Bruce Springsteen announces new solo album, ‘Western Stars'

After days of teasing a new release online, New Jersey’s own Bruce Springsteen has announced that he has a new solo album, Western Stars, slated for release June 14. The album’s first single, “Hello Sunshine,” will be released with an accompanying music video tonight at midnight.

“This record is a return to my solo recordings featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements,” Springsteen said of the album in a statement. “It’s a jewel box of a record.”

According to a release, the album was inspired in part by the “Southern California pop records of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s,” like releases from “Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb, [and] Burt Bacharach,” as Springsteen recently told Variety. Western Stars will also feature appearances from current and former E Street Band members such as Soozie Tyrell, Charlie Giordano, and David Sancious, as well as wife Patti Scialfa.

The album reportedly explores “a sweeping range of American themes” across it’s 13 tracks, including “highways and desert spaces, isolation and community and the permanence of home and hope.” So, it’s pretty much like every other Springsteen album as far as content, though “escape” seems to be missing from the list of themes.

With its release this summer, Western Stars is Springsteen’s first solo album since High Hopes, which was released in 2014. USA Today reports that the album was likely recorded prior to The Boss’ run of Springsteen on Broadway, which wrapped a year-plus-long run in December, which Inquirer music critic Dan DeLuca called, “an extraordinary two-hour evening.” Netflix released their own version of the Springsteen on Broadway in December.

A pre-sale for Western Stars will begin on Friday. The album’s track listing is below: