February 24, 2024
[Read on for your exclusive first look at Bruce Springsteen's "fan-letter" to Mojo Nixon.]
Bruce Springsteen's handwritten envelope addressed to Mojo Nixon, "the 'Mojo Man,' King of DJs," containing Springsteen's handwritten "fan-letter" to Nixon about his E Street Radio Guest DJ episode
image courtesy of The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon
Our friends at SiriusXM's E Street Radio and Outlaw Country - the country-music satellite-radio channel initially launched by Stevie Van Zandt - have joined forces for a super-cool tribute to the late, great Mojo Nixon, Outlaw Country's beloved "Loon in the Afternoon." Nixon died at 66 in his sleep on February 7, aboard the Norwegian Pearl while hosting the annual Outlaw Country Cruise.
The late, great Mojo Nixon - Outlaw Country's "Loon in the Afternoon," unintimidated by the channel's stern founder
photo courtesy of Jeremy Tepper
Mojo Nixon is gone far too soon, but he's left behind a great legacy of wildly hilarious, provocative, and often simultaneously thought-provoking music produced mostly during the first half of his life and career (a period well-covered by the documentary film The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon.) And then during the second half, he also became a satellite-radio personality who could be equally wild, funny, profane, and insightful.
Not surprisingly, Nixon was a major fan of Bruce Springsteen, whom he liked to call "The Freehold Fireball." The first Mojo Nixon & Skid Roper album included their cover of the Nebraska outtake and rare-for-years B-side "The Big Payback." Hearing Springsteen's version of Woody Guthrie's "This Land Is Your Land" also inspired Nixon to record his own version of the song with Skid Roper. And check out his 1997 solo-demo, Nebraska-meets-psychobilly version of "Badlands," available only via the official Mojo Nixon YouTube channel. You couldn't find any stronger evidence of a true believer's heart beating behind all of that wild hilarity.
In 2008, Mojo Nixon took his Springsteen fandom into another realm by recording a Guest DJ session for E Street Radio. Music writer, radio personality, and Springsteen biographer Dave Marsh - now retired from E Street Radio but at the time a key programming-team member and on-air personality in launching, sustaining, and expanding the channel - has called it "the best Guest DJ show E Street Radio ever had." Bruce Springsteen himself also contacted Marsh to request a recorded copy of the show.
This, no doubt, happened after Springsteen first heard Nixon's Guest DJ session on his car-radio, as it aired on E Street Radio while he drove to a rehearsal-session with the E Street Band. That first encounter with Mojo Nixon's Guest DJ session led Bruce to write and send to Nixon his own one-page "fan-letter" (no better term for it, really,) delivered in an envelope hand-addressed by Springsteen to "the 'Mojo Man,' King of DJs." (See image above.) We at Letters To You are simultaneously moved, honored, and thrilled that Mojo Nixon's camp has allowed us to share below the complete contents and imagery of Bruce Springsteen's fan-letter with our readers first, before it's soon shared more widely online:
Mojo,
8:30 in the A.M. I'm drivin' to Asbury on my way to rehearsal. I pop on Sirius & the Mojo Man is dj'ing an hour of E St. Radio. You had me rippin', laughing out loud in my car. The Red Rocks story, man it really rained. It was great hearing somebody's experience from the other side of the stage... And all the rockabilly stuff in a row...what a wake-up call. We will continue glorifying the "pompatus of love."
Best & thanks
Bruce
image courtesy of The Mojo Manifesto: The Life and Times of Mojo Nixon
If you want to hear for yourself the Red Rocks story, all the rockabilly stuff in a row, and more on "the pompatus of love," even if you've heard it all before, you're in for a really big treat. Next week, E Street Radio (SiriusXM channel 20) will begin presenting a special re-broadcast edition of Mojo Nixon's Guest DJ session. Here's a listing of all of its currently scheduled airdates and times:
Monday, February 26 at 11am ET
Tuesday, February 27 at 4pm ET
Wednesday, February 28 at 9am ET
Thursday, February 29 at 6pm ET
Friday, March 1 at 10am ET
Saturday, March 2 at 5pm ET
Sunday, March 3 at 8am ET
SiriusXM subscribers also will be able to listen to the special re-broadcast of Mojo Nixon's Guest DJ session on-demand/online via the SiriusXM app.
Special thanks to Scott Ambrose Reilly (aka "Bullethead,") Jim Rotolo, Jeremy Tepper, and Vinny Usuriello