Bruce Springsteen has a keen ear for expertly capturing his native country’s varying moods and pinning down its of-the-moment bearings for closer examination.
His lyrics touch on something deeper than truths from the American heartland, yet they translate far beyond U.S. borders. His characters are plainer than Everyman, yet they are all extraordinary in their own way. You get the impression Springsteen, who is in Denver for a sold-out show Saturday, writes from an authentic place that is surprisingly knowing given the complex juxtapositions of his subjects.
Springsteen was widely praised in July 2002 for capturing America’s post-Sept. 11 cycle of anger-becomes-angst with “The Rising,” his character study focusing on coping and healing. While that was poignant, timely and on-point, Springsteen is better at capturing the everyday porch-swing blues and nightly jail-cell inner monologues that pepper his repertoire and dominate a few albums, including “Nebraska,” “The Ghost of Tom Joad” and “Devils & Dust,” his new CD and current tour’s namesake.
From the serial killer in “Nebraska” who, when asked why he did it, replied, “Well, sir, I guess
there’s just a meanness in this world,” to the stark poverty and social injustice of “The Ghost of Tom Joad” with its “Families sleeping in their cars in the Southwest/No home, no job, no peace, no rest,” Springsteen sounds as if he’s an imbedded reporter filing every few years from the front lines of the unfortunate.
He’s there, from Kansas City to Jersey City, documenting the downtrodden American’s plight with his plainspoken poetry and affected drawl. And he plays an important role in the environs of rootsy Americana: He’s the trusted storyteller, the voice that comforts us no matter the state of our national security or personal health.
It’s a sometimes strange estuary from his straight-ahead rock days of the mid-’80s, when “Born in the U.S.A.” generated seven Top Ten tracks and sold more than 10 million copies. But it makes sense. Springsteen can still rock and remember the “Glory Days,” but his songwriting – and performing – angles have all changed. That’s where “Devils & Dust” comes in.
“Reno,” an unassuming, soft-spoken ballad off the new record, tells of a man looking blankly out a bedroom window, reliving a memory while in bed with a prostitute. “Black Cowboys” has a boy running away from the Bronx and his degenerate mother to the open, muddy fields of Oklahoma – the setting of the stories his mom read to him before her downward spiral.
These songs are an anchoring of sorts. They’re roots music, yes, and they’re thoroughbred Americana, but in many ways, Springsteen records – especially these deeply personal exercises in storytelling – provide his fan base with roots to another world.
Springsteen is more than just a storyteller. He is a conduit to fascinating juxtapositions, to these debauched lands where hope is a luxury, not a given. Shows like the one Saturday at the Colorado Convention Center, which has him playing without the E-Street Band, are akin to collections of miniature musical readings.
Short stories are among the most difficult of art forms, and Springsteen could give a master class in writing vignettes that are unafraid to get in and out without the nonsense of pop clutter.
In “Jesus Was an Only Son,” he delivers more pointed commentary on Jesus and Mary’s relationship in less than 3 minutes than you would get in an hour of a seminary Bible class. And “All the Way Home” paints a detailed picture in 3:38 of a man, low on pride but high on nothing-left-to-lose, asking a woman if he can walk her home from the bar.
Why does the song give you a sinking feeling in your gut? Because you know that very scene is playing out right now. In some bar. In some town. Between two people, strangers to you but your countrymen nonetheless.
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
Bruce Springsteen
ROOTS ROCK|The Lecture Hall inside the Colorado Convention Center; 7:30 p.m. Saturday|sold out|any ticket releases will be available via Ticketmaster, 303-830-8497 or www.ticketmaster.com.
