But it’s still a working farm.
Though it shouldn’t be close to shocking.
But I am here to talk to him about something quite remarkable for a musical artist of his vintage.
Letter to Youis an album about carrying on in the face of loss.
It’s a summing up, too, an offering from an old friend.
But to whom is it addressed?
“Is it a letter to your younger self?
Is it to your children?
Springsteen chuckles at the question: It’s to you!
It’s a letter toyou!
The project began with a measure of self-doubt.
I hadn’t written rock music for the E Street Band in about seven years, he says.
I was thinking,Well, maybe I don’t have any more rock music in me.”
“You never really know, he says.
There is no existence of it whatsoever, and you make it physical literally.
it’s possible for you to go for long periods without picking up anything significant.
Or you’ll just pick up different things.
It’s not rock n roll; it’s just something else.
Come up with some rock songs.
Springsteen is funny in person.
I ask if we can avoid politics today.
Then the screen door closes, and she disappears back into the house.
Springsteen is the great empath of the rock world.
“You have your antenna out, he says.
These things you divine from the air are all intangible elements: spirit, emotion, history.
These are the tools of the songwriter’s trade before he even picks up the pen.
“People who are very attuned to that atmosphere usually end up being artists of some sort.
Because they’re so attuned to it, they have a desire to record it.
If that desire to record it is strong enough, you learn a language to do so.
So, I needed to learn a language that does that.
And you get to pass it on to your listeners or fans.
That’s how it begins.”
