By John W. Barry
Irish rock band U2 will receive the Woody Guthrie Prize, awarded by the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Oct. 21.
U2/Photo by Helena Christensen
U2 lead singer Bono and guitarist The Edge will accept the award on behalf of the band at Tulsa’s famed Cain’s Ballroom.
According to an announcement from the Woody Guthrie Center, which is located a half-mile from Cain’s, “Bono and The Edge will return to Cain’s Ballroom, for the first time since U2’s 1981 show on the U.S. leg of the “Boy” tour, “To accept the award and participate in an onstage conversation about the band’s music. They look forward to legally buying their own pints this time around.”
U2 formed in 1976 in Dublin, Ireland, gained traction and never looked back. Their first single, “11 O’Clock Tick-Tock,” was released in May 1980. “Boy,” their debut album, was released five months later. Subsequent releases included “Pride (In the Name of Love), a colossal hit off the 1984 album, “The Unforgettable Fire,” with the even bigger, “The Joshua Tree” from 1987.
U2 has long been a band of conscience, delivering a show-stopping performance at 1985’s “Live Aid” concert in London and anchoring the 1986 Amnesty International “Conspiracy of Hope” Tour.
Bono co-founded the organizations One and Red, which battle extreme poverty and preventable diseases, focusing on HIV/AIDS. U2 has donated and advocated for improved AIDS treatment access in Africa. And The edge founded Music Rising, a charity established after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that helped restore musicians’ livelihoods, supports music education and assists communities affected by disaster.
The Woody Guthrie Award annually recognizes those who embody the spirit of Woody’s social consciousness and musical legacy.
The man who wrote “This Land is Your Land” composed more than 3,000 songs, although few were ever recorded. He gave voice to Dust Bowl migrants ravaged by the weather; and he was ahead of his time while breaking the color barrier with traveling companions who included traveled African-American friends and fellow musicians. Guthrie was also a powerful voice for the labor movement.
“U2 embodies the mission of the Woody Guthrie Prize, using music to confront injustice and inspire action,” states Cady Shaw, Senior Director, Woody Guthrie Center. “By presenting the 2025 Woody Guthrie Prize to U2, we honor a legacy of music that continues to challenge who we are and connect us the world over.”
Bono, who during U2 concerts across decades has spoken of the dynamic between Ireland and the U.S., has said often to audiences that, “America isn’t a place, it’s an idea.”
Surely, Woody Guthrie and Bono, along with The Edge, bass player Adam Clayton and drummer Larry Mullen Jr. would have plenty to talk about as far as this land, that land, your land and my land.
This fundraising evening will feature remarks from Shaw, and Woody Guthrie’s granddaughter, Anna Canoni, who will share her family’s appreciation of U2.
Past recipients of The Woody Guthrie Award include Pete Seeger (2014), Mavis Staples (2015), Kris Kristofferson (2016), Norman Lear (2017), John Mellencamp (2018), Chuck D (2019), Joan Baez (2020), Bruce Springsteen (2021), Pussy Riot (2023) and Tom Morello (2024).
Cain’s Ballroom is one of the premier musical destinations for culture and history in the U.S. The Home of Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys from 1935 to 1942, Cain’s popularized a new sound of western music called western swing, a form of country and western that combined jazz, hillbilly, boogie, blues, big band swing, rhumba, mariachi and jitterbug music.
Remembered as “The King of Western Swing,” Will was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1978; the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1999; and he received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.
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