With a new duet with country singer Zach Bryan, Jersey Shore rocker Bruce Springsteen has made his debut on the country charts. This is the first time in his fifty-year recording career that Springsteen has achieved this feat.
According to his friends, it is a shot in the arm for the “I'm on Fire” rocker, who is 74 years old. This comes after he was forced to cancel a string of concert engagements in the United States and Europe due to ongoing health issues.
“Bruce is a big country music fan — he’s been covering Hank Williams Sr. songs at his concerts for decades. Still, he’s felt like he shouldn’t crash country music’s party by invading their territory,” an unnamed source told The National Enquirer.
However, when Zach, a singer-songwriter who is currently at the top of the charts, requested Bruce to be a guest on his new single “Sandpaper,” Bruce couldn't say no. Now, the song is ascending not only the country charts but also the pop charts, making this Bruce's first Top 100 hit in fifteen years.
“Bruce is a realist. He can still pack ’em in at concerts when his health allows, but he says people don’t want to hear new music from old farts like him. He was astounded that Zach, 46 years younger, is a fan and wanted to duet with him. Bruce says he owes Zach a debt of gratitude for putting him back on the charts!” the anonymous insider said to the entertainment news outlet.
The late 1970s found Bruce to be a guy of great activity. Having already achieved remarkable success with albums such as his debut "Greetings from Asbury Park, New Jersey" and "Born to Run," the frontman of the E Street Band had effortlessly risen to the rank of a superstar in a short period of time. As a consequence of this, Bruce did not have a lot of spare time to pursue performances that were not his own, with the exception of one artist, of course, as per AmericanSongwriter.com.
Graham Parker, a British rock and roller who is also the leader of Graham Parker & The Rumour, was the only artist that Bruce ever admitted to paying to perform live as a live performer. This admission was made sometime in the late 1970s. The first record that Parker and his full-band ensemble released was titled "Howlin' Wind," and it was published in 1976. Shortly after that, they issued their second album, which was titled "Heat Treatment."
In the years that followed the release of their first album, Graham Parker & The Rumour achieved a great deal of success, earning the admiration of both contemporary musicians and audiences. Following their performance as Bob Dylan's opening act at the Picnic in Blackbushe in 1978, the British band eventually began working with Nicky Hopkins and Danny Federici, both of whom were band members of the E Street Band. Presumably, it was at this time that Bruce was the one who expressed his congratulations to Parker.
Graham Parker addressed the comments that Bruce made about him in the documentary titled "Don't Ask Me Questions," which was released in 2014. The interview took place in 2014 and was conducted by music journalist Bill Kopp.
“There’s some brilliant stuff from Bruce Springsteen on that about my material. He said that there was always this ‘caustic sound.’ And that’s true. Because when I started, I’d had pretty much zero experience. I’d written these songs and was totally green,” Graham stated.
Whether or not Bruce was a caustic person, he saw a kindred soul in the raw and uncompromising craftsmanship of Graham Parker. When producer Jimmy Iovine was in the studio working on "The Up Escalator," he invited Bruce to stop by the session and give background vocals to the song "Endless Night." Bruce agreed to do so.
Graham did not appear to be thrown off by the addition, as he later described Graham on his website as "courteous and hard-working" and "a real mensh [sic]." “He just came in once and heard stuff, and he was really enthusiastic,” he later added in a 1999 interview.
