Devils & Dust

Background

Springsteen revealed that many of the songs from Devils & Dust dated back a decade or more. He wrote "All the Way Home" for Southside Johnny to use in his album Better Days (1991). "Long Time Comin and "The Hitter" were written and performed on Springsteen's 1996 solo Ghost of Tom Joad Tour. "Devils & Dust" featured in soundchecks during The Rising Tour in 2003. The following year it was on the set list for at least one Vote for Change show, but was swapped out at the last moment for a 12-string guitar rendition of the "Star Spangled Banner", which he would later release for free through his official website.

Release and promotion

On March 28 the title track was featured as an exclusive preview on AOLmusic.com. The next day it was released on iTunes, and also on DualDisc, the DVD side of which featured Springsteen performing and commenting on five tracks: "Devils and Dust", "Long Time Comin, "Reno", "All I'm Thinkin' About", and "Matamoros Banks". Springsteen embarked on a solo Devils & Dust Tour to promote the album.

Starbucks had been considered a possible retail outlet for the album, as it had accounted for about a quarter of all sales for the recently successful Ray Charles's Genius Loves Company. The company declined, with news coverage citing as reasons the song "Reno", with its reference to anal sex, and Springsteen's refusal to approve a co-branded disc and promotional deal that prominently featured the Starbucks name. "There were a number of factors involved. It [the lyrics] was one of the factors, but not the only reason," Ken Lombard, president of Starbucks Entertainment, told Reuters. At a concert at the Tower Theater in Philadelphia, Springsteen introduced "Reno" by joking that the album would be available "at Dunkin' Donuts and Krispy Kreme stores everywhere."

The album was Springsteen's seventh No. 1, and fourth No. 1 debut, on the Billboard albums chart, his second for an album containing only previously unreleased content, and his first ever without the E Street Band. It went gold in the US in 2006, where it had sold 650,000 copies as of November 2008.

Critical reception

In a rave review, Rolling Stone lauded the album as being "in striking and affecting ways... Springsteen's most audacious record since the home-demo American Gothic of 1982's Nebraska". The songs are "rendered with a subdued, mostly acoustic flair that smells of wood smoke and sparkles in the right places like stars in a clear Plains sky", David Fricke wrote. "Shocked by the song about sodomy? Wait 'til you hear the Dylan impression" was how The Guardian opened its review, citing the "Reno" lyrics, "Two hundred dollars straight in, two-fifty up the ass", and which it reports Springsteen as having justified with the remark, "It's just what felt right". It found the album to be flawed, but praised that it "rarely does what you expect it to".

Devils and Dust received five Grammy Award nominations, three for the song "Devils & Dust"; Song of the Year and Best Rock Song. Springsteen was nominated for Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance, and the album for Best Contemporary Folk Album and Best Long Form Music Video. He took home the award for Best Solo Rock Vocal, which he had previously won for "Code of Silence" and "The Rising". During the February 8 Grammy telecast, Springsteen gave a live solo performance of "Devils & Dust", adding "Bring 'em home" at the finish, and then immediately turned and left the stage without staying to receive his partial standing ovation.

Track listing

All songs are written by Bruce Springsteen.

Personnel

Adapted from the liner notes:

• Bruce Springsteen – vocals, guitar, keyboards (tracks 1–12); bass (track 8), drums (tracks 8, 11), percussion (tracks 2, 5, 7, 9, 10), tambourine (track 3)

• Brendan O'Brien – bass (tracks 1, 2, 4–6, 11), tambora (tracks 2, 6), sitar (track 2), electric sarangi (track 2), hurdy-gurdy (track 6)

• Steve Jordan – drums (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6), percussion (track 5)

• Nashville String Machine – strings (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 10, 12)

• Soozie Tyrell – violin (tracks 4, 6), backing vocals (tracks 4, 6, 8, 11)

• Marty Rifkin – steel guitar (tracks 2, 4)

• Susan Welty – horns (tracks 1, 3, 5, 10)

• Thomas Witte – horns (tracks 1, 3, 5, 10)

• Brice Andrus – horns (tracks 3, 5, 10)

• Donald Strand – horns (tracks 3, 5, 10)

• Mark Pender – trumpet (track 9)

• Chuck Plotkin – piano (track 2)

• Danny Federici – keyboards (track 4)

• Patti Scialfa – backing vocals (tracks 4, 6, 8, 11)

• Lisa Lowell – backing vocals (tracks 8, 11) Technical

• Brendan O'Brien – production (tracks 1–12), mixing (tracks 1–4, 6, 7, 10, 11)

• Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Plotkin – production (tracks 2, 4)

• Toby Scott – recording (tracks 1–12), mixing (tracks 5, 8, 9, 12)

• Nick Didia – recording

• Karl Egsieker – second engineer

• Billy Bowers – additional engineering

• Tom Tapley – additional recording assistant

• Eddie Horst – string & horn arrangements

• Bob Ludwig – mastering

• Chris Austopchuk – art direction

• Dave Bett, Michelle Holme – art direction, design

• Anton Corbijn – photography

Charts

Certifications and sales

Notes

References

References

1. (May 6, 2005). "Bruce Almighty". The New York Times.
2. "Springsteen Single To Premiere Monday". Billboard.
3. (January 30, 2014). ["Devils & Dust DualDisc] by Sony, Bruce Springsteen | 827969390023 | DualDisc - CD/DVD | Barnes & Noble". Barnesandnoble.com.
4. (July 13, 2005). "Bruce Conquers Europe With 'Devils & Dust' Tour". Billboard.
5. "Starbucks Puts Lid On Springsteen CD". Billboard.
6. Petridis, Alex. (April 22, 2005). "Bruce Springsteen, Devils and Dust".
7. (May 6, 2005). "Entertainment | Coffee chain bans Springsteen CD". BBC News.
8. "Chart Watch Extra: What A Turkey! The 25 Worst-Selling #1 Albums - Chart Watch".
9. "Devils & Dust". metacritic.com.
10. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. (April 26, 2005). "Devils & Dust - Bruce Springsteen | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic.
11. These 12 songs... cleave to the theme of hope-is-all-we-have, while stopping short of an unnecessary, pat moral. [Jun 2005, p.116]
12. "CG: Artist 5142". Robert Christgau.
13. Devils is a more mature effort than Joad and Nebraska, for being a little less bleak. [29 Apr 2005, p.144]
14. Jarvis, Toby. (25 April 2005). "Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust".
15. The heart of the CD is filled with the compassion and craft that have made Springsteen such an invaluable figure in rock. [24 Apr 2005]
16. [An] alarming intimacy is the bedrock of Devils & Dust. [Jun 2005, p.92]
17. Sodomsky, Sam. (24 February 2020). "The Rising / Devils & Dust / Live in New York City / Live in Dublin / 18 Tracks".
18. Kalet, Hank. (April 24, 2005). "Bruce Springsteen: Devils & Dust". PopMatters.
19. Fricke, David. (May 5, 2005). "Devils & Dust: Bruce Springsteen".
20. Fricke, David. (May 5, 2005). "Music: Devils & Dust".
21. "Bruce Springsteen". GRAMMY.com.
22. De Luigi, Mario. "Ricossa nazionale". Musica e Dischi.