Review of Springsteen's We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

Bruce Springsteen is at that Bob Dylan point of his career. Simply put, he can pretty much do anything that he wants. And he does. After releasing the solo effort Devils and Dust and touring without any band whatsoever, let alone the E Street Band, the Boss has surprised many hoping for a full E Street band effort by putting together the massive Seeger Sessions band to record and tour in support of his latest record, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions.

Selling records may not be a priority for Springsteen any longer, as he has been there before, but the Seeger Sessions could very well become a hit at the same time as serving as what Springsteen wants to do at this point in his career. Putting another E Street album on hold in favor of the curent effort, Bruce assembled a band that does consist of wife Patti Scalfia and Suzie Tyrell to record the Seeger Sessions in just three, one-day jams. Recorded in his home studio, the music of yesterday comes alive and inspires just like much of Springsteen's past work.

The title track, We Shall Overcome, as well as another Civil Rights' song, Eyes on the Prize is delivered by Bruce and the band with as much hope and measured passion as Springsteen standards like The Promised Land and No Surrender. In tunes like Old Dan Tucker, we hear the fun and frolicking Boss come through as he has in classics like Darlington County. Every song on the record illicits the same positive response: Only Bruce could take this music and make it fit in the year 2006. The sound is contemporary and upbeat without sacrificing the traditional sound and the history of the music that made Seeger and folk famous.

In support of the record, Springsteen opened his tour by closing the New Orleans Jazz Festival. One account claimed that Bruce and his band "sold a few records" thanks to their performance in Louisiana. And this is the key, Springsteen is following his heart, even though new E Street Band material is desired by many long time fans. By bringing the music of the Seeger Sessions to the present day and to a new potential fan base, Bruce is doing something vitally important, reinventing an important piece of American historical culture. And no one, not even Dylan, could have done like Bruce has.

The tour heads off to Europe before coming back to the States and running into June. Despite this venture, though, Springsteen has said that he has an E Street Band record written and he is just waiting for the right time to bring it to life.