February 1, 2026 Eleven days before the release of "Streets of Minneapolis," Bruce Springsteen stood onstage during his first public appearance of the new year, at Light of Day 's Winterfest 2026. He already had played a song with Willie Nile and his band earlier in the evening, and was now in the midst of playing a fourteen-songs set with his longtime friend/collaborator Joe Grushecky and his great band the Houserockers. Before performing the next song, however, Springsteen

January 29, 2026 Directed by Thom Zimny Edited by Thom Zimny and Samuel Shapiro Production Footage: Pam Springsteen and Thom Zimny

January 28, 2026 "I wrote this song on Saturday, recorded it yesterday, and released it to you today in response to the state terror being visited on the city of Minneapolis. It’s dedicated to the people of Minneapolis, our innocent immigrant neighbors. and in memory of Alex Pretti and Renee Good. Stay free, Bruce Springsteen" [UPDATE] - Here are the official recording credits for "Streets of Minneapolis:" Produced by: Bruce Springsteen with Ron Aniello Executive Produced by:

January 23, 2026 Today marks what would've been the 76th birthday of E Street Band keyboardist and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer "Phantom" Dan Federici , taken from us far too young in 2008, due to melanoma complications. ( Click here to support The Danny Fund, in association with Melanoma Research Alliance. ) Bruce Springsteen has called Federici "the most instinctive and natural musician I ever met," a great "ear player" who made indelible contributions to so many recordings

Vini drums while Toney Hall strums, in their Florida-based group The Hula Hula Boys, via Vini's Facebook page January 22, 2026 Happy birthday, and best wishes for many more happy birthdays ahead, to E Street Band alumnus and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Vini "Mad Dog" Lopez , who's turned 77 today. Back in the day, Vini earned that "Mad Dog" nickname the hard way. But these days, Vini's a much more mellow fellow, still making music - now via The Hula Hula Boys duo with Toney Hal

photo by Mark Krajnak for Letters To You January 21, 2026 With all the current distractions of life in New Jersey, USA circa 2026 - from inclement weather, to omnipresent electronic-device-addiction, to the dramatic and at times horrifying events transpiring around the country – it seemed like it was going to be pretty hard to focus in on what was going on onstage at the various venues of Light of Day WinterFest 2026, "the Main Event" of which, "Bob [Benjamin]'s Birthday Ba

photo by Mark Krajnak  - used with permission January 18, 2026 Last night Bruce Springsteen was yet again an unannounced "surprise" addition to Light of Day 's annual WinterFest "Bob's Birthday Bash" Main Event. We're still prepping our full report from Lisa Iannucci, along with plenty more great photos from Mark Krajnak , but of course the most timely and relevant news from the evening is Bruce's introduction to "The Promised Land," which he performed with Joe Grushecky and

January 16, 2026 Well, Light of Day WinterFest 2026 is now upon us, and the Transparent Clinch Gallery has come up with a great way for everyone to help support Light of Day this weekend, even if you can't make it to the Jersey Shore in person for all of the fun and fundraising. In the process, you'll score a super-cool Springsteen collectible in the form of a beautiful Danny Clinch-signed archival print of his photo featuring Joe Grushecky and Bruce Springsteen in action d

January 16, 2026 As of this week, the organization formerly known as The Bruce Springsteen Archives and Center for American Music has shortened its name officially to The Bruce Springsteen Center for American Music . From the announcement issued on Wednesday, January 13: "...While the name has been streamlined, the Center’s core commitments remain unchanged: preserving and sharing the legacy of Bruce Springsteen, supporting scholarly research, and engaging diverse audiences

January 11, 2026 This year marks what would have been the 84th birthday of our beloved Clarence "Big Man" Clemons , born on this date back in 1942. (Happy Clarence Clemons Day 2026, New Jersey!) And just over two-and-a-half months from now, 2026 also will mark the 25th anniversary of the first officially released recordings of two of Bruce Springsteen's greatest songs: "American Skin (41 Shots)" and "Land of Hope and Dreams," both included on the album Bruce Springsteen & th

image courtesy of Save Tillie January 5, 2026 In this, his final month in office, outgoing New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy - a self-proclaimed Springsteen fan - has a relatively easy-peasy, no-brainer chance to save what's left of Asbury Park's demolished-in-2004 Palace Amusements building ("the Palace" in the "Beyond the Palace..." lyric of "Born to Run,") including its iconic Tillie mural, pictured below. By all means, this should be one of Murphy's new-year resolutions. im

December 31, 2025 Happy New Year to one and all, Dear Readers! In 2025, we Springsteen fans certainly ended up with quite a lot to experience, enjoy (at least most of the time,) and discuss. Once again, continuing what quickly has become a year-end tradition, Letters To You has joined forces with our friend Jesse Jackson at the Set Lusting Bruce podcast to discuss the "Springsteen 2025 Year in Review." Clocking in at almost three hours - and that's AFTER the editing! - Jes

December 25, 2025 "...even stoplights blink a bright red and green..." - the legendary Tower Theater - or what's left of it, since its iconic tower had to be removed for safety reasons years ago - on Christmas Eve 2025 - photo by Shawn Poole It's Christmas morning here on the East Coast of the U.S., which is probably the most appropriate time for us to wish all of our readers celebrating around the globe a Merry Christmas, Happy Christmas, Feliz Navidad, Joyeux Noël, etc. Sea

December 20, 2025 From Bruce Springsteen's official website/social-media statement on the passing of the great "Lord of the Highway," Joe Ely , who died earlier this week on Monday from complications of Lewy Body Dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and pneumonia: "Over here, we’re deeply saddened by the loss of Joe Ely, a singular American singer, great musician and great artist. I was lucky enough to count Joe as a true friend and I will miss that voice and his companionship. O

December 7, 2025 All tickets and ticket-packages are now available for the 2026 edition of the Jersey-Shore-based, multi-day Light of Day WinterFest , which will take place next month in mid-January. The "Main Event - 'Bob's Birthday Bash'" (and this year's currently announced Birthday Bash lineup pictured above,) will take place on Saturday, January 17, and all other events will place on the days surrounding it. Click here and here for detailed information on all events, a

December 6, 2025 Yesterday's "First Friday" release from the monthly Nugs/Live Archive series is another great show from The Wrecking Ball Tour: HK Areena, Turku, FIN - May 8, 2013 . It's one of the best examples of how varied and full of surprises the shows on that tour could be, with Bruce Springsteen & the (newly expanded) E Street Band taking on nightly sign-requests and major setlist changes. Most important, they did all of that while maintaining their well-known musica

Alison Oscar of Jon Landau Management and Karen Rosenberg of Empire Events Group display a navy-blue "Spirit of '76" shirt at The Kristen Ann Carr Fund's 2025 "A Night To Remember" event last month December 1, 2025 Happy Cyber Monday, and Happy Last-Day-To-Order-Your- Exclusive-Letters-To-You-Frank-Caruso-"Spirit-of-'76"-Shirts -With-Free-Guaranteed-Delivery-In-Time-For-Christmas/Kwanzaa! With awesome art by Springsteen's Outlaw Pete collaborator Frank Caruso , and a releva

photo by Mark Krajnak  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used with permission November 30, 2025 Today we're celebrating the 72nd birthday of E Street Band founding member and Rock & Roll Hall of Famer David Sancious (pictured above at last September's Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music at Monmouth University's Born to Run @50 symposium.) Christmastime has just begun, too, so how 'bout we celebrate Davey's special day by en

publicity photo of Ethan Zane Browne from the Alain / Zane Facebook page November 29, 2025 This week, we at Letters To You were shocked and saddened to learn of the tragic death of Ethan Zane Browne at only 52 years of age . Ethan was the son of Jackson Browne and the late Phyllis Major. During his short life, he did some modeling, some acting, and - as one-half of the duo Alain Zane - he also made some pretty damned good R&B/soul music. In the now-hard-to-find 1980 film No

November 26, 2025 Once again this year, Bruce Springsteen is lending his support to WhyHunger , as he has done so often in the past, and the anti-hunger organization's annual Hungerthon . Springsteen fans who support this year's Hungerthon and WhyHunger, which is now fifty years old, can score some exclusive Springsteen-themed gear. The theme of this year's Bruce-themed benefits is centered around lyrics from "Jack Of All Trades." Fans who donate $60 or more can receive the B

November 26, 2025 It is well known, as it should be, that Jimmy Cliff , whose death at 81 was announced on Monday, has had an enormous and enduring musical impact around the globe. In addition, many Bruce Springsteen fans, myself included, feel an extra debt of gratitude to Cliff for writing and recording the original version of the song "Trapped." Springsteen found a Jimmy Cliff cassette that included Cliff's version of "Trapped" (which, incidentally, was produced by Cat Ste

black-and-white 1975 "passport photo outtake" image by Barbara Pyle, from her book Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band 1975 ; color 2025 TeachRock Facebook profile photo by Laura Merrill Images - used w/ permission November 22, 2025 Happy 75th birthday to the E Street Band's true Renaissance man: singer, songwriter, producer, guitarist, arranger, bandleader/musical-director, activist, actor, director, writer/screenwriter, satellite-radio pioneer, record-label executive, e

L-R: Letters To You editor/publisher Shawn Poole, Jon Landau Management's Alison Oscar, and "Springsteen - Spirit of '76" artist Frank Caruso at the 2025 Kristen Ann Carr Fund "A Night to Remember" event in New York City - November 15, 2025 - photo by Greg Drew November 19, 2025 Okay, all you procrastinators out there, to quote the man himself, "You guys know what time of year it is?!" It's your last chance to pre-order one (or more) of our exclusive "Spirit of '76" shirts i

November 13, 2025 The Kristen Ann Carr Fund (KACF)'s "A Night To Remember" 2025 will take place in New York City this coming Saturday night, and once again the charity event - co-sponsored by, among others, longtime KACF supporters Bruce Springsteen & Patti Scialfa-Springsteen - will feature a silent-auction component, with bids being placed through 10 p.m. ET on Saturday. Even if you can't attend "A Night To Remember" 2025 in person, you still can place your bid(s) online v

November 11, 2025 Since Letters To You was launched back in 2023, each year we've featured a special Veterans Day contribution to the website from my friend Doug Bradley . Doug is a Vietnam veteran and the author of Who’ll Stop the Rain: Respect, Remembrance, and Reconciliation in Post-Vietnam America , co-author with Craig Werner of We Gotta Get Out of This Place: The Soundtrack of the Vietnam War , which was named best music book of 2015  by Rolling Stone , and author of DE

November 10, 2025 A lot has changed - some forever, and not for better - in the nearly two decades since Bruce Springsteen's 2007 album Magic and the 2007-2008 tour that followed it. But in 2025, when you're still stuck in radio nowhere and just want to hear a Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band musical performance with some strong, explicit, and sane politics behind it, while continuing your search for a world with some soul, it just doesn't get any better than Oracle Are

November 9, 2025 "...GHOSTLY VOICES..." - On " Nebraska Outtakes," "Electric Nebraska ," and the enduring greatness of the original album by Caroline Madden As any Bruce Springsteen diehard already knows, and as more casual fans have learned more recently from the film adaptation Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere , his 1982 album Nebraska was recorded entirely in his bedroom on a rather rudimentary TEAC 144 four-track cassette recorder, then mixed on an old Gibson Echopl

October 31, 2025 artwork by Stephen Winchell

October 27, 2025 "...you end up settling for la-la-la lights, camera, action... -Bruce Springsteen, "Be True" To start on a truly important and positive note, which of course we should do, some people who see screenwriter-director Scott Cooper’s Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere will learn a bit more about who Bruce Springsteen is, both as an artist and as a person, as well as why Nebraska is one of his greatest albums. They also will learn a bit about how Springsteen st

photo by Mark Krajnak  for The Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music  - used with permission October 27, 2025 Happy 76th Birthday, and best wishes for many more happy birthdays ahead, to the rock-steady Foundation of the E Street Nation, the E Street Band bassist who's now played more gigs backing Bruce Springsteen than any other musician, alive or dead... Mr. Garry W. Tallent. Pictured above is Garry doing his thing at his latest gig backing Bruce, just last