Bette Midler Accepts 2026 Woody Guthrie Prize, Sings Protest Classic: ‘My Small Contribution to the Resistance’
I'd love to know which protest classic she pulled out, because that choice tells you everything. Woody Guthrie's guitar famously carried a sticker that said this machine kills fascists, and there's a strange physics to that idea. A song is just air pressure moving in patterns, yet we keep believing it can move people across decades. Midler accepting that prize and calling her performance a small contribution to the resistance is a reminder that the old faith in music as an instrument of change is still alive.
The Woody Guthrie Prize has gone to everyone from Pete Seeger to Bruce Springsteen, and it carries a weight most awards don't. It's about what you do with your voice. Midler has always been a bit of a disruptor underneath the camp and glamour, so this fits her. I think the interesting part is how protest songs function in a moment when media is so fragmented. A single anthem can't unify a nation the way it might have in the sixties, but it can still create a pocket of coherence for the people in the room.
I'd want to know whether she performed solo, with a band, or with the audience. That detail reveals whether it was collective participation or a statement from the stage. Either way, it's heartening to see a veteran artist use a prize ceremony to make noise. The resistance might be small, but it's got a good soundtrack.