MusiCares Person of the Year 2023: Highlights from Brandi Carlile, Stevie Wonder and more

Friendships can change the world. Just ask Motown legends Smokey Robinson and Berry Gordy.

Robinson and Gordy — together they shaped America's songbook with a generation of soul-pop hits — stood side-by-side Friday night in Los Angeles to accept a double-billed MusiCares Persons of the Year honor. MusiCares, the non-profit wing of the Recording Academy, holds the annual, star-packed gala ahead of the Grammy Awards, which returns Sunday to the Crypto.com Arena (formerly the Staples Center).

And from the mountains that ain't high enough to the lowly tears of a clown, it was a night celebrating lifelong buddies who helped build Hitsville U.S.A — with a little help from some of Music City's finest noisemakers.

Performers taking the stage inside a sold-out Los Angeles Convention Center hall included Brandi Carlile, Jimmie Allen, PJ Morton, Trombone Shorty, John Legend, Sheryl Crow, Mumford & Sons, Isley Brothers, Michael McDonald, The Temptations, Rita Wilson and The Four Tops, Molly Tuttle and more, plus surprise appearances from two of Motown's most-celebrated hitmakers: Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie.

This one-of-a-kind bill drew attendees from Elton John to Nile Rodgers, Heart's Nancy Wilson, Russell Simmons and Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson's husband.

"I'm so happy to be here with my best friend, damn," Gordy, the 93-year-old songwriter and Motown architect, said as he stood next on stage next to Robinson, flashing one of the evening's many ear-to-ear smiles.

Read on for highlights from the nearly three-hour show.

Jimmie Allen goes 'high enough'

Breakout country singer Jimmie Allen took on one of the most beloved Motown songs — and crushed it.

Allen performed a duet of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" with song co-writer Valerie Simpson, holding his own on a stage that featured John Legend crooning Jackson 5 classic "I'll Be There" moments earlier. Powerful but not over-powering, Allen and Simpson delivered a room-rousing rendition.

Ahead of his performance, Allen told The Tennessean: "Motown set the blueprint for how to create songs that fit every walk of life. Every culture. No matter where you're from, what you look like. Everybody (who listens) to a Motown song feels like it's for them."

Tears with Brandi Carlile

No voice fills a room quite like Carlile's — especially when she's covering a signature Robinson song. Backed by her twin bandmates, Phil and Tim Hanseroth, Carlile earned a well-earned ovation from Robinson and Gordy for her rendition of 1965 hit "Tracks of My Tears."

Before Carlile, Rita Wilson and Colombian singer Sebastián Yatra delivered the famed Marvin Gaye and Kim Weston duet, "It Takes Two."

"Money" with Mumford & Sons

In a sonic about-face from the night's largely rollicking show, Americana's best-selling English band, Mumford & Sons, performed a stripped-down version of "Money (That's What I Want)." Frontman Marcus Mumford and company reimagined the upbeat soul number as a brooding story told with acoustic guitar, piano and standup bass (to many grins from Gordy, the song's co-writer).

Dionne Warwick, an entertainer who's earned her own marathon tribute, followed the trio with 1960s Mary Wells hit "My Guy."

Show-stealing legends

Let's be real: There's nothing quite like seeing Lionel Richie and Stevie Wonder perform nearly back-to-back on the same show ... to the audience's surprise.

Richie paid tribute to his Motown success with a rendition of "Easy," while Wonder reworked "The Tears of a Clown" into a reggae tune.

"Were it not for the two people that ... we're recognizing," Wonder said. "I wouldn't be here."

The best of the rest

• The Temptations opened the show with a crowd-stirring medley, including "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg."

• 'Bluegrass player Molly Tuttle sang a slightly-twanged rendition of "The One Who Really Loves You."

• Trombone Shorty busted out the horns for a take on "Shotgun."

• The Four Tops also performed a medley, leaning into "Reach Out' and "Sugar Pie Honey Buch," among others.

• Samara Jay channels vocal supremacy for her cover of Robinson co-write "Ain't That Peculiar."

• Sheryl Crow paid tribute to Gordy with his co-written Jackson 5 staple "I Want you Back."

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: 4 can't-miss moments at 2023 MusiCares 'Person of the Year'