Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Somewhere North of Nashville’ (ALBUM REVIEW)

by JAY LUSTIG
somewhere north of nashville review

The cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Somewhere North of Nashville” album.

(Note: This is the fourth post in a series in which I am reviewing the seven albums in Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” boxed set, separately. The set will come out on June 27.)

Bruce Springsteen is so prolific that in his spare time, while recording his The Ghost of Tom Joad album in 1995, he made a second album as well: Somewhere North of Nashville, which is now part of the Tracks II: The Lost Albums boxed set.

The sessions “completely overlap each other,” Springsteen says in the boxed set’s liner notes, adding: “It was to lighten up the Ghost of Tom Joad sessions really.”

As its title suggests, Somewhere North of Nashville is a country record. It has a “band feel,” from start to finish, and features contributions from many musicians, including E Street Band members past and present (Danny Federici, Garry Tallent, Max Weinberg, Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, Charlie Giordano) and, crucially, the dazzling pedal steel guitar player Marty Rifkin, who is prominent on many tracks.

It also has some of the most lighthearted moments Springsteen has ever captured in the studio. “Delivery Man” is a crazy tale of a truck driver who crashes his vehicles when he’s carrying a load of live chickens — yes, you read that right — and “Detail Man” is full of sexual boasting (e.g., “A detail man will never leave you in doubt/I’ll kiss you in places other men ain’t even heard about”). Both tracks rock hard, as do “Repo Man” (released as a single in May), “Tiger Rose” (recorded by Sonny Burgess but never previously released by Springsteen) and “Stand On It” (released, in different versions, as the B-side to “Glory Days” in 1985 and then on the 1998 Tracks boxed set).

Among the ballads, the sad, yearning “Under a Big Sky” stands out. The singer has left his home, his friends and his significant other under mysterious circumstances; all he tells us is “I can’t go back again.” He then finds works as “just another hired hand watchin’ the seasons fly by.” He is lonely, and exhausted. “Tonight I’m chasin’ strays down in this canyon/I shout your name and listen as the echo dies under a big sky,” he sings.

Bruce Springsteen’s “Tracks II: The Lost Albums” will be released on June 27.

In addition to the songs mentioned above, there are some other songs on Somewhere North of Nashville that Springsteen fans may already know.

A different version of “Janey Don’t You Lose Heart” was the B-side of “I’m Goin’ Down” in ’85 and was included on Tracks. The recording used here is sweeter and more soulful and, to my mind, an improvement.

(Similarly, this album’s “Stand On It” is a little less feverish than the ’80s B-side, which helps bring the lyrics into sharper focus.)

The Somewhere North of Nashville title track came out on Western Stars in 2019, and the version here is an alternate take from those sessions — with more of a honky-tonk arrangement than the version that ended up on Western Stars.

There is one other song on Somewhere North of Nashville that originated later than the mid-’90s, as well: “You’re Gonna Miss Me,” which, according to the liner notes, was first demoed in 2010.

It is a breakup song but — significantly, perhaps, for a person who did a lot of work on his mental health between 1995 and 2010 — it comes from a place of confidence, not hurt. “You’re gonna miss me when I’m gone/When the nights get lonely and long/Yeah, I know you’re good, babe, at moving on/But you’re gonna miss me when I’m gone,” sings Springsteen.

Why didn’t Somewhere North of Nashville come out in the mid-’90s? It’s simple, Springsteen says in the liner notes: He liked The Ghost of Tom Joad better. (I don’t disagree with him; while I like this album very much, it’s not as profound and impactful as Joad is.)

And then, of course, after Joad came out, with a long tour following, Springsteen was onto other things.

Its mere existence, though, makes us think of this period of Springsteen’s career a bit differently. Springsteen says it is “Very similar to Born in the U.S.A. and Nebraska, where I thought that was one record at one time, I thought (Somewhere North of Nashville) was one record with The Ghost of Tom Joad.”

The songs on Somewhere North of Nashville are:

“Repo Man”
“Tiger Rose”
“Poor Side of Town” (co-written by Johnny Rivers and Lou Adler)
“Delivery Man”
“Under a Big Sky”
“Detail Man”
“Silver Mountain”
“Janey Don’t You Lose Heart”
“You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone”
“Stand On It”
“Blue Highway”
“Somewhere North of Nashville”

For more information, visit lostalbums.net.

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s first album, “LA Garage Sessions ’83.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s second album, “Streets of Philadelphia Sessions.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s third album, “Faithless.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s fifth album, “Inyo.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s sixth album, “Twilight Hours.”

HERE is my review of the boxed set’s seventh album, “Perfect World.”


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