The Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song is usually a pretty prescribed, buttoned-down affair.

But he darted from one end of the stage at D.A.R.

This is like no awards show Ive ever gone to!

Garth Brooks

The Library of Congress honors Garth Brooks with the 2020 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during a concert at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., March 4, 2020. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.Shawn Miller/Library of Congress

he declared at one point amid the onslaught.

1 he helped write for the honoree, More Than a Memory.

Ricky Skaggs brought along his mandolin to gave a bluegrass turn to Brooks 1994 Callin Baton Rouge.

Garth Brooks

The Library of Congress honors Garth Brooks with the 2020 Gershwin Prize for Popular Song during a concert at DAR Constitution Hall in Washington, D.C., March 4, 2020. Photo by Shawn Miller/Library of Congress.Shawn Miller/Library of Congress

We should have rehearsed my singing this before you, she said when it was over.

Nice to see you all paid attention to the no cell phones rule, Leno said.