The Fan Gift That Inspired an Entire Bruce Springsteen Album

Late in 2020, Bruce Springsteen released his album, Letter to You, to widespread critical acclaim. It was the Boss's first record to feature his classic E Street Band since 2014's High Hopes; the other album Springsteen released that decade, 2019's Western Stars, was a concept album of sorts influenced by 1970s country pop music, and employed a wide range of session musicians. 

With Letter to You, Springsteen returned to more familiar rock territory. Fans loved it, and so did reviewers, with Guardian music critic Kitty Empire describing the work as “a distillation of the elixir of E Street: a thumping, sentimental, full-court press of unabashed vigor, designed to frappé stadiums.” Letter to You topped the album charts in the UK, U.S., Australia, and across multiple European countries. Perhaps the strangest element in the story of the album's creation is that, had it not been for an unexpected gift from a fan, it might not have existed at all.

The gift that inspired Springsteen’s Letter to You

In 2017 and 2018, the singer performed a run of shows at the Walter Kerr and St. James theatres in New York. Billed as Springsteen on Broadway, the show featured Springsteen performing solo on piano and guitar, interspersed with autobiographical reminiscences. 

The concerts proved a great success, and it was after one such performance that the Boss had a novel encounter with a fan. At first, Springsteen thought that his admirer wanted him to sign the guitar that the young man was holding out. In fact, it was presented as a gift, one which was gratefully accepted.

An instrument inspires an album

In Springsteen's own words: “So I brought it home and I looked at it and it played beautifully, it sounded gorgeous, and the wood… It had a variety of different types of wood. It was a real piece of craftsmanship—and so I left it in my living room. When I started to feel the urge to write I just picked it up because it was such an easy play. Most of the songs came pouring out to me, so I owe a debt to whoever that young man is, wherever he is. Instruments have power, in and of themselves. Guitars are inspirational and they do hold songs within them. It’s wonderful to discover it.”

Springsteen wrote the majority of Letter to You using that same guitar. Somewhere out there, an as-yet-unnamed man holds the unique claim of being the person who inspired one of the Boss's best records.