R.I.P. influential music writer Dave Marsh, 1950-2026

Sadly, Dave Marsh – who championed 50s & 60s rock and R&B at Creem and wrote four Bruce Springsteen books – passed away at 76. He'll be greatly missed.

Watch Bruce Springsteen: Finding America In Song

Check out the PBS News special Bruce Springsteen: Finding America In Song while you can. 

Here's the scoop... 

Marking the opening of the Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music, Springsteen reflects on more than five decades of work, the artists who influenced him, the themes that drive his creativity and what he hopes future generations will take from his music. The conversation comes as the United States marks 250 years, offering a reflection on the role art plays in telling the American story.

 

Watch Bruce Springsteen sing "Streets of Minneapolis" on The Late Show

The Boss powerfully reprised "Streets of Minneapolis" for the second last episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.  

Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan's compositions get the spotlight on new multi-artist comp

Ace Records has gathered 19 stellar covers of songs by Tom Waits & Kathleen Brennan for Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow. 

Here's the scoop... 

With undeniable cultural gravity, the team of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan join luminaries such as Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Randy Newman, Carole King and Gerry Goffin, Leonard Cohen, Lee Hazlewood, Brian Wilson and Laura Nyro in Ace Records’ long-running series of multi-artist compilations celebrating the great American songwriters of the modern era. Hundreds of artists from all walks of music have recorded songs from Waits and Brennan’s matchless catalogue, 19 of the finest of which comprise the hand-picked selection Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow (out May 29th), including many chosen by the songwriters themselves.

Few artists have remapped the terrain of popular music, and culture at large, like Tom Waits. Over the course of five decades, he has forged a singular aesthetic that defies genre and turns the marginal into myth. His work is neither fully inside nor outside the mainstream tradition but moves restlessly between them, drawing from vaudeville, blues, jazz, folk, theatre – and just about anything else that catches his ear – to craft something wholly his own. His influence reverberates not just through the underground and avant-garde, but across theatre, film, literature, and visual art. With his long-time creative partner and wife Kathleen Brennan, he has dismantled and reassembled the idea of song itself, crafting works that exist as both raw expression and high art. This collection honours not only the extraordinary versatility of Waits and Brennan’s songwriting, but the importance of an artist who continues to haunt and inspire from the edges inward.

Ace’s selection is sequenced chronologically by song, opening with Bruce Springsteen’s live recording of ‘Jersey Girl’, Waits’ ode to Brennan from 1980’s Heartattack And Vine, and closing with folk matriarch Joan Baez’s version of Waits and Brennan’s anti-war ‘Day After Tomorrow’ from Waits’ more recent Real Gone. “All the great things that came out of New Jersey don’t hold a candle to Kathleen Brennan, at least not in Tom’s eyes,” Bob Dylan said on his Theme Time Radio Hour show. “She rescued me,” reflected Waits in an interview for The Guardian. “Maybe I rescued her too, that’s often how it works. Upshot is that we both got into the same leaky boat. Everybody knows she’s the brains behind Pa, as Dylan might have said. I’m just the figurehead. She’s the one who’s steering the ship.”

In addition to “steering the ship”, Brennan became Waits’ songwriting partner. The couple’s first-released joint composition, ‘Hang Down Your Head’ from Rain Dogs, is heard here in a raunchy rendition by country-blues heroine Lucinda Williams. Elsewhere, performers from the worlds of jazz, blues, gospel, soul and rock put their own stamps on great songs with which Waits devotees will be familiar on Swordfishtrombones, Rain Dogs, Franks Wild Years, Big Time, Bone Machine, Mule Variations, Real Gone and Orphans. Pride of place – because it’s a particular favourite of Waits and proved incredibly challenging to license – goes to the heart-wrenching recording of ‘Down There By The Train’ from Johnny Cash’s late-life masterpiece American Recordings.

Made with the blessing, approval and involvement of Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan, Where The Willow And The Dogwood Grow is an essential collection for any fan of this remarkable artist’s unique work.

Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow: 

Words & Music by Tom Waits and Kathleen Brennan

1. JERSEY GIRL - BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN & THE E STREET BAND

2. 16 SHELLS FROM A THIRTY-OUGHT-SIX - BOB SEGER & THE SILVER BULLET BAND

3. GIN-SOAKED BOY - SOUTHSIDE JOHNNY & THE ASBURY JUKES

4. JOCKEY FULL OF BOURBON - LOS LOBOS

5. HANG DOWN YOUR HEAD - LUCINDA WILLIAMS

6. TEMPTATION - DIANA KRALL

7. YESTERDAY IS HERE - BETTYE LAVETTE

8. WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE - THE BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA

9. STRANGE WEATHER - MARIANNE FAITHFULL

10. I DON'T WANNA GROW UP - RAMONES

11. DOWN THERE BY THE TRAIN - JOHNNY CASH

12. HOUSE WHERE NOBODY LIVES - KING ERNEST

13. PICTURE IN A FRAME - WILLIE NELSON

14. HOLD ON - MADISON CUNNINGHAM

15. THE LONG WAY HOME - NORAH JONES

16. 2:19 - JOHN HAMMOND

17. DIAMOND IN YOUR MIND - SOLOMON BURKE

18. TRAMPLED ROSE - ALISON KRAUSS / ROBERT PLANT

19. DAY AFTER TOMORROW - JOAN BAEZ

Get a copy of Where The Willow and The Dogwood Grow directly from Ace Records right here. Check out a few alternate performances by some of the artists included. 

Bruce Springsteen & Jane Fonda join "No Kings" rally in St. Paul

Bruce Springsteen led the chants of "ICE out now!" during his performance of  "Streets of Minneapolis" in St. Paul, MN. 

Bruce Springsteen shares new video for "Streets Of Minneapolis"

Watch the video for Bruce Springsteen's "Streets Of Minneapolis" along with a recent performance of his powerful protest song.   

Happy 60th Birthday Wesley Stace!

Cheers to Wes on his 60th! Here are a couple of performances – including one with The Boss and another with Rhett Miller.  

Catch Wesley Stace on tour in Chicago on Oct. 30 and at NYC's City Winery on Nov. 2. Anywhere but Toronto. Get tickets here.

Bruce Springsteen shares shelved version of "Born In The USA" he should've gone with

The alternate take of "Born In The USA" was cut in 1982 and will be released as part of the Nebraska '82 box set out Oct 17

Joe Ely shares Bruce Springsteen duet off new album of road songs, Driven To Drive

Check out "Odds Of The Blues" with Bruce Springsteen off Joe Ely's forthcoming Driven To Drive album due August 2nd. 

Joe Ely's Driven To Drive album – out August 2 via Rack 'Em Records/Thirty Tigers – is now available for pre-order from your platform of choice right here. 

You can pre-order a limited-edition orange swirl edition signed by Joe right here. Check the tracklisting below. 

Driven To Drive – Joe Ely

Side A

Drivin’ Man

Odds of the Blues (with Bruce Springsteen)

For Your Love

Watchin’ Them Semis Roll

Didn’t We Robbie

Nashville Is A Catfish

Side B

Ride Motorcycle

San Antone Brawl

Slave to the Western Wind

Gulf Coast Blues

Driven to Drive

Jackhammer Rock

Jon Bon Jovi talks about Bubbles, The Boss and his Univox guitar

Jon Bon Jovi discussed a few things with Jimmy Kimmel that didn't make into his new docu-series "Thank You, Goodnight."

Darlene Love reprises "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" on The View

R&B great Darlene Love belted out her holiday classic "Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)" with Steve Van Zandt on The View. 

Watch Darlene Love reunite with David Letterman and Paul Schaffer right here.

R.I.P. jazz bassist Richard Davis, 1930-2023

Sadly jazz bassist and educator Richard Davis – who shaped the sound of Van Morrison's Astral Weeks – has  passed away at 93. 

LINKS

madison365.com Richard Davis, international jazz legend and champion of racial justice, dies at 93

Watch Bruce Springsteen belt out Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You"

Bruce Springsteen reprised Frank Wilson's Motown gem "Do I Love You"  off his new covers album Only The Strong Survive.

Bruce Springsteen vs. Jackie Shane

Today we've got Bruce Springsteen taking on Jackie Shane in the battle over William Bell-penned R&B classic "Any Other Way." 

Watch Bruce Springsteen play a solo piano version of "Thunder Road"

Bruce Springsteen dropped by Howard Stern's show and played a few of his classic tunes, including "Thunder Road"

Bruce Springsteen and his favourite guitar on The Late Show

Bruce Springsteen brought along his 50s Fender Telecaster/Esquire for show and tell but doesn't use it to perform "The River".  

You can find out more about Bruce Springsteen & Barack Obama's book Renegades and get a copy right here. 

Bruce Springsteen joins John Mellencamp for "Wasted Days" duet

"Wasted Days" is the first single off John Mellencamp's forthcoming album due in 2022. Watch Thom Zimny's video shot in Jersey.

Bruce Springsteen reconnects with E Street Band for Letter To You

Check out Bruce Springsteen's chat with Stephen Colbert about his new album Letter To You out Friday. 

Alejandro Escovedo unveils Burn Something Beautiful @ The Horseshoe, Wednesday

Watch Alejandro perform Farewell To The Good Times and Always A Friend which he played with The Boss.

RIP John Berg, 1932-2015

During John Berg's tenure as art director at Columbia Records, he helped create more than 5,000 album sleeves. 

The big-budget 1968 concept cover for Thelonious Monk's Underground album earned Berg a Grammy.