Springsteen Shines Brightly in Album Release

A Review of Bruce Springsteen’s Western Stars By Gaurav Varma

“It’s a town full of losers. I’m pulling out of here to win.” From “Born to Run” to “Thunder Road,” Bruce Springsteen’s anthems of escape have defined the public perception of his career. But just as the pursuit of “a freer existence,” to quote from his recently closed Broadway show, exemplify his early work, the realities of individual and interpersonal struggle define much of his later catalog.

This is shown as clearly as anywhere in The Boss’s new album Western Stars (released June of 2019). In place of the euphoria in escaping your old life’s emptiness in “Thunder Road” is the coming-to-grips with the loneliness of a life lived traveling empty roads by your lonesome in “Hello Sunshine”. A carefree fling with Crazy Janey at Greasy Lake turns to a crushing guilt felt every morning over the lies that destroyed a past relationship. A big advance from a record company sure of your bright future becomes a story of glory days told at a bar to score a drink.

The sympathetic characters Springsteen so masterfully creates tell their stories of failure and hardship. An aging stunt driver with a body broken from years of punishment. A washed-up actor reduced to doing ads for credit cards while struggling with alcoholism. A failed musician whose sacrifices have reaped only regret.

But Springsteen’s characters are not entirely lacking in reasons to believe. Western Stars is as much about hope and recovery as it is about struggle. Some have “had enough of heartbreak and pain” and in “Tucson,” at the “Moonlight Motel,” and in “Sleepy Joe’s Cafe,” their bonds with both the living and the dead give fulfillment to their lives.

Springsteen best explains his message in perhaps the most autobiographical song on the record. “Hitch’ Hikin” sees the speaker hitch rides with a father, a blue-collar trucker, and a car enthusiast in his quest to “follow the weather and the wind.” Representations of his work’s three most important characters take Springsteen where they will, and all he can do is trust that he will end up somewhere further on up the road.