Various Artists - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Honoring Stevie Wonder, White House, Washington, DC, 2-25-2009

Here's another "Gershwin Prize for Popular Song" concert, honoring Stevie Wonder in 2009. It was the first one with President Barack Obama's direct involvement, and the second one overall.

This concert followed a typical format of a number of guest stars performing songs made famous by the winner, Stevie Wonder, then a short induction ceremony, then a short set by the winner. The one bummer in my opinion is that the concert was rather short. This one is a half hour shorter than the concert honoring Paul McCartney a year later. One nice bonus though is not only President Obama's involvement, but also a short introduction by First Lady Michelle Obama. 

This album remains unreleased. I got lucky and found an mp3 of the entire show. Then I broke it into individual mp3s for each song. (I could still use help from anyone who has a PBS pass that allows them to watch PBS shows on the Internet in order to get some of the other Gershwin Prize concerts!)

This album is 54 minutes long. 

01 talk (Michelle Obama)
02 Sir Duke (Stevie Wonder)
03 talk (emcee)
04 Overjoyed (Esperanza Spalding)
05 talk (emcee)
06 For Once in My Life (Tony Bennett)
07 talk (emcee)
08 Blame It on the Sun (Diana Krall)
09 talk (emcee)
10 Higher Ground (Mary Mary)
11 talk (emcee)
12 Summer Soft (India.Arie)
13 talk (emcee)
14 You and I (Martina McBride)
15 talk (emcee)
16 Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer (Anita Johnson)
17 talk (emcee)
18 If It's Magic (Paul Simon)
19 talk (Barack Obama)
20 talk (Stevie Wonder)
21 Signed, Sealed, Delivered, I'm Yours (Stevie Wonder)
22 Superstition (Stevie Wonder)
23 talk (Barack Obama)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/ZbWEnVNS

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/0Yh30jfYQR6JITn/file 

The cover photo is from this exact concert.

Various Artists - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Honoring Paul Simon, Warner Theatre, Washington, DC, 5-23-2007

Here's another "Gershwin Prize for Popular Song" concert. This one honors Paul Simon.

This was the very first Gershwin Prize to be awarded. In 1998, some entertainment producers and promoters came up with the idea of having an award for comedians, which resulted in the annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor, connected to the Library of Congress and with an annual concert broadcast on PBS TV stations. That idea turned out to be a big success, so in 2003 the same group came up with the same idea, but for musicians. Then I guess it took a few more years before the first prize was awarded in 2007. You can read more about the prize and its history here:

Gershwin Prize - Wikipedia 

In this concert, there weren't that many guest stars performing Simon's songs. But that meant that most of the bigger names there (Lyle Lovett, James Taylor, Alison Krauss, Marc Anthony, and Stevie Wonder) got to perform two songs instead of the usual one.

As is usually the case with such concerts, it ended with a short set by the honoree, Paul Simon. Given the huge role Art Garfunkel had in Simon's music career as part of Simon and Garfunkel, I feel he got kind of dissed here, being only involved in one song, "Bridge Over Troubled Water." But the two of them had a turbulent relationship for decades. Their last tour together would take place in 2009, and their last performance together in 2010. After that, they had a more severe and prolonged falling out, though I was glad to see it reported that by 2024 they had reconciled as friends again.

This albums in unreleased in audio format. However, a DVD of it has been released. Strangely, it seems to be the only Gershwin Prize concert released on DVD. The sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and 36 minutes long. 

01 talk (emcee)
02 talk (Bob Costas)
03 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover (Lyle Lovett)
04 The Boxer (Alison Krauss, Shawn Colvin & Jerry Douglas)
05 Mother and Child Reunion (Stephen Marley)
06 Homeless (Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
07 Slip Slidin' Away (James Taylor & the Dixie Hummingbirds)
08 Sunday Morning with the Sensational Nightingales (Billy Collins & the Dixie Hummingbirds)
09 That Was Your Mother (Lyle Lovett with Buckwheat Zydeco)
10 Still Crazy After All These Years (James Taylor)
11 El Condor Pasa (Marc Anthony)
12 Late in the Evening (Marc Anthony)
13 Gone at Last (Yolanda Adams & Jessy Dixon)
14 Something So Right (Dianne Reeves)
15 The 59th Street Bridge Song [Feelin' Groovy] (Grover & Elmo of the Muppets)
16 Graceland (Alison Krauss & Jerry Douglas)
17 talk (emcee)
18 talk (James H. Billingston)
19 talk (Paul Simon)
20 Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes (Paul Simon & Ladysmith Black Mambazo)
21 talk (Paul Simon)
22 Bridge Over Troubled Water (Simon & Garfunkel)
23 talk (Paul Simon)
24 Father and Daughter (Paul Simon)
25 Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard (Paul Simon with Stevie Wonder)
26 talk (Paul Simon)
27 Loves Me like a Rock (Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder & the Dixie Hummingbirds)
28 The Sound of Silence [Instrumental Version] (Philip Glass)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/C2ct9sek

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/3k0vX3n5GD90SUE/file

The cover photo is from this exact concert. It shows Simon with Stevie Wonder and some members of the Dixie Hummingbirds when they performed "Loves Me like a Rock" together.

Various Artists - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Honoring Paul McCartney, White House, Washington, DC, 6-2-2010

I've recently discovered the annual "Gershwin Prize for Popular Song" tribute concerts. Here's probably the best known one, because it honors arguably the most successful songwriter of all time, Paul McCartney.

This concert happened to take place during the presidency of Barack Obama. That was lucky, because he took more of a hands-on approach to concerts like this. He hosted this at the White House and gave McCartney's induction speech. I've seen from other Gershwin Prize concerts that I've found that Obama was the only president to get directly involved in them.

The concert started with a song by McCartney. Then a bunch of musical stars played his songs, with a brief stand-up routine by Jerry Seinfeld included in there. Then McCartney took the stage again. He performed "Ebony and Ivory" with Stevie Wonder, just as they did on the original version in 1981. Apparently, that was the first time McCartney had played that song since 1991. After an induction speech by Obama, McCartney finished the concert with a short set of songs.

This album remains unreleased. The sound quality is excellent. I only had one problem. This concert was broadcast on TV. Near the end of "Hey Jude," there was a voiceover near the end of song, briefly mentioning the next TV show. In order to get rid of it, I had to edit out one round of "na na's," which is why that song has "[Edit]" in its title.

By the way, I stumbled across a Time Magazine article about this concern from way back then. It concluded with the line, "The White House has never hosted a cooler evening." Here's the link if you want to read the whole thing: 

Sir Paul McCartney Performs for Barack Obama | TIME.com 

This album is an hour and 19 minutes long. 

01 talk (Paul McCartney)
02 Got to Get You into My Life (Paul McCartney)
03 We Can Work It Out (Stevie Wonder)
04 Drive My Car (Jonas Brothers)
05 talk (Jerry Seinfeld)
06 Mother Nature's Son - That Would Be Something (Jack White)
07 The Long and Winding Road (Faith Hill)
08 Blackbird (Herbie Hancock & Corrine Bailey Rae)
09 talk (Elvis Costello)
10 Penny Lane (Elvis Costello)
11 For No One (Emmylou Harris)
12 Celebrations [Instrumental] (Lang Lang)
13 talk (Dave Grohl)
14 Band on the Run (Dave Grohl)
15 talk (Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder)
16 Ebony and Ivory (Paul McCartney & Stevie Wonder)
17 talk (Barack Obama)
18 talk (Paul McCartney)
19 Michelle (Paul McCartney)
20 talk (Paul McCartney)
21 Eleanor Rigby (Paul McCartney)
22 talk (Paul McCartney)
23 Let It Be (Paul McCartney)
24 talk (Paul McCartney)
25 Hey Jude [Edit] (Paul McCartney & Everyone)
26 talk (Paul McCartney)
27 Yesterday (Paul McCartney)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/awLAgw3Z

alternate: 

https://bestfile.io/en/hwjtq0xoqe98Z4K/file

The cover photo of McCartney and Obama is from this exact concert.

Various Artists - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Honoring Willie Nelson, D.A.R. Constitution Hall, Washington, DC, 11-18-2015

Back in 2023, I posted a Joni Mitchell tribute concert. You can find that here:

https://albumsthatshouldexist.blogspot.com/2023/04/various-artists-joni-mitchell-gershwin.html

The reason I mention that off the bat is because it turns out that was a "Gershwin Prize for Popular Song" tribute concert, and I've found a few more of them. Here's one from 2015, honoring Willie Nelson. (By the way, I just redid the cover art of the Joni Mitchell one, so all of the ones I post will have the same font and so forth.)

This award is actually bestowed by a branch of the U.S. government, the Library of Congress. It was first awarded in 2007. It's been an annual thing since then, although four years were skipped. (One skip was due to the Covid pandemic, in 2021. I don't know why there weren't awards ceremonies in 2007, 2012, and 2017.)

Here's the Wikipedia page about the prize:

Gershwin Prize - Wikipedia 

Just in the past few days, I've managed to find several more of these concerts, and I plan to post all of them here soon. 

These are the ones I've found so far:

2007 Paul Simon
2009 Stevie Wonder
2010 Paul McCartney
2012 Burt Bacharach & Hal David
2014 Billy Joel
2015 Willie Nelson (here)
2023 Joni Mitchell (posted already)
2024 Elton John & Bernie Taupin

Meanwhile, here are the ones I can't find:
2013 Carole King
2016 Smokey Robinson
2017 Tony Bennett
2019 Gloria & Emilio Estefan
2020 Garth Brooks
2022 Lionel Richie

I'm calling on one of you out there to please help me find the rest. It seems videos of these other ones are available, via the PBS website. For instance, here's the Lionel Richie one:

Gershwin Prize | Lionel Richie: Gershwin Prize | Season 2022 | Episode 1 | PBS

However, to be able to watch them, one needs to pay for the KPBS Passport. So if anyone has that, and can record the audio and/or video of it and share that with me, then I'll be able to post the other ones as well. It would be a share if those remain out of reach, especially the Carole King, and Smokey Robinson ones.

Speaking of remaining out of reach, this Willie Nelson was very hard to find. For instance, it's not on YouTube, and everything like this is on YouTube. But I was able to find a single mp3 file of the entire concert. Then I broke it up into mp3s for each song.

One interesting thing about this concert, compared to the other Gershwin Prize concerts I've found so far, is that there weren't that many guest stars, but many of the guest stars got to perform two songs instead of one. For instance, that was the case with Neil Young, Paul Simon, and Alison Kraus. And in the cases of Neil Young and Paul Simon, I thought I'd seen just about every unique songs they've performed, but I've never seen any recordings or mentions of these.

However, the big star of the show, naturally, was Willie Nelson himself. He performed four songs at the end, including a duet with Cyndi Lauper.

By the way, if you look at the song list, you may wonder who "David Mao" is. He was the Librarian of Congress at the time. I've noticed that in all these concerts, the person in that position gets to give the introductory speech to the inductee. That must be an interesting perk for that government job.

Everything here is officially unreleased, but the sound quality is excellent. 

This album is an hour and ten minutes long.

alternate:

01 talk (emcee)
02 Stay All Night (Neil Young & Promise of the Real)
03 talk (Don Johnson)
04 Funny How Time Slips Away (Leon Bridges)
05 talk (Don Johnson)
06 Crazy (Raul Malo)
07 talk (emcee)
08 talk (Paul Simon & Edie Brickell)
09 Remember Me (Paul Simon & Edie Brickell)
10 talk (Don Johnson)
11 Pancho and Lefty (Rosanne Cash)
12 talk (Don Johnson)
13 Georgia on My Mind (Jamie Johnson)
14 talk (emcee)
15 talk (Michael Feinstein)
16 talk (emcee)
17 Angel Flying Too Close to the Ground (Alison Krauss)
18 talk (Jamie Johnson)
19 Seven Spanish Angels (Alison Krauss & Jamie Johnson)
20 talk (Don Johnson)
21 I Never Cared for You (Anna Gabriel)
22 Whiskey River (Neil Young & Promise of the Real)
23 Man with the Blues (Paul Simon with Buckwheat Zydeco)
24 talk (emcee)
25 talk (David Mao)
26 talk (Willie Nelson)
27 Night Life (Willie Nelson)
28 talk (Willie Nelson)
29 Let's Call the Whole Thing Off (Willie Nelson & Cyndi Lauper)
30 talk (Willie Nelson)
31 Living in the Promised Land (Willie Nelson)
32 On the Road Again (Willie Nelson)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/L2TUsCTY

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/fHU7DyaiBYIQjdb/file

The cover photo is from the point in the concert when Willie Nelson and Cyndi Lauper sang the song "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" together.

Various Artists - Gershwin Prize for Popular Song Honors Joni Mitchell, D.A.R. Constitution Hall, Washington DC, 3-1-2023

Last month as I write this, in March 2023, Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell was awarded the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. A TV show of this event was filmed and broadcast a few days ago. That's why there now is an audio recording of it in excellent quality.

Mitchell is 79 years old as I write this, and she isn't in the best of health. In 2013, she had a brain aneurysm and nearly died. She had to relearn how to sing and play guitar from scratch. The good news is that she had made a remarkable recovery. She played a set at the Newport Folk Festival in 2022, and she's scheduled to perform a full concert in June 2023. However, for this show, she only sang for two songs at the end. The rest features other musical artists performing some of her best known songs.

I edited this down a bit. I kept all the music, but I cut out some extraneous material between songs. For instance, there were some extra testimonials about Mitchell by people who didn't actually perform any songs. Garth Brooks was one of them. As another example, there was a brief interview with Mitchell filmed at another time in which she was asked her opinion of jazz musician Wayne Shorter, who had died recently. There also were speeches and introductions by various people, including a bunch of US senators and other politicians. I cut all that out, and only kept comments by artists that were relevant to the songs they were about to play. I also included Mitchell's acceptance speech, which appears to be surprisingly brief, less than a minute long.

This album is an hour and three minutes long.

UPDATE: On August 24, 2025, I updated the mp3 download file. The music is the same. However, I changed the title slightly and used a new cover image. This is so the album look could fit in with other albums in the Gershwin Prize series.

01 talk (Marcus Mumford)
02 Carey (Marcus Mumford with Brandi Carlile & Lucius)
03 talk (Brandi Carlile)
04 Both Sides Now (Annie Lennox with Brandi Carlile & Lucius)
05 Help Me (Angelique Kidjo)
06 talk (James Taylor)
07 California (James Taylor)
08 talk (Brandi Carlile)
09 Shine (Brandi Carlile with Lucius & Celisse)
10 talk (Ledisi)
11 Big Yellow Taxi (Brandi Carlile, Angelique Kidjo, Cyndi Lauper, Annie Lennox, Ledisi & Lucius)
12 talk (Cyndi Lauper)
13 Blue (Cyndi Lauper)
14 A Case of You (Graham Nash)
15 talk (Herbie Hancock)
16 River (Herbie Hancock & Ledisi)
17 talk (Diana Krall)
18 For the Roses (Diana Krall)
19 talk (Joni Mitchell)
20 Summertime (Joni Mitchell with Brandi Carlile, Lucius & Celisse)
21 The Circle Game (Joni Mitchell & Everyone)

https://pixeldrain.com/u/woAWCFJo

alternate:

https://bestfile.io/en/l2HX4nYfqsqWpla/file

The cover is a photo from the TV show.