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Soundcheck: American Music Honors Preview

June 26, 2023


Go Behind the Scenes at the Inaugural American Music Honors Ceremony with NJ PBS’s Soundcheck Series This Tuesday, June 27 at 9:30pm 

Presented by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University, ceremony earlier this spring honored Steve Earle, Darlene Love, Sam Moore, Steven Van Zandt. Watch a preview now. 

JUNE 24, 2023 – LONG BRANCH, NJ – NJ PBS, New Jersey’s public television network, announced the next episode of its Soundcheck music series will feature performance highlights and one-on-one interviews with honorees from this year’s inaugural American Music Honors ceremony.  Soundcheck: American Music Honors will premiere Tuesday, June 27 at 9:30pm on NJ PBS (check local listings and stream on MyNJPBS.org/live.) The full episode will be posted on the NJ PBS Soundcheck page after the broadcast. Watch a preview now.  

The hour-long special, taped in April at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theater, features a behind the scenes look at the inaugural American Music Honors ceremony, presented by the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music.  Host Jen Eckert sits down with the Center’s Executive Director Bob Santelli, honorees Steve Earle, Darlene Love, Sam Moore, and Steven Van Zandt and renowned rock photographer Danny Clinch to find out more about the event and dig into the musical contributions that brought them all there.

Footage from the evening’s event is included throughout the special, including remarks by NJ’s Jon Stewart and performances by each of the honorees with Van Zandt’s Disciples of Soul band, along with special video tributes from the Boss himself, Bruce Springsteen. 

In the special, Steve Earle performs “Copperhead Road”, Darlene Love belts out “River Deep, Mountain High”, Sam Moore croons “I Thank You” and Steven Van Zandt rocks “Bitter Fruit”. 

The American Music Honors ceremony was a marque fundraiser for the Center’s programs and outreach efforts. Santelli says in the Soundcheck special that the ceremony is a key component in recognizing individuals who “have made a key contribution to American Music and artists who have not been, in our estimation, properly acknowledged.” 

Watch previous Soundcheck episodes and more behind-the-scenes moments from the series on the Soundcheck page of MyNJPBS.org and the NJ PBS YouTube channel

Soundcheck is a production of iMaggination, Inc. and NJ PBS. Video and editing services provided by LCM247. Sponsorships for the series are available through Steve Priolo at priolos@mynjpbs.org