Weir, who collaborated with the National Symphony Orchestra to bring the Dead's catalog to the Kennedy Center in 2022, told NPR he was speechless — and profusely thanked the devoted Deadheads who've sustained the band for nearly six decades, as well as his late bandmates Jerry Garcia and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan.
"Not so long ago, we were sort of outsiders. Now, all of that's kind of changed," Weir said. "We've been accepted into the American musical tradition, which is where we've always been."
The Honors raise money for the Kennedy Center while recognizing artists who have played a key role in the development of American culture. The annual ceremony is slated for Sunday, Dec. 8, and will air on CBS on Monday, Dec. 23.
“A brilliant and masterful storyteller with an unrelenting innovative spirit, Francis Ford Coppola’s films have become embedded in the very idea of American culture; a social and cultural phenomenon since 1965, the Grateful Dead’s music has never stopped being a true American original while inspiring a fan culture like no other,” said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein in a statement announcing the winners.
“Bonnie Raitt has made us love her again and again with her inimitable voice, slide guitar, and endless musical range encompassing blues, R&B, country rock, and folk; ‘an ambassador of both music and humanity,’ Arturo Sandoval transcended literal borders coming from Cuba 30+ years ago and today continues to bridge cultures with his intoxicating blend of Afro Cuban rhythms and modern jazz; and on its 90th anniversary, The Apollo, one of the most consequential, influential institutions in history, has elevated the voices of Black entertainment in New York.”
Transcript
SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The 2024 Kennedy Center honorees have been announced, and this year's recipients include Bonnie Raitt, the Apollo Theater and the Grateful Dead.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "SUGAR MAGNOLIA")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Sugar magnolia, blossoms blooming. Head's all empty, and I don't care.
DETROW: NPR's Isabella Gomez Sarmiento spoke with drummer Mickey Hart and guitarist Bob Weir about this moment in the band's history.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: The Kennedy Center Honors recognize artists and institutions that have played a key role in the development of American culture. This year, that includes jam band pioneers, the Grateful Dead.
MICKEY HART: Well, first, I thought it was a mistake (laughter).
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: That's Mickey Hart, who's been playing drums and percussion since the bands early years in San Francisco's countercultural heyday.
HART: In the old days, it was that we couldn't remember what we played yesterday.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: That's why every Dead show is different from the one before it.
HART: Therefore, encouraging the jam, but it's really jazz with a backbeat.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DARK STAR")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Dark star crashes, pouring its light into ashes.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Hart says it's the Deadheads - the fans - who passed their music down, generation to generation, that keep the group's long, strange trip going.
HART: The honesty of the music reached deep into the fabric of America, and they took it the rest of the way.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DARK STAR")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Searchlight casting...
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Guitarist and vocalist Bob Weir agrees.
BOB WEIR: Back not so long ago, we were sort of outsiders. Now, all that's kind of changed. We've been more or less accepted into the American musical tradition, which is where we've always been.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Nearly 60 years since the band's start, the Grateful Dead is still breaking new ground. This year, the band set the record for the most top-40 albums in history with the release of an archival show from 1985.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EYES OF THE WORLD")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Right outside this lazy summer home...
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In recent years, the Dead's members have veered into political activism, registering voters at shows and using music to tackle divisions in the U.S.
WEIR: Here in this country, we disagree deeply on political issues, but we all agree on one thing - that American music is the stuff. It's the real thing. And it's my hope that American music can help pull us together.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "EYES OF THE WORLD")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Wake up to find out that you are the eyes of the world.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In December, all four surviving members of the Grateful Dead - Weir, Hart, bassist Phil Lesh, and drummer Billy Kreutzmann - will be honored at the Kennedy Center ceremony in Washington, D.C. Weir says late band members Jerry Garcia and Ron "Pigpen" McKernan will be with them in spirit.
WEIR: They won't be recipients because they're no longer among the living, but they are alive and well in me and in us.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROKEDOWN PALACE")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Going home, going home. By the waterside I will rest my bones. Listen to the river sing sweet songs to rock my soul.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Isabella Gomez Sarmiento, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "BROKEDOWN PALACE")
GRATEFUL DEAD: (Singing) Going to plant a weeping willow. On the bank's green edge it will grow, grow, grow. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
300x250 Ad
300x250 Ad