Macklemore, Machine Gun Kelly Rule mtvU Woodie Awards

Tegan and Sara and Machine Gun Kelly host the mtvU Woodie Awards on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

mtvU's Woodie Awards have become something of a SXSW tradition over the past few years, with a day party, nighttime showcase and the awards show broadcast on MTV all dedicated to celebrating the tastemaking musical choices of college students across the country. Last night, co-hosts Machine Gun Kelly and Tegan and Sara led the crowd through performances by headliner Zedd and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, pausing between performances to hand out awards. The showcase will be edited down to a half-hour telecast set to air Saturday night at 8 pm.

The day party included sets by Pusha T, Atlas Genius and Travi$ Scott (who brought out T.I. for a cameo appearance). Tegan and Sara took the stage to kick off the award show just as the sun set over downtown Austin. Opening with "Back in Your Head," the twin duo with a four-piece backing band ran through a short four-song set (which included "Body Work" and "Closer") before heading to the small host's stage, where Machine Gun Kelly delivered the Breaking Woodie to Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Earl, whose major label solo debut Doris is set to drop this year on his vanity imprint for Columbia, jokingly thanked R. Kelly for getting him to come down to SXSW.

Video: Machine Gun Kelly 'Takes Over the Rucker'

The awards show gave the showcase a bit of a stilted feel, with a few longer waits between artists and the bizarre sight of MGK and Tegan and Sara speaking into cameras from the host's stage without being able to hear a word they were saying. Danny Brown was on hand to collect his Woodie Award for Best Music Video (for the coming-of-age tale "Grown Up"), while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared the Branching Out Woodie and MGK himself took home the Woodie of the Year honor, delivering a prepared speech in which he decried the backlash against him from critics and journalists and thanked his fans for sticking by him.

The average age of the crowd unsurprisingly skewed young, with a number of fans crowded near the backstage barricade before the show started, trying to get a glimpse of Macklemore and Lewis. But the band that surprised most was the Ohio-based SXSW newcomers Twenty One Pilots, who caused more than a few audience members to utter a double-take "Who?" But their genre-mashing electro-pop-rap-rock combination was received with enthusiastic praise. "I know you don't know who we are," said singer/keyboardist/aerial stuntman Tyler Joseph self-deprecatingly before he and drummer Josh Dun jumped all over the stage – Dun executing a backflip off a raised dais – and performing their song "Holding On To You," a Passion Pit-inspired indie synth-pop track with rapped verses.

The crowd packed in for Macklemore, who appropriately came out wearing a poncho he claimed to have bought at an Austin thrift shop, a story he related to the crowd after performing his near-ubiquitous chart-topping hit "Thrift Shop." "Same Love" was a sermon tearing down homophobia in hip-hop and the church, while Schoolboy Q and Hollis emerged to help out with "White Walls" and Macklemore went walking out on top of the crowd's hands a la Method Man during his set-closing "Can't Hold Us."

Much of the audience streamed out after his last song – another unsurprising twist, considering how rabid his fanbase has become – leaving plenty of space to dance around during Zedd's closing set. His massive screen and video game-esque light show helped energize the crowd, which wound up covered in beach balls and the residue of Zedd's fog machine by evening's end, a celebratory ending.

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Macklemore, Machine Gun Kelly Rule mtvU Woodie Awards

Tegan and Sara and Machine Gun Kelly host the mtvU Woodie Awards on March 14th, 2013 in Austin, Texas.

mtvU's Woodie Awards have become something of a SXSW tradition over the past few years, with a day party, nighttime showcase and the awards show broadcast on MTV all dedicated to celebrating the tastemaking musical choices of college students across the country. Last night, co-hosts Machine Gun Kelly and Tegan and Sara led the crowd through performances by headliner Zedd and Macklemore and Ryan Lewis, pausing between performances to hand out awards. The showcase will be edited down to a half-hour telecast set to air Saturday night at 8 pm.

The day party included sets by Pusha T, Atlas Genius and Travi$ Scott (who brought out T.I. for a cameo appearance). Tegan and Sara took the stage to kick off the award show just as the sun set over downtown Austin. Opening with "Back in Your Head," the twin duo with a four-piece backing band ran through a short four-song set (which included "Body Work" and "Closer") before heading to the small host's stage, where Machine Gun Kelly delivered the Breaking Woodie to Odd Future rapper Earl Sweatshirt. Earl, whose major label solo debut Doris is set to drop this year on his vanity imprint for Columbia, jokingly thanked R. Kelly for getting him to come down to SXSW.

Video: Machine Gun Kelly 'Takes Over the Rucker'

The awards show gave the showcase a bit of a stilted feel, with a few longer waits between artists and the bizarre sight of MGK and Tegan and Sara speaking into cameras from the host's stage without being able to hear a word they were saying. Danny Brown was on hand to collect his Woodie Award for Best Music Video (for the coming-of-age tale "Grown Up"), while Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared the Branching Out Woodie and MGK himself took home the Woodie of the Year honor, delivering a prepared speech in which he decried the backlash against him from critics and journalists and thanked his fans for sticking by him.

The average age of the crowd unsurprisingly skewed young, with a number of fans crowded near the backstage barricade before the show started, trying to get a glimpse of Macklemore and Lewis. But the band that surprised most was the Ohio-based SXSW newcomers Twenty One Pilots, who caused more than a few audience members to utter a double-take "Who?" But their genre-mashing electro-pop-rap-rock combination was received with enthusiastic praise. "I know you don't know who we are," said singer/keyboardist/aerial stuntman Tyler Joseph self-deprecatingly before he and drummer Josh Dun jumped all over the stage – Dun executing a backflip off a raised dais – and performing their song "Holding On To You," a Passion Pit-inspired indie synth-pop track with rapped verses.

The crowd packed in for Macklemore, who appropriately came out wearing a poncho he claimed to have bought at an Austin thrift shop, a story he related to the crowd after performing his near-ubiquitous chart-topping hit "Thrift Shop." "Same Love" was a sermon tearing down homophobia in hip-hop and the church, while Schoolboy Q and Hollis emerged to help out with "White Walls" and Macklemore went walking out on top of the crowd's hands a la Method Man during his set-closing "Can't Hold Us."

Much of the audience streamed out after his last song – another unsurprising twist, considering how rabid his fanbase has become – leaving plenty of space to dance around during Zedd's closing set. His massive screen and video game-esque light show helped energize the crowd, which wound up covered in beach balls and the residue of Zedd's fog machine by evening's end, a celebratory ending.

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Hear Songs from the 2012 American Music Awards Nominees

With 20 categories covering everything from EDM to hip-hop, the 40th annual American Music Awards showcase a wide range of today's hottest music makers. Get ready for this Sunday's telecast with our playlist of nominated acts, from Bieber to Beyoncé.

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Watch: 2012 American Music Awards Red Carpet

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The 2012 American Music Awards kick off tonight, but before the big show starts, stars like Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Usher will be hitting the red carpet. Watch the Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ the 2012 AMAs right here, beginning at 5 p.m. EST/2 p.m. PST.

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Watch: 2012 American Music Awards Red Carpet

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The 2012 American Music Awards kick off tonight, but before the big show starts, stars like Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, and Usher will be hitting the red carpet. Watch the Coca-Cola Red Carpet LIVE! @ the 2012 AMAs right here, beginning at 5 p.m. EST/2 p.m. PST.

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Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Linkin Park To Perform at American Music Awards

Nicki Minaj, Linkin Park and Taylor Swift To Perform at American Music Awards.Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Victor Chavez/WireImage; Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

The American Music Awards has added serious doses of country, hip-hop and rock, with Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and Linkin Park set to join Christina Aguilera as performers at this year's awards show. Minaj leads nominations with four, including Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Album. Swift is up for Favorite Female Artist, while Linkin Park is nominated for the Alternative Rock award.

ABC will broadcast the 40th American Music Awards live on November 18th. Winners will be determined by voting, and fans can vote on the AMA's website.

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Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj, Linkin Park To Perform at American Music Awards

Nicki Minaj, Linkin Park and Taylor Swift To Perform at American Music Awards.Kevin Mazur/WireImage; Victor Chavez/WireImage; Ray Tamarra/Getty Images

The American Music Awards has added serious doses of country, hip-hop and rock, with Taylor Swift, Nicki Minaj and Linkin Park set to join Christina Aguilera as performers at this year's awards show. Minaj leads nominations with four, including Favorite Female Artist and Favorite Album. Swift is up for Favorite Female Artist, while Linkin Park is nominated for the Alternative Rock award.

ABC will broadcast the 40th American Music Awards live on November 18th. Winners will be determined by voting, and fans can vote on the AMA's website.

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Led Zeppelin, Buddy Guy, David Letterman to Receive Kennedy Center Awards

Buddy Guy, David Letterman and Robert Plant of Led ZeppelinDonna Ward/Getty Images; Ray Tamarra/FilmMagic; Heidi Gutman/NBC NewsWire

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts has announced the seven recipients of the 2012 Kennedy Center Honors. Buddy Guy, Led Zeppelin, David Letterman, Dustin Hoffman and ballerina Natalia Makarova will be honored by the Kennedy Center. Though Led Zeppelin will receive honors as a band, John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant will each receive Kennedy Center Honors.

"Buddy Guy is a titan of the blues and has been a tremendous influence on virtually everyone who has picked up an electric guitar in the last half century," said Kennedy Center Chairman David M. Rubenstein in a press release. "David Letterman is one of the most influential personalities in the history of television, entertaining an entire generation of late-night viewers with his unconventional wit and charm . . . and Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones, Jimmy Page and Robert Plant transformed the sound of rock & roll with their lyricism and innovative song structures, infusing blues into the sound of rock & roll and laying the foundation for countless rock bands."

The Kennedy Center Honors will be presented on December 1st, with the Honors Gala on December 2nd. The gala will air December 26th on CBS.

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Academy Awards Revamp Rules for Best Original Song

After considering just a pair of tunes this year for the Best Original Song Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revamped its rules for the category, setting a new minimum of five nominees, The Associated Press reports. The final candidates will be determined by the highest number of votes from music branch members, a change from the previous rules that only allowed songs with an average score to be nominated.

The last iteration of the Oscars saw only two songs make the final nomination cut from the original 39-song shortlist, which included tracks by Lady Gaga, Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Zooey Deschanel, Willie Nelson and Brad Paisley. "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets won the award.

The 85th Academy Awards will take place on February 24th, 2013.

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Academy Awards Revamp Rules for Best Original Song

After considering just a pair of tunes this year for the Best Original Song Oscar, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revamped its rules for the category, setting a new minimum of five nominees, The Associated Press reports. The final candidates will be determined by the highest number of votes from music branch members, a change from the previous rules that only allowed songs with an average score to be nominated.

The last iteration of the Oscars saw only two songs make the final nomination cut from the original 39-song shortlist, which included tracks by Lady Gaga, Elton John, Mary J. Blige, Zooey Deschanel, Willie Nelson and Brad Paisley. "Man or Muppet" from The Muppets won the award.

The 85th Academy Awards will take place on February 24th, 2013.

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Leonard Cohen, Drake, Feist Nominated for 2012 Polaris Awards

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Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum Repeat Wins at ACM Awards

Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert hug in the audience during the 47th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards. Kevin Winter/ACMA2012/Getty Images for ACM

Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum all won top awards at last night's 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. All three acts repeated past victories, with Swift honored as Entertainer of the Year, Lambert winning for Female Vocalist and Lady Antebellum taking the prize for Vocal Group of the Year. Other honorees included Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson winning Single Record and Vocal Event of the Year for their duet "Don't You Want to Stay," Blake Shelton winning his first Male Vocalist award and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery as Best New Artist.

All of country music's top stars were on hand, but other non-country acts were part of the show as well. KISS appeared to present the Vocal Group award to Lady Antebellum, comedian Steve Martin joined Rascal Flatts for a tribute to banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs, Bono introduced Dierks Bentley's performance of "Home" and Train frontman Pat Monahan performed a duet of his band's song "Marry Me" with Martina McBride as a couple was married on stage.

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Feist, Michael Buble, Sheepdogs Are JUNO Awards Winners

Feist on stage during the 2012 JUNO Awards

Feist was honored as Artist of the Year at last night's 2012 JUNO Awards at Scotiaband Place in Ottawa. Michael Buble's Christmas was named Album of the Year and the Sheepdogs scored Single of the Year for "I Don't Know." Heartthrob Justin Bieber was the Juno Fan Choice, and stalwarts Blue Rodeo took their place in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

There were some surprises. Solveig & Dragonette's "Hello" topped four-time winner Deadmau5 (whom host William Shatner called "Deadmow") in the Dance Recording category. Relative newcomer Arkells beat out Hedley and the oft-maligned Nickelback for Group of the Year. Buble's win for a holiday album may have been the biggest upset, as Christmas beat out Drake's Take Care, Avril Lavigne's Goodbye Lullabye and Nickelback's Here and Now, as well as Justin Bieber's own holiday entry, Under the Mistletoe. Drake had to settle for Rap Recording of the Year.

The Sheepdogs tied Feist with three Juno Awards, bringing home New Group of the Year, the top single award and Rock Album of the Year for Learn & Burn. In addition to Artist of the Year, Feist won Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Metals and Music DVD of the Year for Look At What the Light Did Now. Folkie Dan Mangan was also a big winner, grabbing Alternative Album of the Year for Oh Fortune as well as the award for New Artist of the Year.           

Another Canadian icon, Bruce Cockburn, won Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo for Small Source of Comfort. And it wouldn't be a proper music awards show without Adele, who won International Album of the Year for 21.

A complete list of winners can be found on the official Juno Awards website.  

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Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum Repeat Wins at ACM Awards

Taylor Swift and Miranda Lambert hug in the audience during the 47th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards. Kevin Winter/ACMA2012/Getty Images for ACM

Taylor Swift, Miranda Lambert and Lady Antebellum all won top awards at last night's 47th Annual Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. All three acts repeated past victories, with Swift honored as Entertainer of the Year, Lambert winning for Female Vocalist and Lady Antebellum taking the prize for Vocal Group of the Year. Other honorees included Jason Aldean and Kelly Clarkson winning Single Record and Vocal Event of the Year for their duet "Don't You Want to Stay," Blake Shelton winning his first Male Vocalist award and American Idol winner Scotty McCreery as Best New Artist.

All of country music's top stars were on hand, but other non-country acts were part of the show as well. KISS appeared to present the Vocal Group award to Lady Antebellum, comedian Steve Martin joined Rascal Flatts for a tribute to banjo pioneer Earl Scruggs, Bono introduced Dierks Bentley's performance of "Home" and Train frontman Pat Monahan performed a duet of his band's song "Marry Me" with Martina McBride as a couple was married on stage.

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Feist, Michael Buble, Sheepdogs Are JUNO Awards Winners

Feist on stage during the 2012 JUNO Awards

Feist was honored as Artist of the Year at last night's 2012 JUNO Awards at Scotiaband Place in Ottawa. Michael Buble's Christmas was named Album of the Year and the Sheepdogs scored Single of the Year for "I Don't Know." Heartthrob Justin Bieber was the Juno Fan Choice, and stalwarts Blue Rodeo took their place in the Canadian Music Hall of Fame.

There were some surprises. Solveig & Dragonette's "Hello" topped four-time winner Deadmau5 (whom host William Shatner called "Deadmow") in the Dance Recording category. Relative newcomer Arkells beat out Hedley and the oft-maligned Nickelback for Group of the Year. Buble's win for a holiday album may have been the biggest upset, as Christmas beat out Drake's Take Care, Avril Lavigne's Goodbye Lullabye and Nickelback's Here and Now, as well as Justin Bieber's own holiday entry, Under the Mistletoe. Drake had to settle for Rap Recording of the Year.

The Sheepdogs tied Feist with three Juno Awards, bringing home New Group of the Year, the top single award and Rock Album of the Year for Learn & Burn. In addition to Artist of the Year, Feist won Adult Alternative Album of the Year for Metals and Music DVD of the Year for Look At What the Light Did Now. Folkie Dan Mangan was also a big winner, grabbing Alternative Album of the Year for Oh Fortune as well as the award for New Artist of the Year.           

Another Canadian icon, Bruce Cockburn, won Roots & Traditional Album of the Year: Solo for Small Source of Comfort. And it wouldn't be a proper music awards show without Adele, who won International Album of the Year for 21.

A complete list of winners can be found on the official Juno Awards website.  

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Bruce Springsteen Makes Surprise Appearance at Austin Music Awards

Bruce Springsteen at a surprise appearance in New Jersey.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

Bruce Springsteen opened his SXSW blitz a night early, making a surprise appearance on lead guitar and occasional vocals during Alejandro Escovedo's closing set at the 30th annual Austin Music Awards, at the Austin Music Hall on March 14th. "We need one more guitar player," Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely declared after performing "The Highway Is My Home" with Escovedo and his band the Sensitive Boys. Springsteen – scheduled to own the town the next day, with a highly anticipated keynote speech and an evening concert with the E Street Band – walked on in a black-and-white checked shirt, with a modest grin, to a roar of delight from the audience. Ely immediately kicked into "The Midnight Train," a song by his Flatlanders bandmate Jimmie Dale Gilmore, with Springsteen taking a pair of meaty feedback-laden guitar solos.

Escovedo told a story about his own guest shot at a Springsteen gig, in Houston a couple of years ago, and "how it changed my life," before reprising the song the two played at that show, "Always a Friend," from Escovedo's 2010 album, Street Songs of Love. Ely, Escovedo and Springsteen then alternated verses and harmonized in the traditional pilgrim's song, "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad," with Springsteen firing dirty-metal lead-guitar breaks.

Springsteen was about to leave the stage when Escovedo called, "One more!", and brought out one of his earlier guests, New York singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys, for a version of the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden." Jeffreys handled lead vocals, but Springsteen played tart fills, like a New Jersey-born Keith Richards, and took a howling turn in the song's signature litany: "Am I hard enough/Am I rough enough/Am I rich enough/I'm not to blind to see."

Reggae Meets Zeppelin
Springsteen was not the only superstar on the prowl. At a private party, under the stars at the Hotel St. Cecilia, reggae singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Cliff was introduced by ex-Led Zeppelin vocalist and current Austin resident Robert Plant. Before Cliff's set, the two reminisced in one of the hotel rooms about their first encounters in Britain, during one of Cliff's early tours there. Cliff's show was a magical, low-key affair: the singer on acoustic guitar, with a second guitarist and conga player, performing on a lawn, with bare-minimum lighting at their feet, as if they were seated at a fire in the Jamaican hills. Cliff, in undiminished voice, performed almost nothing but hits, including "The Harder They Come," "Many Rivers to Cross," Sitting in Limbo" and a repurposed version of his 1970 anti-war single "Vietnam," now titled "Afghanistan" with timely references to Syria, Libya, Israel and Iraq. Cliff also sang his opening track from the 1972 soundtrack, The Harder They Come, "You Can Get It If You Really Want," which could easily double as a new anthem for SXSW hopefuls. "You must try, try and try/Try and try," Cliff warned, before finishing the chorus with the good news: "You'll succeed at last."

The Doctor is In
Dr. John's current renaissance – fueled by his new album, Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys – hit another high with his March 14th set at La Zona Rosa, during which he previewed much of that record's heated sticky gumbo – including "Locked Down," "Revolution" and the Afro-beat of "Ice Age" – with his road band. Dr. John also played guitar, a rarity, and reached back into his catalog for "Loop Garoo," from 1970's Remedies, and the acid-era voodoo of "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" on 1968's Gris-Gris. He finished with Professor Longhair's "Big Chief," notably playing it on organ instead of piano. It was a typical New Orleans finish, rendered with fresh relish.

SXSW has another three evenings to run, with thousands of acts appearing at more than 90 venues. But the first big night belonged to the veterans and experts. 

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Bruce Springsteen Makes Surprise Appearance at Austin Music Awards

Bruce Springsteen at a surprise appearance in New Jersey.Griffin Lotz for RollingStone.com

Bruce Springsteen opened his SXSW blitz a night early, making a surprise appearance on lead guitar and occasional vocals during Alejandro Escovedo's closing set at the 30th annual Austin Music Awards, at the Austin Music Hall on March 14th. "We need one more guitar player," Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely declared after performing "The Highway Is My Home" with Escovedo and his band the Sensitive Boys. Springsteen – scheduled to own the town the next day, with a highly anticipated keynote speech and an evening concert with the E Street Band – walked on in a black-and-white checked shirt, with a modest grin, to a roar of delight from the audience. Ely immediately kicked into "The Midnight Train," a song by his Flatlanders bandmate Jimmie Dale Gilmore, with Springsteen taking a pair of meaty feedback-laden guitar solos.

Escovedo told a story about his own guest shot at a Springsteen gig, in Houston a couple of years ago, and "how it changed my life," before reprising the song the two played at that show, "Always a Friend," from Escovedo's 2010 album, Street Songs of Love. Ely, Escovedo and Springsteen then alternated verses and harmonized in the traditional pilgrim's song, "Goin' Down the Road Feeling Bad," with Springsteen firing dirty-metal lead-guitar breaks.

Springsteen was about to leave the stage when Escovedo called, "One more!", and brought out one of his earlier guests, New York singer-songwriter Garland Jeffreys, for a version of the Rolling Stones' "Beast of Burden." Jeffreys handled lead vocals, but Springsteen played tart fills, like a New Jersey-born Keith Richards, and took a howling turn in the song's signature litany: "Am I hard enough/Am I rough enough/Am I rich enough/I'm not to blind to see."

Reggae Meets Zeppelin
Springsteen was not the only superstar on the prowl. At a private party, under the stars at the Hotel St. Cecilia, reggae singer and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jimmy Cliff was introduced by ex-Led Zeppelin vocalist and current Austin resident Robert Plant. Before Cliff's set, the two reminisced in one of the hotel rooms about their first encounters in Britain, during one of Cliff's early tours there. Cliff's show was a magical, low-key affair: the singer on acoustic guitar, with a second guitarist and conga player, performing on a lawn, with bare-minimum lighting at their feet, as if they were seated at a fire in the Jamaican hills. Cliff, in undiminished voice, performed almost nothing but hits, including "The Harder They Come," "Many Rivers to Cross," Sitting in Limbo" and a repurposed version of his 1970 anti-war single "Vietnam," now titled "Afghanistan" with timely references to Syria, Libya, Israel and Iraq. Cliff also sang his opening track from the 1972 soundtrack, The Harder They Come, "You Can Get It If You Really Want," which could easily double as a new anthem for SXSW hopefuls. "You must try, try and try/Try and try," Cliff warned, before finishing the chorus with the good news: "You'll succeed at last."

The Doctor is In
Dr. John's current renaissance – fueled by his new album, Locked Down, produced by Dan Auerbach of the Black Keys – hit another high with his March 14th set at La Zona Rosa, during which he previewed much of that record's heated sticky gumbo – including "Locked Down," "Revolution" and the Afro-beat of "Ice Age" – with his road band. Dr. John also played guitar, a rarity, and reached back into his catalog for "Loop Garoo," from 1970's Remedies, and the acid-era voodoo of "I Walk on Guilded Splinters" on 1968's Gris-Gris. He finished with Professor Longhair's "Big Chief," notably playing it on organ instead of piano. It was a typical New Orleans finish, rendered with fresh relish.

SXSW has another three evenings to run, with thousands of acts appearing at more than 90 venues. But the first big night belonged to the veterans and experts. 

To read the new issue of Rolling Stone online, plus the entire RS archive: Click Here

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Taylor Swift Taking Ailing Teen to ACM Awards

Taylor Swift with her fans at the 46th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards.Christopher Polk/ACMA2011/Getty Images for ACM

Taylor Swift will be taking a fan with leukemia as her date to the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 1st in Las Vegas.

Kevin McGuire, an 18-year-old from Somerdale, New Jersey, had started a Facebook campaign with his sister to get the country pop star to be his prom date. After this caught Swift's attention, she wrote to tell him that she couldn't make his prom, but she invited him to accompany her to the awards show, where she is up for three honors.

Swift is following the lead of Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, who accepted similar requests for dates last year from military cadets. In a post on her blog in November, Timberlake said that attending the Marine Corps Ball on his date with Corporal Kelsey De Santis changed his life.

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Taylor Swift Taking Ailing Teen to ACM Awards

Taylor Swift with her fans at the 46th Annual Academy Of Country Music Awards.Christopher Polk/ACMA2011/Getty Images for ACM

Taylor Swift will be taking a fan with leukemia as her date to the Academy of Country Music Awards on April 1st in Las Vegas.

Kevin McGuire, an 18-year-old from Somerdale, New Jersey, had started a Facebook campaign with his sister to get the country pop star to be his prom date. After this caught Swift's attention, she wrote to tell him that she couldn't make his prom, but she invited him to accompany her to the awards show, where she is up for three honors.

Swift is following the lead of Justin Timberlake and Mila Kunis, who accepted similar requests for dates last year from military cadets. In a post on her blog in November, Timberlake said that attending the Marine Corps Ball on his date with Corporal Kelsey De Santis changed his life.

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Chuck Berry, Leonard Cohen Get First PEN Songwriting Awards

Leonard Cohen and Chuck Berry backstage at the PEN New England Awards for Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston.

Midway through Paul Simon's praise of Chuck Berry, who was honored alongside Leonard Cohen as the first two recipients of PEN New England's Song Lyrics of Literary Excellence Award Sunday at the John F. Kennedy Library in Boston, Berry beckoned Simon to lean over so he could whisper in his ear.

The presenter returned to the microphone laughing. Berry, he said, told him he had a bad ear and couldn't hear a word he was saying.

Yet fans of Berry and Cohen, unquestionably two of the most original writers the rock & roll era has produced, have been listening very closely from the beginning. Addressing a tony crowd of writers and rock fans, Salman Rushdie presented Cohen's award, and Elvis Costello and surprise guest Keith Richards (introduced as "the best-selling author in this room") performed in tribute to Berry.

Given the intent of the Song Lyrics award, the event was peppered with references to great writers. In an email read by organizer Bill Flanagan, Bob Dylan called Berry "the Shakespeare of rock & roll" and Cohen "the Kafka of the blues." Cohen, accepting his award, compared Berry's "Roll Over Beethoven" to Walt Whitman's joyful noise – his "barbaric yawp."

"If Beethoven hadn't rolled over," he said, "there'd be no room for any of us."  

After quoting key lines from Cohen's "Bird on the Wire" – "Like a bird on the wire/ Like a drunk in a midnight choir/ I have tried, in my way, to be free" – the author Rushdie, a former president of PEN American Center, said, "Put simply, if I could write like that, I would."

Last year the New England chapter of the world's oldest literary and human rights organization convened a panel to select the first recipients of the new songwriters' award. The panel included Costello, Simon, Rushdie, Bono, Rosanne Cash, Smokey Robinson and poet Paul Muldoon. After opening remarks from Caroline Kennedy, who spoke of her father's conviction that "the artist has a special responsibility in our democracy," PEN New England Chairman Richard Hoffman explained the symbolism of the oversize image of a lyre projected above the stage. It was a reminder, he said, that through most of history, "literature was sung."

After Shawn Colvin sang Cohen's "Come Healing" from his new album Old Ideas, Costello took the stage to pay tribute to Berry. "This is one of the more intimidating things you'll do," he joked – "play a Chuck Berry song in front of Chuck Berry, without a band." But his characteristically tweaked version of "No Particular Place to Go" drew smiles and finger-points from the master, who, at 85, looked the same as ever in his sailor's cap and string tie. 

Rather than take the microphone to make an acceptance speech, Berry surprised the event organizers by indicating he'd just as soon take Costello's hollow-body guitar off his hands. After fumbling with some feedback, he played a muted version of "Johnny B. Goode." 

"That's the way rock & roll is," he said when he finished. "It's funky. Is that too bad a word to say?"

For the event's final surprise, Richards, who famously squabbled with his guitar hero during the filming of Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, stepped out of the front row and onto the stage, where he took Costello's guitar and joined him – Costello grabbing an acoustic – on an unrehearsed romp through Berry's cross-country yarn "Promised Land."

"We have a Mount Rushmore thing going on here," as Flanagan noted earlier in the program. The guests of honor were, of course, united in rock. 

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