The classic country song that has always been one of Bruce Springsteen’s favourites: “Beautifully written”
There are a few people who are immune to the charms of country music. From its earliest origins in the folk sounds of Appalachia, its cowboy boots and acoustic guitars have provided inspiration to a wealth of different songwriters, and Bruce Springsteen has always held country particularly close to his heart.
Although Springsteen didn’t wholly embrace the realm of country music within his own discography until Western Stars back in 2019, the core of the style has always been present within his output.
After all, the vast majority of country songs are narrative tracks built around the plight or triumph of the narrator, which isn’t a million miles away from Springsteen’s tales of working-class realities in his native New Jersey.
Country music is, admittedly, not the first genre you think of when faced with the concrete surroundings of New Jersey – it tends to find a more naturalised home in the southern states, instead. However, if Springsteen’s output has shown anything over the past five or so decades, it is that these musical tales are utterly universal, so it is no shock that country’s allure is pretty universal, too.
Given the fact that ‘The Boss’ has been embracing the realm of country since his earliest origins, it was only a matter of time before he went the whole hog. Back in 1976, for example, he took the E Street Band to the Grand Ole Opry – the epicentre of the country music world – to pay homage to his country influences and then, in 2019, he went a step further, using his Western Stars album to directly cite some of his country heroes.
Namely, the album’s accompanying film saw ‘The Boss’ perform a cover of Glen Campbell’s country classic, ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’. The Larry Weiss-penned track might be viewed as something of a novelty in the modern age, but upon its initial release in 1975, the song managed to unite the worlds of both country and pop, and Springsteen was more than impressed.
At the time of the film’s release, Springsteen explained his decision to perform a cover to Variety, sharing, “It was just a song that came up in an instant, you know. A really beautifully written song, and it was always one of my favourites by Glen Campbell.”
As one of the indisputable faces on the Mount Rushmore of country artists, Campbell had his fair share of musical masterpieces, from the timeless pulchritude of ‘Wichita Lineman’ to his nostalgia-fueled rendition of ‘Southern Nights’, yet it was ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ that became his signature track upon its release. Seemingly, the charm of its pop-country fusion was simply too catchy to ignore.
Springsteen’s own cover of the song, while pretty unexpected, did seem to foster a genuine, deep-rooted appreciation for Campbell’s track, along with his entire legacy as a hero of the country music genre. It might have taken the performer a fair few decades to perform the cover, but Campbell’s impact on his songwriting stylings goes right back to Springsteen’s early days back in the 1970s.
