During the festivities surrounding Bruce being named this year's winner of the Woodie Guthrie Award, he let it slip that he had "a record coming out soon that’s set largely in the West."
That surprising little nugget of information was all it took to get the imagination of fans going left and right. Could there be another album of songs in the same vein as Western Stars?
That was the question.
Of course, Bruce rarely repeats himself, thematically, stylistically or otherwise.
While Bruce has yet to follow up with any more word on a possible new album we are left to ponder what it might comprise of.
Could it be that the sound and themes of Western Stars are not the starting off point for this new record.
It is interesting to note that on Bruce's last record, Letter To You, he successfully re-recorded three older unreleased songs from 1972 (Priest, Orphans, Janey) that melded seamlessly with his newly created material.
Might be attempt this idea again?
That era of Springsteen's songwriting, pre-Greetings, is ripe with quality unreleased material, some of it, coincidentally enough, having western settings. There are many to choose from, including Border Guard, Ballad of the Self Loading Pistol, Saga of the Architect Angel, Evacuation of the West, just to name a few.
It would certainly make for an interesting and unique record, one that would in no way be a repeat of anything previously released by Bruce.
