Bruce Springsteen is going country for the latest preview of his upcoming box set, Tracks II: The Lost Albums.
The Boss just released the new song “Repo Man,” from the Tracks II album Somewhere North of Nashville, which, according to a press release, was “inspired by the sounds of honky tonk, rockabilly and uptempo country.”
Songs on the album were recorded in the summer of 1995, at the same time Springsteen was recording his solo album The Ghost of Tom Joad. The box set contains two songs that were originally supposed to be on Tom Joad, “Stand On It” and “Janey Don’t Lose Your Heart.”
“What happened was I wrote all these country songs at the same time I wrote The Ghost of Tom Joad. Those sessions completely overlap each other,” Springsteen shares. “‘Streets of Philadelphia’ got me connected to my socially conscious or topical songwriting,” he adds, referring to his 1994 Oscar-winning song from the movie Philadelphia. “So that’s where The Ghost of Tom Joad came from. But at the same time I had this country streak that was also running through those sessions and I ended up making a country record on the side.”
“Repo Man” is available now via digital outlets.
Tracks II: The Lost Albums is dropping June 27 and is available for preorder now. It features seven previously unheard Springsteen records, featuring 83 songs, all of which were originally recorded between 1983 and 2018. Of those songs, 82 have never been released before and 74 have never been heard before.
Next up for Springsteen, he and The E Street Band return to the road Wednesday, launching their Land of Hope and Dreams tour of the U.K. and Europe in Manchester. A complete list of dates can be found at BruceSpringsteen.net.
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