June 6, 2026 On January 10, 2017, 35,000 items from the personal collections of Bruce Springsteen fans were gifted to Monmouth University in West Long Branch, New Jersey. In the years since, the University has built a 30,000-square foot archival center and museum upon this foundational donation. Now known as The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, it officially opens to the public on June 13, and the building gets officially dedicated later this morning. Between 2001

photo by the Springsteen Center's Museum Educator Aidan Vogel June 4, 2026 The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music doesn't officially open its doors to the public until June 13, but yesterday Letters To You's editor/publisher Shawn Poole and contributing photographer Mark Krajnak got a sneak-peek of what's behind its doors. Director of Curatorial Affairs Melissa Kozlowski and Museum Educator Aidan Vogel were gracious enough to show them around the place, in the midst

photo by Shawn Poole May 31, 2026 "Philly, you killed it! This is the last night of our Land of Hope & Dreams Tour; it was good to be in Philadelphia. I want to thank our great crew and their fearless leader, George Travis, without whom the show would not go on. I want to thank the E Street Band for their commitment and for their courage in standing with me on this tour. I want to thank Tom Morello for guesting with us on this tour. I want to thank Jon Landau for fifty years

photo by Shawn Poole May 28, 2026 Last night, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band brought their Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour to its ultimate "speak-truth-to-power" venue: the Washington Nationals' baseball park in Washington, D.C. It also marked the tour's only outdoor show, and while Mother Nature peppered the audience with light rain throughout the evening, fortunately she spared us of any of her lightning-bolts. What took place onstage was more than thunderous eno

May 26, 2026 Music journalist, critic, and author Erin Osmon's recently published book Won't Back Down: Heartland Rock and the Fight for America, couldn't have come along at a better time, especially with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band - who indeed were and in significant ways still are major figures in the heartland-rock genre - wrapping up their historic Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour, a musical "fight for America" if ever there was one. Osmon's book focuses on

May 22, 2026 Directly preceding The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music's two-nights (and now sold-out) Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us concert events will be a unique, free concert celebrating the rich history and enduring legacy of Indigenous music in America. The Center has partnered with Hard Rock International to produce The Native American Music Experience. This concert will take place at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre on Wednesday, June 3 at 7:30

May 21, 2026 Last night, the penultimate episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert closed with Colbert introducing a musical performance by Bruce Springsteen. Before he began singing a solo-acoustic version of "Streets of Minneapolis," Springsteen said the following: "Thank you. Stephen... I'm here in support tonight for Stephen because, uh, you're the first guy in America who's lost his show because we got a President who can't take a joke...and because Larry and David E

May 18, 2026 More than five decades have now passed between Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's mid-1970s performances in the small New York town of Geneva, as captured by photographer James Fuller, and their most recent performance in New York City this past Saturday night, photographed for Letters To You by Mark Krajnak. Back then in Geneva, Bruce and his band were playing to no more than 1400 ticket-buyers per show. Last Saturday night, they performed to yet another so

Geneva, NY - December 7, 1974 - photo by James Fuller (used with permission) May 12, 2026 With Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's return to New York this week, there's no better time to check out James Fuller's beautiful, high-quality book of photos, Spirit in the Light: Photographing Springsteen 1973-75. Three of the four concerts depicted in the book, captured in glorious black-and-white by Fuller as a young college student with a budding interest in photography, took

May 10, 2026 Just in time for Mother's Day 2026, our friend and Letters To You contributor Doug Bradley has published his latest book, All the Books She Never Wrote. It's a unique memoir about the special time that Doug got to spend with his mother, Lucy Bradley, in her final days. A few weeks after her ninety-ninth birthday, Lucy decided she was ready to die. After a series of health setbacks, she stopped eating, certain the end would come quickly. Instead, her extended good

photo by Rob DeMartin - (Chicago, IL; April 29, 2026) - used with permission May 4, 2026 Happy-birthday wishes go out today to Sister Soozie Tyrell, fiddler extraordinaire and - as an essential member of the current Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour - now freedom fighter, too. The late, great Gwendolyn Brooks' poem "First fight. Then fiddle." ends as follows: "...Rise bloody, maybe not too late For having first to civilize a space Wherein to play your violin with grace."

photo by Brian Samelson - used with permission May 3, 2026 Almost three years ago now, when this website was launched, I wrote an introductory "welcome" message as its editor/publisher. One of the things I touched upon was why Bruce Springsteen was and has remained such a significant and important musical artist for me. The penultimate reason, I asserted, was that in addition to my having been deeply affected by all of the artistic qualities in Springsteen's own music, Bruce

May 3, 2026 As per the official announcement, "Due to the NBA and NHL playoff schedule, the Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band concert at Xfinity Mobile Arena has been rescheduled for May 30. All tickets for the previous date will remain valid for the new date."

April 27, 2026 "Good evening, Austin! It's great to be in Texaaaaaaaaas! Welcome to The Land of Hope and Dreams American Tour. We begin tonight with a prayer for our men and women in service overseas. We pray for their safe return. We also send out our prayers of thanks that [neither] our President, nor anyone in the Administration, nor anyone attending was injured in last night's incident at [The White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner.] We can disagree, we can be cri

(L-R) Monmouth University President Patrick Leahy and The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music's Executive Director Robert Santelli at the University's April 21st preview screening of Thom Zimny's short "welcome" film for the Center, The Ties That Bind - photo by Lisa Iannucci; used w/ permission April 23, 2026 This past Tuesday, an invitation-only event was held at Monmouth University’s Pollak Theatre to debut Thom Zimny's “welcome” film, The Ties That Bind (not to be

photo by John Cavanaugh - used with permission April 19, 2026 ...and American Music Past, and American Music Present. And its acronym is BSCAM . What a great night! Stay tuned for my full take (accompanied by plenty more photos, too.)

April 17, 2026 The latest issue of New Jersey Monthly features extensive coverage tied to this spring's opening of The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University 's new building, including a cover-story interview with Springsteen himself . In the interview with Jennifer Finn, Bruce shares his vision of what he's hoped the Center could become: "...something that was dedicated more to the overall story of American music... someplace that was an educatio

April 14, 2026 Today The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at Monmouth University announced a multi-act, two-night concert event celebrating America’s 250th birthday. Called Music America: The Songs that Shaped Us, the concerts will take place on June 4 and 5 at the OceanFirst Bank Center on the Monmouth campus, just prior to the grand opening of the new Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music building on June 7. This will be a major contribution to the nation

April 14, 2026 While Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour has taken off and continues rolling through fields where sunlight streams, our friend and occasional contributing photographer Gert Dewaelheyns, aka "BrucePix," has reached out to us with some additional good news. Gert is generously offering to all Letters To You readers a special free-shipping discount opportunity (by using the exclusive coupon code LETTERS2U ) on remaining cop

Minneapolis, MN, March 31, 2026 - photo by Kevin Mazur - used with permission April 13, 2026 Okay, so maybe the "incredible" (as per Bruce Springsteen on 3/31/26) singing voice of Mighty Max Weinberg - who turns 75 today - isn't as widely recognized as his percussive skills. Indeed, it is rare for Max to be given the greenlight to belt out a few choice notes at a Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band show, the most recent incident being just two weeks ago during "Hungry Hear

Chef Andre Fowles and Bruce Springsteen with copies of Fowles' recently published book My Jamaican Table: Vibrant Recipes from a Sun-Drenched Island , to which Springsteen wrote the foreword - photo via Patti Scialfa Springsteen's official Instagram page April 10, 2026 Andre Fowles' current gig as the personal chef for Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa Springsteen is just the latest in his very impressive list of culinary achievements. Fowles also is a three-time championsh

April 7, 2026 I'll admit that I was unsure about their successfully pulling off here in the U.S. a version of what they did last year in Europe, but I also learned a long time ago just how much and how often Bruce Springsteen and his various collaborators can still surprise you through the years. Indeed, just two gigs in (with the third happening tonight in Inglewood, CA, as this essay is being published,) it's already very clear that Springsteen and the E Street Band have su

photo by Phil Ceccola - used with permission April 3, 2026 Musician, songwriter, poet, and author Tzruya/Zeruya “Suki” Lahav died this past Wednesday. She was 74. photo by Phil Ceccola - used with permission Among her many accomplishments, Lahav was the first woman ever to record and perform with Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band. Her uncredited and multitracked backing vocals can be heard on both "4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy)" and "Incident on 57th Street" from The

photo by Shawn Poole April 1, 2026 Just in case you might not have heard already, last night The Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour launched in Minneapolis, MN's Target Center. To paraphrase Bruce Springsteen, this tour is happening NOW . No foolin', no joke. Springsteen and the E Street Band, along with their full-tour special guest Tom Morello, are as serious as a heart attack in their mission to "call upon the righteous power of art, of music, of rock and roll in dangerou

March 31, 2026 Once more, the people have spoken. Due to continued interest and demand, as well as Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's special 2026 tour celebrating and defending freedom during the U.S.A.'s semiquincentennial year, we are offering another opportunity to purchase our exclusive Frank Caruso "Spirit of '76" nonprofit-fundraising t-shirt . We remain pleased and honored that artist Frank Caruso , who collaborated with Bruce Springsteen on his Outlaw Pete qua

March 30, 2026 UPDATE (afternoon of March 30, 2026:) The livestream will be free on YouTube, as well as for subscribers in the nugs app, but only the first two songs of the concert will be streamed live. Watch live, beginning tomorrow at approximately 8:30pm ET, on youtube.com/@brucespringsteen or youtube.com/@nugsnet . Livestreaming audio and VIDEO alert... As of this writing, the Nugs.net phone app has Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band's March 31, 2026 concert in Min

March 29, 2026 You can click below to watch the embedded and cued-up pro-shot footage of Bruce Springsteen performing "Streets of Minneapolis" at yesterday's Minnesota No Kings rally in the state's capital city of Saint Paul. After being introduced to the stage by Minnesota's governor Tim Walz, Springsteen introduced his song with essentially the same remarks he used to introduce the song at last Monday's Democracy Now! @30 event . And again he sang the slightly altered line

March 26, 2026 Bruce Springsteen has been busy preparing, performing, and lending public political support in this final full week before he launches his Land of Hope & Dreams American Tour with the E Street Band in Minneapolis next Tuesday. And he's not quite finished with the week just yet... On Monday night, following several days of tour rehearsals in Ocean Grove, NJ with the E Street Band (but without the tour's special guest Tom Morello, who's been playing some final

March 12, 2026 This week Bruce Springsteen has released a beautiful studio version of the late, great Shane MacGowan's song "A Rainy Night in Soho," originally recorded and released by MacGowan's band The Pogues back in 1986. Springsteen first performed live versions of "A Rainy Night in Soho" during his 2024 concerts with the E Street Band in Ireland. The song was performed in tribute to MacGowan, who died in late 2023. Bruce's new studio version of "A Rainy Night in Soho" i

photo by Danny Clinch - used with permission March 10, 2026 Happy Women's History Month ! Tomorrow our friends Lorraine Mangione and Donna Luff , co-authors of the book Mary Climbs In: The Journeys of Bruce Springsteen's Women Fans , will present an online authors' talk about their research, focusing on the perspectives of Springsteen’s women fans from New Jersey, as well as perceptions of New Jersey and its place in Springsteen’s music among female fans from other states and