Neil Young was awarded the President’s Merit Award from the Producers & Engineer’s Wing of the Grammys Tuesday night for his commitment to artistic excellence and support for the craft of recorded music.

The event was held at The Village in West Los Angeles – a recording studio that’s hosted Fleetwood Mac, the Beach Boys, Johnny Cash, Eric Clapton and Elton John, among others.

Dave Matthews provided a musical tribute, performing the folk song “Rye Whiskey” as well as some Neil Young classics “My My Hey Hey” and “The Needle and the Damage Done.”

“So all I’m trying to say is I’m one of you. You’re honoring me, you’re honoring yourself,” Young told the crowd, which included industry professionals and stars alike, including Stephen Stills, Kris Kristofferson, and T Bone Burnett.

“The thing we do is, we make great stuff in the studio and then we kiss its ass goodbye, because nobody’s ever going to hear it. That’s unfortunate, and it didn’t use to be that way. That’s something that happened to us: that’s an injury we sustained, and it deeply hurt us. So the time has come for us to recover and to bring music back to the people in a way that they can recognize it in their souls, through the window of their souls, their ears. So they can feel and vibrate and so that they can get goose bumps. We cherish those fucking goose bumps. We really need those.”

Neil  Young and Crazy Horse are nominated for Best Rock Album at Sunday night’s Grammy Awards ceremony for Psychedelic Pill, along with Black Sabbath for 13, David Bowie for The Next Day, Led Zeppelin for Celebration Day, Queens of the Stone Age for …Like Clockwork, and Kings of Leon for Mechanical Bull.