7th Annual John Henry's Friends Benefit (December 13, 2021)
Bruce! Electric! Renew our days as of old! Last night was the 7th annual John Henry's Friends Benefit at The Town Hall in New York, to benefit the Keswell School , where Steve Earle's autistic son John Henry attends. The show featured Steve Earle and the Dukes, Willie Nile, Matt Savage, The Mastersons, Roseanne Cash, and, of course, Bruce Springsteen. It's been more than 5 years since I -- or nearly anyone else in the audience -- saw Bruce play anything electric. As Steve Earle noted early on, the bar for the benefit shows has been raised pretty high. The first hour of the show featured The Mastersons , who performed two songs off their "new" album (from March, 2020, when the world essentially stopped), pianist Matt Savage (who has autism), Willie Nile , and Roseanne Cash . Nile played a pair of COVID-19 inspired songs, including the brutal "Blood on Your Hands," which he had recorded as a duet with Earle. Cash, performing with her husband John Levent