Bruce Springsteen receives this year’s Woody Guthrie Prize

TULSA, Okla. (AP) — Bruce Springsteen has won the Woody Guthrie Prize, which is given annually to an artist seen as carrying on the spirit of the folk singer whose music focused on the plight of the poor and disenfranchised. Guthrie, who grew up in Okemah, Oklahoma, was a towering figure of American folk music and penned hundreds of songs before his death in 1967, including “This Land is Your Land.” Deana McCloud, who heads the Woody Guthrie Center in Tulsa, said in announcing this year’s winner Tuesday that, “As an observer of the human condition and a reporter about the plight of common people, Bruce Springsteen is a true child of Woody Guthrie.” Springsteen will be honored during a May 13 virtual ceremony.