July 26, 2023
While Bruce Springsteen's next full-length studio recording of his own has yet to be announced officially, let alone released any time soon, fans currently have a chance to hear Bruce singing on several new tracks by other artists. There's even a new recording of a Bruce Springsteen composition that has never been released previously by anyone else, not even Springsteen himself.
Just last month John Mellencamp released Orpheus Descending, featuring Mellencamp's version of a Springsteen-penned song entitled "Perfect World." This is the first officially released recording of this moving ballad, and despite having contributed vocals and guitar to several tracks on Mellencamp's 2022 album Strictly A One-Eyed Jack, Bruce did not sing or play at all on Mellencamp's version of "Perfect World."
A few weeks after Mellencamp released his latest effort, Lucinda Williams dropped Stories From A Rock N Roll Heart, featuring both Bruce Springsteen and Patti Scialfa backing Williams on "New York Comeback" and "Rock N Roll Heart." (Click here to read Letters To You contributing writer Lisa Iannucci's deep dive into both Williams' career and her latest work.)
And just last week The Gaslight Album released the title track from their forthcoming and long-awaited album History Books, due in its entirety on October 27, almost ten years after the band released its last album. Bruce Springsteen duets with The Gaslight Anthem's Brian Fallon on "History Books" after Springsteen suggested that Fallon write a song for them to sing together. “When Bruce Springsteen said I should write a duet for us," says Fallon in a media statement, "I think my head exploded. It will never get old to me that one of the greatest songwriters in the world, and one of my hero’s voices, will forever be captured in a song I wrote at a small wooden desk, in October, in New Jersey.” Below you can hear "History Books" and watch its official music-video: