Bruce Springsteen fans love it when he joins the E Street Band in the studio and combines some rock thunder with his exceptional storytelling. But The Boss has also occasionally recharged his artistic batteries with folky excursions.
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These four songs come from Springsteen albums recorded with little to no help from his legendary backing band. They prove that there’s a fantastic folk troubadour underneath the rock legend.
“Nebraska” from ‘Nebraska’ (1982)
On albums like Darkness On The Edge Of Town and The River, Springsteen had alluded to the socioeconomic pressures that caused his characters to struggle and strain to achieve their dreams. With Nebraska, he dared to find out what happens when these people are pushed beyond the limit of reason and decency. The album’s title track bubbled up into Springsteen’s subconscious after he saw the movie Badlands, which depicted the killing spree of Charles Starkweather. Instead of using a narrator, Springsteen sings as Starkweather. This meant he offered no easy answers, morals, or judgments, which somehow renders the whole story even more harrowing.
“The Line” from ‘The Ghost Of Tom Joad’ (1995)
Springsteen didn’t concern himself much with his commercial prospects when he released these solo albums. He understood that they weren’t going to achieve much in the way of radio airplay. In the case of The Ghost Of Tom Joad, that was an especially gutsy decision. He was coming off a pair of albums in 1992 that had left the faithful a bit cold. Doing a solo folk album at that time showed his fearlessness, especially when you factor in the nature of the subject matter. “The Line” addresses the issue of immigration at a time when it wasn’t such a hot-button issue as it is now. The Boss achieves his goal through brilliant storytelling, as he relates the story of a border patrol guard faced with an impossible choice.
“The Hitter” from ‘Devils & Dust’ (2005)
Devils & Dust holds a place as one of those Bruce Springsteen albums that might have slipped past casual fans. If you missed it the first time around, you should definitely check it out. It’s low-key, but it adds a bit more musical variety than past Springsteen folk-based albums. And, as you might expect, the writing is uniformly strong throughout the record. “The Hitter” stands out as one of Springsteen’s best, most unsparing character sketches. He tells the story of a man who has lived his life as a bare-knuckle fighter. This guy comes back to his childhood home at the beginning of the song, not for a sentimental reunion, but just for a brief rest stop. It’s a precursor of sorts to “The Wrestler”, another song of Springsteen’s about a fighter who’s seen better days.
“Moonlight Motel” from ‘Western Stars’ (2019)
Bruce Springsteen delivered one of the most unexpected gems of his career with Western Stars in 2019. Calling it a folk album isn’t quite accurate, even though the song we’re mentioning here fits. Most of the record is devoted to the lush country-pop that artists like Glen Campbell made popular in the 60s and 70s. “Moonlight Motel” closes the record out on a note of hushed beauty and hews a bit closer to folk than country. Springsteen’s narrator looks back at an old love in the song. The titular location’s decrepit current state hides the glorious times that the two principals once shared within it. This is one of Springsteen’s finest songs ever, despite it being relatively unknown to the masses.
Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for 20th Century Studios
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