Curatorial Corner – Power to the People and the Enduring Sound of Protest

For anyone who has walked through our current temporary exhibition, Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism, and the Power of Song, some of the music coming from Tom Morello’s Power to the People festival in Maryland last night might have sounded very familiar.

On October 3, a diverse collection of musicians gathered at Merriweather Post Pavilion for a day devoted to what organizers described as peace, love, justice, music, and community action. Bruce Springsteen, Joan Baez, Public Enemy, Dave Matthews, Foo Fighters, Brittany Howard, Killer Mike, Stephen Stills, Dropkick Murphys, Serj Tankian, and many others took part in a festival built around a simple idea: music can do more than entertain us. It can give voice to our frustrations, challenge injustice, bring people together, and inspire action.

That idea, of course, sits at the very heart of Chimes of Freedom. Perhaps the most literal realization of the connection between our exhibit and the concert came when Bruce Springsteen joined Joan Baez on stage to perform Bob Dylan’s “Chimes of Freedom,” the very song from which our exhibition takes its name.

It was a remarkable collision of past and present. Dylan wrote “Chimes of Freedom” more than six decades ago, yet here it was again in 2026, sung by two artists whose own careers have repeatedly demonstrated the relationship between music and social conscience.

But the connections between the concert and our exhibition went far beyond its title song.

Earlier in the day, for example, Black Sabbath’s “War Pigs” was performed by Jack Black, Geezer Butler, and a group of young musicians including Morello’s son, Roman. This brought another generation and genre into a musical conversation about war, power, and those who bear the consequences of decisions made by others.

Dave Matthews’ set reached even further back into the history of American protest music. He incorporated Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” into “Don’t Drink the Water” and later performed Guthrie’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” with Nathaniel Rateliff and Joan Baez. If you’re not familiar, “Deportee” is a song written in response to the dehumanizing treatment of Mexican migrant workers killed in a 1948 plane crash. Matthews, Rateliff, and Baez also performed the traditional civil rights song “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me ’Round,” before Stephen Stills, Tom Morello, and Rateliff joined Matthews for “For What It’s Worth.”

And then, toward the end of the night, Springsteen took the stage.

He began with “Streets of Minneapolis,” his response to the deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in that city earlier this year. His handwritten lyrics for that song are currently on display in Chimes. After then performing “Chimes of Freedom” with Baez, Springsteen was joined by Morello for “The Ghost of Tom Joad,” a song that asks us to look toward people living at the margins of American prosperity.

The assemblage of artists on stage grew as Springsteen, Morello, Nathaniel Rateliff, Dave Matthews, and others tore into Creedence Clearwater Revival’s “Fortunate Son,” followed by Neil Young’s “Rockin’ in the Free World.”

War and peace. Immigration. Economic injustice. Civil rights. Political power. The experiences of people too often overlooked or unheard: these are just the kinds of stories we explore in Chimes of Freedom.

One of the central ideas behind the exhibition has always been that the idea of “music for a cause” does not belong to one decade, one genre, one political moment, or even one definition of “protest.” Across generations, artists (and everyday Americans) have used music to ask difficult questions about the country around them.

Rock, folk, hip-hop, punk, and metal have all been used to express the same basic human impulses: anger, hope, solidarity, resistance, and the desire to be heard.

The festival carried those ideas beyond the stage as well. Its Freedom Village brought together nonprofit organizations, artists, advocates, and community groups around civic engagement, education, grassroots organizing, mutual aid, and social action. A portion of ticket proceeds supported VoteRiders and HeadCount, with voter-registration opportunities available on site.

That, too, is part of the long history of protest music. It doesn’t just lament; it often activates.

In the festival’s final moments, Springsteen, Morello, Baez, Dave Matthews, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels, and many of the day’s other performers came together for Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land.” Then the assembled musicians closed the festival with John Lennon’s “Power to the People.”

The night featured songs from different generations and different genres, addressing different issues. That is the story we hoped to tell with Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism, and the Power of Song: not simply a history of protest music, but an exploration of an American tradition that remains very much alive.

Last night, thousands of people heard that tradition ringing out from a stage in Maryland.

Here at the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, you can explore the history behind it.

Chimes of Freedom: Protest, Patriotism, and the Power of Song is on view only through the end of 2026. Last night’s Power to the People Festival was a potent reminder that the history explored in Chimes is not finished. Artists are still responding to the world around them, old songs are finding new meaning in new moments, and music continues to give people a way to question, challenge, remember, and hope. We invite you to visit the exhibition before it closes, and to consider where your own voice fits into that continuing story.