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Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Letter to You’ Album is His Most Personal Ever
And it slowly works its way into your soul
Some albums impact you from the opening chords of the first song; I have written numerous times about how Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run was such a record for me (“impact” being nowhere near a strong enough word). Other albums take some time and multiple hearings to work their way into your soul, but once there are there forever; Springsteen’s 2020 release Letter to You is one of those. That it came right when we needed it (in the midst of the pandemic) is simply further proof of Bruce’s greatness.
My hopes were high for the album from the first rumors that Bruce was recording it at his home studio with the full E Street Band. It had been six years since the last album featuring the entire band (ironically titled High Hopes, given that previous sentence), with both his successful Broadway run and solo album Western Stars taking up the period between 2014 and 2020. The first time I played it all the way through, I liked it, but I can’t say I loved it; this is solely because, as you all know, I’m a moron.
Over the past year, I have listened to Letter to You at least once a week (thanks in no small part to the love Alex Markham has repeatedly and correctly expressed for the album), and it has worked its way into…
