Bruce Springsteen performs “This Land Is Your Land” with Kenny Chesney and the Disciples of Soul at The OceanFirst Bank Center at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, June 4.
Talking to the crowd in the middle of Woody Guthrie’s “This Land Is Your Land” — performed as a duet with Kenny Chesney (see video below) at the “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” concert at The OceanFirst Bank Center at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, June 4 — Bruce Springsteen mentioned that he and Pete Seeger sang the song at President Obama’s first inauguration, in 2009.
“Now, Pete’s ghost in is this room tonight,” he continued. “And Woody’s ghost is in this room tonight. Now Pete said, ‘A song ain’t worth nothin’ unless it’s useful. Unless you can do something with it. And unless the people can sing it.’ So, I’ll count you in. Pete’s listenin’. Woody’s listenin’. I’m fucking listenin’. Sing!”
And yes, it seemed like everyone in the packed 4,100-seat arena did.
JOHN CAVANAUGH
Bruce Springsteen and Rosanne Cash at the “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” concert at The OceanFirst Bank Center at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, on June 4.
The concert — the first of two “Music America” shows celebrating the June 13 opening of The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music at the university — featured an all-star lineup playing classic music from bedrock American genres including country, blues, jazz and gospel.
“I grew up listening to all kinds of music,” said Chesney, before performing Hank Williams’ “Mind Your Own Business.” “I grew up in Knoxville, Tennessee. So I listened to everything, everybody. So it’s really a pleasure to be here tonight to celebrate the music and the artists that … artists like me, I stand on the shoulders of all these people.”
The show featured Stevie Van Zandt’s admirably versatile Disciples of Soul (led by guitarist Marc Ribler) as the house band. And, like the The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music itself, it had an educational purpose. The center’s executive director, Bob Santelli, introduced each segment with some words about the featured genre.
The mood could be very serious at times, as when Valerie June sang a stark, searing version of “Strange Fruit” (see video below), which Billie Holiday used to protest lynchings in the 1930s, or when Shemekia Copeland embraced the elegance of the “Porgy and Bess” ballad “Summertime.” Keb’ Mo’ performed a pair of Robert Johnson songs, solo. Rosanne Cash — joined by her husband and producer, John Leventhal, on guitar — sang the traditional songs “Bury Me Beneath the Willow” and “The Wayfaring Stranger”; she noted that she learned the former from her step-aunt, Helen Carter of the renowned Carter Family.
Among the songs performed by banjo master Tony Trischka, teaming with the bluegrass group Sister Sadie, was Bill Monroe’s “Blue Moon of Kentucky” — slow at first, in Monroe’s original style, and then sped up, like Elvis Presley did it. Brian Fallon of The Gaslight Anthem performed two Johnny Cash songs, including a “Folsom Prison Blues” in which he departed from Cash’s stoic style and dramatically emphasized the anguish that the narrator, rotting away in prison, expresses.
JOHN CAVANAUGH
Bruce Springsteen and Trombone Shorty at the “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” concert at The OceanFirst Bank Center at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, on June 4.
The show’s first half was capped by a buoyant mini-set by Trombone Shorty and the New Breed Brass Band, anchored by “St. James Infirmary” (see video below), and they returned to lead the show’s encore, in which they and about 30 other show participants — including Springsteen — marched around the arena floor, singing and playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” (see video below).
Another explosion of energy came from Dropkick Murphys, who joined Springsteen for both their own “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” (see video below), which features lyrics by Guthrie, and Springsteen’s immigration anthem, “American Land.” As Springsteen has been doing lately in his own shows, frontman Ken Casey really emphasized the line, “The hands that built the country, we’re always trying to keep out.”
And, speaking of protest songs, Springsteen and Rosanne Cash blended their voices beautifully on “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” which was written by Guthrie in the 1940s in response to racist attitudes towards Mexican farm workers in California (see video below).
“This is a song of Woody’s that could have been written yesterday,” Springsteen said. “It’s so current, whether it’s Minnesota, or Delaney Hall in Newark. This is happening now.”
This show had a lot of acoustic instrumentation and a lot of folk, bluegrass and country, though it was not exclusively devoted to these types of music. Judging by its lineup, the second “Music America” show, scheduled for June 5, looks like it may be more electric, and touch more on rock, R&B and even hip-hop.
Springsteen and The Disciples of Soul will be back, joined by Jon Bon Jovi, Jackson Browne, Darlene Love, Stevie Van Zandt, Sheryl Crow, Gary Clark Jr., Dion, Mavis Staples, Public Enemy, Nils Lofgren, David Sancious and Jimmie Vaughan.
JOHN CAVANAUGH
Bruce Springsteen and Dropkick Murphys’ Ken Casey at the “Music America: The Songs That Shaped Us” concert at The OceanFirst Bank Center at Monmouth University in West Long Branch, on June 4.
Here is the first show’s setlist, with some videos, and a photo gallery by John Cavanaugh, underneath it.
SET 1
Drum circle and dancing by Native American artist
“Wade in the Water,” Shemekia Copeland
“This World Is Not My Home,” Valerie June
“Fields of Anthenry,” Dropkick Murphys
“Walkin’ Blues,” Keb’ Mo’
“Crossroads Blues,” Keb’ Mo’
“Bury Me Beneath the Willow,” Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal
“The Wayfaring Stranger,” Rosanne Cash and John Leventhal
Instrumental, Trombone Shorty with New Breed Brass Band
“St. James Infirmary,” Trombone Shorty with New Breed Brass Band
Instrumental, Trombone Shorty with New Breed Brass Band
SET 2
“Summertime,” Shemekia Copeland
“Blue Moon of Kentucky,” Tony Trischka with Sister Sadie
“Our Last Goodbye,” Tony Trischka with Sister Sadie
“Foggy Mountain Breakdown,” Tony Trischka with Sister Sadie
“Strange Fruit,” Valerie June
“Mind Your Own Business,” Kenny Chesney
“Ring of Fire,” Brian Fallon
“Folsom Prison Blues,” Brian Fallon
“Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos),” Bruce Springsteen and Rosanne Cash
“This Land Is Your Land,” Bruce Springsteen and Kenny Chesney
“I’m Shipping up to Boston,” Dropkick Murphys with Bruce Springsteen
“American Land,” Bruce Springsteen and Dropkick Murphys
ENCORE
“When the Saints Go Marching In,” Trombone Shorty and Ensemble
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