3 Bruce Springsteen Duets and Collaborations I Guarantee You Haven’t Heard

Bruce Springsteen is the kind of musician who sounds amazing all on his own and also sounds amazing with some fellow musicians singing along with him. His work with The E Street Band is incredible. And he has collaborated with more than a few contemporaries through the years, each one being an excellent choice. Unless you’re a diehard fan of the Boss or a diehard fan of any of the following musicians, you may have never heard these particularly underrated duets. Let’s take a look, shall we?

Videos by American Songwriter

“Sandpaper” with Zach Bryan (2024)

This duet with country singer Zach Bryan takes on a folk rock vibe. You’d think Bruce Springsteen and Bryan would sound too different to work well together, but that’s as far from the truth as it gets. In fact, one could say that Bryan is singing to the same kind of working-class Americans that Springsteen sang to decades prior. And unless you’re a fan of either, you might  not have heard this stellar duet off of Bryan’s 2024 album The Great American Bar Scene.

“Dustland” with The Killers (2021)

Bruce Springsteen and The Killers are very different musicians, but this collaboration works beautifully. “Dustland” is a re-recording of “A Dustland Fairytale”, a heartland rock song originally released by The Killers in 2009 off of their album Day & Age. The Springsteen duet version with a shortened title dropped in 2021, and Springsteen sings the second version of the song. The band, along with Springsteen, performed the song at Madison Square Garden in 2022, a performance that would later be released on The Killers’ Encore At The Garden.

“Chinatown” with Bleachers

It’s wild to me that this song didn’t chart, considering how absolutely stunning it is. Indie pop outfit Bleachers were smart to get Bruce Springsteen on board for this duet. “Chinatown” is a gorgeous heartland rock song with a synthy, almost shoegaze-adjacent vibe to it. Jon Pareles of The New York Times said that “Springsteen’s voice appears as if out of a mist, like the apparition of a patron saint,” and that’s insanely accurate. This song is almost haunting in the best way possible, and you can tell in the music video that both Springsteen and Bleachers connected over their relationships with New York City and New Jersey.

Photo by Taylor Hill/Getty Images for ABA