Dave Matthews, Jackson Browne Perform At Gala Honoring Neil Young

LOS AMGELES (AP) - Rocker Neil Young was the man of the hour on Tuesday (Dec. 11) at the People For the American Way Foundation (PFAWF) 20th Anniversary Celebration and Spirit of Liberty Awards program at the posh Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif.

Dave Matthews and Jackson Browne were among the artists who performed musical tributes to Young, who was presented with PFAWF's Lifetime Achievement Award by the Foundation's founder and chair, legendary TV producer Norman Lear (All In the Family) (as pictured above).

Also receiving awards from People For the American Way - which formed in 1981 as a challenge to Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority - were Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame, director Kevin Smith (Clerks, Dogma), filmmaker Kimberly Peirce (Boys Don't Cry), and congresswoman Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Matthews performs

Rufus Wainwright and Chris Stills, sons of singer-songwriters Loudon Wainwright and Steven Stills, respectively, also performed a brief set together, with Wainwright noting that most of the evening's U.S. - themed award winners were in fact Canadians. Comedienne Elayne Boosler served as event emcee.

Browne told the audience that "knowing all these Neil Young songs is different than playing them," then proceeded to play a decent version of Young's "Tell Me Why."

After radio personality Larry Elder gave Parker and Stone their awards ("We're Republicans!" they exclaimed), Matthews closed the evening with a two-song solo acoustic effort, including Young's "My My, Hey Hey (Out of the Blue)."

Before the event, Matthews told allstar that he is currently working on some new songs with his band, and said he hopes to release new versions of some of the songs from his unreleased, Steve Lillywhite-produced album of last year sometime in 2002.