Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music Announced for Monmouth University

NJ's Monmouth University announced a new collaborative partnership to establish The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music. Through the collaboration, Monmouth University becomes the official archival repository for NJ's Springsteen’s written works, photographs, periodicals, and artifacts. The announcement was made during “A Conversation with Bruce Springsteen,” held this evening at the University’s Pollak Theatre.

The new collaboration broadens an existing relationship between Springsteen and Monmouth University, which has served as the home of the Bruce Springsteen Special Collection since 2011. The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music will preserve and promote the legacy of Bruce Springsteen and his role in American music, while honoring and celebrating icons of American music like Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, Hank Williams, Frank Sinatra, and others. The expanded partnership will help to more deeply integrate the history and inspiration of American music into the curriculum and research experience at Monmouth. It will also serve to bolster an already highly successful music industry program at the university, one of only nine university affiliates of the GRAMMY Museum.

“Monmouth University is excited by the opportunity to grow our relationship with Bruce Springsteen,” said Monmouth University President Paul R. Brown. “Our partnership has been a natural one -- just steps from Springsteen’s birthplace and the site where Born to Run was written, Monmouth University’s location brilliantly captures the essence of Springsteen’s music while providing the academic heft of one of only nine university affiliates of the GRAMMY Museum. The establishment of The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music celebrates and reinforces the Jersey Shore’s legacy in the history of American music, while providing a truly transformative experience for our students.”

Bruce Springsteen enjoys international No. 1 book, Top Five album success with 'Born to Run' & 'Chapter and Verse'

Bruce Springsteen’s 'Born to Run' autobiography was the top-selling book in multiple countries last week, earning raves from fans and critics worldwide. ‘Chapter and Verse,’ the audio companion CD to the gripping 528-page memoir, is 2016’s highest-debuting artist compilation, entering the Billboard 200 albums chart this week at No. 5.

'Born to Run' topped the New York Times Best Sellers list in the US and also debuted at No. 1 in the UK/Ireland, Canada, Germany, Denmark, and Sweden. ‘Chapter and Verse’ bowed in the Top 10 in 16 countries besides the US, with No. 2 debuts in the UK, Ireland, Australia, Sweden, Austria, and Italy. The album's No. 3 debut in Portugal gave Springsteen his highest chart entry there in more than a decade.

Springsteen’s public appearances to support 'Born To Run' have been epic and emotional, with than 2,000 fans packing the Barnes & Noble near Highway 9 in Freehold, NJ, on the book’s release day, September 27. After greeting more than 1,000 fans at NY’s Union Square Barnes & Noble, Springsteen was interviewed by Apple's Senior VP of Internet Software and Services Eddy Cue for a SoHo Apple Store event that streamed live on Facebook. Tickets for Springsteen’s meet-and-greet at the Philadelphia Free Library sold out in nine minutes. In Los Angeles, fans began lining up outside The Grove shopping center three days early. Ticket demand for his appearance at Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore., crashed the store’s website.

Bruce Springsteen sets Chapter and Verse album release pre-autobiography publishing

Chapter and Verse,' the audio companion to Bruce Springsteen's extraordinary forthcoming autobiography, will be released Sept. 23 on Columbia Records. The career-spanning compilation will be released four days before Simon & Schuster publishes 'Born to Run.' Five of the album's 18 tracks have not been previously released.

Springsteen selected the songs on 'Chapter and Verse' to reflect the themes and sections of 'Born to Run.' The compilation begins with two tracks from The Castiles, featuring a teenaged Springsteen on guitar and vocals, and ends with the title track from 2012's 'Wrecking Ball.' The collected songs trace Springsteen's musical history from its earliest days, telling a story that parallels the one in the book.

Recordings from Steel Mill and The Bruce Springsteen Band feature musicians who would go on to play in The E Street Band. Solo demos of "Henry Boy" and "Growin' Up" were cut in 1972 shortly before Springsteen began recording his debut album, 'Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J.'

'Chapter and Verse' will be available as a single CD and double LP. The package will include lyrics and rare photos. 'Chapter & Verse' will be available for preorder on Friday, July 29.

View filmmaker Thom Zimny's trailer for 'Chapter and Verse' below from NJ's B&T Scene & Heard AV.


'Chapter and Verse' song titles:

1. Baby I — The Castiles (recorded May 2, 1966, at Mr. Music, Bricktown, NJ; written by Bruce Springsteen and George Theiss; previously unreleased)

2. You Can't Judge a Book by the Cover — The Castiles (recorded Sept. 16, 1967, at The Left Foot, Freehold, NJ; written by Willie Dixon; previously unreleased)

3. He's Guilty (The Judge Song) — Steel Mill (recorded Feb. 22, 1970, at Pacific Recording Studio, San Mateo, CA; previously unreleased)

4. Ballad of Jesse James — The Bruce Springsteen Band (recorded March 14, 1972, at Challenger Eastern Surfboards, Highland, NJ; previously unreleased)

5. Henry Boy (recorded June 1972, at Mediasound Studios, New York, NY; previously unreleased)

6. Growin' Up (recorded May 3, 1972, at Columbia Records Recordings Studios, New York, NY; previously appeared on 'Tracks')

7. 4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy) (1973, 'The Wild, The Innocent & the E Street Shuffle')

8. Born to Run (1975, 'Born to Run')

9. Badlands (1977, 'Darkness on the Edge of Town')

10. The River (1980, 'The River')

11. My Father's House (1982, 'Nebraska')

12. Born in the U.S.A. (1984, 'Born in the U.S.A.')

13. Brilliant Disguise (1987, 'Tunnel of Love')

14. Living Proof (1992, 'Lucky Town')

15. The Ghost of Tom Joad (1995, 'The Ghost of Tom Joad')

16. The Rising (2002, 'The Rising')

17. Long Time Comin' (2005, 'Devils & Dust')

18. Wrecking Ball (2012, 'Wrecking Ball')



All songs written and performed by Bruce Springsteen except as noted.

The Boss, Bruce Springsteen, to Publish Autobiography on September 27

Simon & Schuster has announced the world-wide publication of  music legend Bruce Springsteen’s autobiography, Born to Run, which will be released internationally on September 27, 2016. The work will be published in hardcover, ebook, and audio editions by Simon & Schuster in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and India, and rights have already been sold to publishers in nine other countries.

The NJ rocker, Springsteen, has been privately writing the autobiography over the past seven years. He started work in 2009, after performing with the E Street Band at the Super Bowl’s halftime show.

In Born to Run, Mr. Springsteen describes growing up in Freehold, New Jersey amid the “poetry, danger, and darkness” that fueled his imagination. He vividly recounts his relentless drive to become a musician, his early days as a bar band king in Asbury Park, NJ and the rise of the E Street Band. With disarming candor, its said he tells for the first time the story of the personal struggles that inspired his best work, and shows us why the song “Born to Run” reveals more than we previously realized.

Bruce Springsteen ‘The Ties That Bind: The River Collection’ Box Set Announced

Columbia Records will release Bruce Springsteen’s ‘The Ties That Bind: The River Collection’ on December 4th. A comprehensive look at ‘The River’ era, the set contains 52 tracks on 4 CDs with a wealth of unreleased material, and four hours of never-before-seen video on 3 DVDs. It is comprised of the original ‘The River’ double album; the first official release of 'The River: Single Album;' a CD of 1979/80 studio outtakes; a two-DVD film of never-released, newly edited multi-camera footage from Springsteen’s famed 1980 show in Tempe, AZ, long rumored but never-before-seen; rare tour rehearsal footage; a brand new documentary “The Ties That Bind" about 'The River;' and a coffee table book of 200 rare or previously unseen photos and memorabilia with a new essay by Mikal Gilmore.

The River,’ Springsteen’s fifth album, was released on October 17, 1980 as a double album and reached #1 on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. In his notes, Gilmore calls ‘The River’ Springsteen’s “pivotal album—[the] hinge between the ambitious commotions that had preceded it and the more succinct musical riots, and sometimes terrifying storytelling, that followed.” (Two CDs, recently re-mastered).

‘The River: Single Album’ is the 10-track album that Springsteen recorded in 1979 as a follow up to 1978’s ‘Darkness On The Edge Of Town’ but never released. “The songs lacked the kind of unity and conceptual intensity I liked my music to have. So we went back in the studio,” he wrote in the lyrics/photo book “Songs.” The early sessions marked the beginning of a prolific 18-month long journey of writing and recording. Seven of the 10 titles on ‘The River: Single Album’ eventually appeared on ‘The River,’ some with alternate lyrics and arrangements, with outtakes like “Cindy" and a rockabilly version of "You Can Look (But You Better Not Touch)" never released. Now for the first time ‘The River: Single Album’ will be officially available.