Bruce Springsteen will release a new solo album, “Western Stars”, on June 14.
The rocker’s 19th studio set – and first since 2014’s “High Hopes” – sees the singer exploring what is billed as a ”sweeping range of American themes, of highways and desert spaces, of isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope.”
“This record is a return to my solo recordings featuring character driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements," says Springsteen. "It's a jewel box of a record."
“Western Stars” draws inspiration in part from the Southern California pop records of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s.
“I wrote most of it before [2012’s] ‘Wrecking Ball,’ and I stopped making that record to make “Wrecking Ball,” and then I went back to it,” Springsteen told Variety in 2017, describing it as being influenced by “Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, Burt Bacharach, those kinds of records. I don’t know if people will hear those influences, but that was what I had in my mind. It gave me something to hook an album around; it gave me some inspiration to write.
“It’s connected to my solo records writing-wise, more ‘Tunnel Of Love’ and ‘Devils And Dust,’ but it’s not like them at all. Just different characters living their lives.”
Produced by multi-instrumentalist Ron Aniello and recorded primarily at Springsteen’s home studio in New Jersey, “Western Stars” features appearances by Patti Scialfa, David Sancious, Charlie Giordano and Soozie Tyrell, among many others.
The project’s lead single, "Hello Sunshine", will be released just after midnight ET tonight.
Bruce Springsteen
“Western Stars”
Release date: June 14
01. Hitch Hikin’
02. The Wayfarer
03. Tucson Train
04. Western Stars
05. Sleepy Joe’s Café
06. Drive Fast (The Stuntman)
07. Chasin’ Wild Horses
08. Sundown
09. Somewhere North of Nashville
10. Stones
11. There Goes My Miracle
12. Hello Sunshine
13. Moonlight Motel
See also:
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