Imagine driving to work, sitting in traffic on a highway, and not wanting the ride to end. That happened to me one morning last week when I first listened, all the way through, to Bruce Springsteen's newest CD "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions." This CD is a religious experience, a New Orleans dance party, a revival, a history lesson, a hoedown...and it is thrilling. I understand he and the 18-person Seeger Sessions Band are planning to play at next week's New Orleans Jazz Fest, and I am jealous beyond belief that I won't be able to see this band in person.
Folk music? It's more than that, you can almost literally feel this music passing down through the generations of Americans...from colonial seafaring days to the Civil War, to the Dust Bowl, New Orleans gospel and spirituals. It has echoes of Walt Whitman, and of course Woody Guthrie, John Steinbeck and Bob Dylan...and if you're looking for the most uplifting hour possible, check it out.
You won't regret it.
2 comments:
So you like Bruce - me too, though only recently (ashamed to admit that as a Jersey girl).
I read that that pic was taken just a few miles down the road from me. He lives right around me somewhere - as a teen we used to drive by his old house hoping to spot him.
I'll have to check out this new album of his.
Laura, I've been a Sprinsteen afficiando for longer than I care to remember ;-)
My first Bruce concert was in 1978, and I saw him probably 5 or 6 times between then and the "Born in the USA" album when he became the megastar he is today.
I'd still like to strap my hands across his engines!
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