Bruce Springsteen wrote new album on guitar given to him by a fan

21 September 2020

Bruce Springsteen wrote his entire album on a guitar a fan gave to him.

Bruce Springsteen

The Boss was inspired to pick up the acoustic instrument in April 2019, after one of his fans gave it to him as a gift at one of his 'Springsteen on Broadway' gigs.

He recalled: "I said, 'Geez, you know, thanks.'

"And I just took a quick glance at it and it looked like a nice guitar, so I jumped in the car with it."

The 'Born in the U.S.A.' hitmaker recorded 'Letter to You' live at his New Jersey home studio and penned the rock tunes in different rooms in the house, including his bar and bedroom.

He continued: "All the songs from the album came out of it.

"In perhaps less than 10 days. I just wandered around the house in different rooms, and I wrote a song each day. I wrote a song in the bedroom. I wrote a song in our bar. I wrote a song in the living room."

This time, Springsteen decided not to demo any of the songs until he was in the same room as his E Street Band.

He said: "When I demo, I start putting things on to see if it works.

"And suddenly, I'm locked into an arrangement. And then the band has to fit themselves into an arrangement. And suddenly, we don't have an E Street Band album. So I intentionally did not demo anything."

Guitarist Steven Van Zandt admitted it allowed Springsteen to think "like a band member again".

He added to Rolling Stone magazine: "We finally made it back to the band sensibility, where Bruce is comfortable trusting the band again, thinking like a band member again."

Springsteen - who turns 71 this week - previously revealed the "emotional" nature of the upcoming LP.

He said: "I love the emotional nature of 'Letter To You'. "And I love the sound of the E Street Band playing completely live in the studio, in a way we've never done before, and with no overdubs. We made the album in only five days, and it turned out to be one of the greatest recording experiences I've ever had."

The album, which is set for release on October 23, is the follow-up to 2019's visual LP 'Western Stars'.