Bruce Springsteen collaborates with Zach Bryan on new track ‘Sandpaper’
After Bruce Springsteen previously appeared as a special guest at New York’s Madison Square Garden earlier this year, Zach Bryan has officially released their collaboration, ‘Sandpaper’.
The highly-anticipated album by Bryan, titled The Great American Bar Scene, has been shared by the singer-songwriter on July 4th. In addition to featuring ‘The Boss’, Noeline Hofmann appears on ‘Purple Gas’, John Mayer assisted on ‘Better Days’, and John Moreland added his touches to ‘Memphis; The Blues’.
Although albums are traditionally released on Friday’s, Bryan has a habit of operating differently to the industry norms, and so far, it’s working well for the Oklahoman. Recently, he headlined his first stadium show, and has spent much of the last 12 months glued to the road, playing sold-out arenas in North America on a nightly basis.
The new track with Springsteen was premiered in March when the New Jersey hero appeared at Bryan’s show in New York to perform ‘Sandpaper’ as well as the set finale, ‘Revival’, with Maggie Rogers. Bryan hinted at the surprise appearance by wearing a Springsteen t-shirt for the concert and also using ‘Johnny 99’ as his walk-on song. The singer-songwriter has previously been open about his love of ‘The Boss’, notably covering ‘I’m on Fire’.
At the time of the show, Springsteen was on tour with the E-Street Band in Los Angeles, but flew to New York specifically to appear with the rising star, who had his first chart-topping album in 2023 with the eponymous, Zach Byran.
During the day of the duet, Springsteen learned ‘Sandpaper’, which was initially wrote as a solo effort before ‘The Boss’ transformed it into a duet.
Prior to the album being released on July 4th, coinciding with Independence Day in the United States, Bryan selected a list of 23 bars across America which he granted early access to The Great American Bar Scene from June 24th.
Explaining his decision, Bryan said in a statement: “My intent with all this is to give everyone an early glimpse of this album, but more importantly, this is in the spirit of bringing people together for a memorable moment. I have chose(n) 23 bars across the country that embody the spirit of American culture.”
The ‘I Remember Everything’ singer continued: “These bars will play select cuts from The Great American Bar Scene starting June 24th. As much as I’d kill to play all these timeless bars, it won’t be possible. I will be visiting a few off the list to have a drink with ya’ll. The Great American Bar Scene will be released on July 4th. With love from the road, ZB.”
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