Remembering When Bruce Springsteen Went Folkie for a Second Time in 1995

You probably would have lost a lot of money over the years betting on what approach Bruce Springsteen might take with each of his studio albums. Always willing to zig when folks expect him to zag, The Boss has constantly kept fans on their toes with his stylistic shifts.

In 1995, Springsteen fooled people once again. Many thought he might be ready to reconvene his former band for a rock album. Instead, he went the folkie route for the second time in his career on The Ghost Of Tom Joad.

Snapping a Mini-Slump

Perhaps more than at any time in his career, Bruce Springsteen needed a win in 1995. For the first time since his breakout with Born To Run in 1975, the air of invincibility that surrounded his recorded output had been punctured. The culprits were the albums Human Touch and Lucky Town, released on the same day in 1992.

The albums sold well and had their share of admirers. But they didn’t receive the critical love that Springsteen’s LPs usually received. On top of that, many longtime fans were upset that he had scuttled the E Street Band. Instead, he used studio musicians both on those albums and the subsequent tour supporting them.

When Springsteen reunited the E Street Band for a couple of new songs in early 1995 that accompanied a Greatest Hits album, fans rejoiced at the possibility of a new rock album with the group. But he surprised them when he dropped a far different LP in November of that year.

‘Ghost’ Protocol

When Springsteen first went in a folk music direction in 1982, he did so accidentally. He intended the songs he’d first laid down by himself to be recorded by the E Street Band. Only when the band struggled to capture what he had found in the home demos did he decide to release those demos as they were.

By contrast, Springsteen planned The Ghost Of Tom Joad as a departure from his more rocking side. Thanks to the 2025 collection Tracks 2, we found out that he recorded much more than was needed for the record during the sessions, including an entire countryish album that he left behind at the time.

He was also far less strict about keeping things totally stripped down this time around. Springsteen filled out a few songs with rock-style arrangements. Danny Federici and Garry Tallent of the E Street Band even feature on a few tracks. But most of The Ghost Of Tom Joad boils down to Springsteen, his acoustic guitar, and his harmonica.

Reviving Steinbeck

While Nebraska included just as much deep introspection as outward reflection, The Ghost Of Tom Joad leaned much further into Springsteen’s views on the state of the world. The scourge of poverty rears its head on the title track. On that song, the Boss rejuvenated the famous character from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes Of Wrath as a spectral avenger.

Immigration issues come into focus on the haunting story songs “The Line” and “Galveston Bay”, as well as on the elegiac beauty “Across The Border”. The songs on this album are growers. They require close listening to fully appreciate the depth and potency of the narratives.

Springsteen knew that The Ghost Of Tom Joad was never going to be a big hit. But it certainly restored some of his artistic momentum. And it also continued Bruce’s trend of giving his fans what they didn’t expect but eventually appreciated.

(Photo by KMazur/WireImage)