E Street Punks

The Musicians Who Merged Springsteen Songcraft and Underground Attitude

In E Street Punks, Geoffrey Himes examines a clutch of critically acclaimed musicians whose punk and alternative roots have belied a penchant for narrative lyrics in the style of Bruce Springsteen.

Explore the music and careers of the bands that have conjured an unlikely combination of backstreet musical sensibilities and main-street storytelling.

There was a time not so long ago that Bruce Springsteen was persona non grata in certain rock circles—an out-of-touch millionaire stadium act who had forsaken his roots in the smoky blue-collar clubs of the Jersey Shore. But then a funny thing happened: a number of bands across the US, raised on the sonics and cynicism of punk and alternative rock, began drawing comparisons to The Boss thanks to their rich catalogs of narrative lyrics that trod much of the same subject matter, from shady characters and dead-end jobs to unreliable partners and even more unreliable cars. 

Veteran music journalist Geoffrey Himes calls these musicians “E Street Punks,” in reference to Springsteen’s legendary backing band, whose name is synonymous with rootsy, high-energy rock. The bands that Himes names to this canon are also bound by their common willingness to embrace not just Springsteen’s lyrical aesthetic but also older American styles that have proven adaptable to punk’s loud-fast ethos, including rockabilly, honky-tonk, blues, garage-rock, Celtic folk, Tex-Mex, and Southern soul.

In E Street Punks, Himes examines the most prominent bands and artists in this group:

• Drive-By Truckers
• The Hold Steady
• Jason Isbell
• Alejandro Escovedo
• Jon Dee Graham
• Lucero
• Bottle Rockets
• Dropkick Murphys

Himes’ narratives draw on his decades of interviews with the artists, as well as new interviews conducted for this book, presenting the life and work of these bands—and in the process, naming a rock subgenre. Himes’s captivating commentary is supplemented with annotated discographies for each band and a selection of photos, creating the definitive story of this essential school of rock.

If you are a fan of any of these bands or consider yourself an American music history buff, this is a must-have volume for your collection.

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