We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

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We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions cover
Studio album by Bruce Springsteen
Released April 25, 2006
Recorded 1997, 2005, 2006
Genre Folk
Length 60:34
Label Columbia
Producer Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau
Professional reviews
Bruce Springsteen chronology
Hammersmith Odeon London '75
(2006)		 We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions
(2006)		 Live in Dublin
(2007)

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, released in 2006, is the fourteenth studio album by Bruce Springsteen.

Contents

[edit] History

This is Springsteen's first and so far only album of non-Springsteen material and contains his interpretation of thirteen folk music songs written or made popular by activist folk musician Pete Seeger and recorded in an informal, large band setting. On it he hired a group of lesser-known musicians from New Jersey and New York, augmented by Patti Scialfa, Soozie Tyrell, and The Miami Horns, who had all contributed to previous albums.

The album was Springsteen's second consecutive non-E Street Band, non-rock music project. The critical reception to the album was very positive, with E! Online calling it his "best album since Nebraska [1] and All Music Guide labeling it "rambunctious, freewheeling, [and] positively joyous".[2] PopMatters called it a "a sonic transfusion on the order of the Mermaid Avenue records".[3], which were Woody Guthrie songs recorded by Billy Bragg and Wilco.

The album, like its predecessor Devils and Dust, has been released on DualDisc, in a CD/DVD double disc set, and as a set of two vinyl records.

For the DualDisc and CD/DVD sets, the full album is on the CD(-side), while the DVD(-side) side features a PCM Stereo version of the album and a short film about the making and recording of the album. Two bonus songs also appear on the DVD(-side).

The subsequent Bruce Springsteen with The Seeger Sessions Band Tour took this musical approach even further.

On October 3, 2006, the album was reissued as We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - American Land Edition with five additional tracks (the two bonus tracks from before and three new numbers that had been introduced and heavily featured on the tour), new videos, an expanded documentary and liner notes. Added sales were minimal.

The album won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 49th Grammy Awards held in February 2007.

The album had sold about 600,000 copies in the United States by November 2006; the RIAA certified it with gold record status. By the end of 2007, it had sold more than 2,319,850 copies worldwide.[4]

[edit] Track listing

All songs traditional with unknown songwriters, unless otherwise noted.

  1. "Old Dan Tucker" – 2:31
  2. "Jesse James" (Billy Gashade) – 3:47
  3. "Mrs. McGrath" – 4:19
  4. "O Mary Don't You Weep" – 6:05
  5. "John Henry" – 5:07
  6. "Erie Canal" (Thomas S. Allen) – 4:03
  7. "Jacob's Ladder" – 4:28
  8. "My Oklahoma Home" (Bill and Agnes "Sis" Cunningham) – 6:03
  9. "Eyes on the Prize" (Alice Wine) – 5:16
  10. "Shenandoah" – 4:52
  11. "Pay Me My Money Down" – 4:32
  12. "We Shall Overcome" (long story) – 4:53
  13. "Froggie Went A Courtin'" – 4:33

[edit] DualDisc bonus tracks

  1. "Buffalo Gals"
  2. "How Can I Keep from Singing" (attr. Robert Wadsworth Lowry)

[edit] American Land Edition bonus tracks

  1. "Buffalo Gals"
  2. "How Can I Keep from Singing" (attr. Robert Wadsworth Lowry)
  3. "How Can a Poor Man Stand Such Times and Live?" (Blind Alfred Reed, Bruce Springsteen)
  4. "Bring 'Em Home" (Pete Seeger)
  5. "American Land" (Bruce Springsteen)

[edit] Personnel

[edit] References

  1. ^ [1][dead link]
  2. ^ allmusic ((( We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions > Overview )))
  3. ^ Bruce Springsteen: We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions - PopMatters Music Review
  4. ^ Global Track Chart

[edit] External links

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Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band
Bruce Springsteen • Roy Bittan • Clarence Clemons • Nils Lofgren • Patti Scialfa • Garry Tallent • Soozie Tyrell • Steven Van Zandt • Max Weinberg
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