Columbia Records to release Bruce Springsteen Album "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions" on April 25, 2006

Press release
Source: Fanscape

Columbia Records will release Bruce Springsteen's twenty-first album, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions, on April 25, 2006. The album features Bruce's personal interpretations of thirteen traditional songs, all of them associated with the legendary guiding light of American folk music, Pete Seeger, for whom the album is named. Speaking of the origins of the new music, Springsteen said, "So much of my writing, particularly when I write acoustically, comes straight out of the folk tradition. Making this album was creatively liberating because I have a love of all those different roots sounds... they can conjure up a world with just a few notes and a few words."

Springsteen recorded the album with a large ensemble. The musicians on the record are Springsteen (guitar, harmonica, B3 organ and percussion), Sam Bardfeld (violin), Art Baron (tuba) Frank Bruno (guitar), Jeremy Chatzy (upright bass), Mark Clifford (banjo), Larry Eagle (drums and percussion), Charles Giordano (B3 organ, piano and accordion), Ed Manion (saxophone), Mark Pender (trumpet), Richie "La Bamba" Rosenberg (trombone) and Soozie Tyrell (violin). Lisa Lowell, Patti Scialfa, Springsteen, Pender, Tyrell, and Rosenberg contribute backing vocals.

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions will be released in DualDisc format, with the full album on one side of the disc and DVD content on the other side. The 30 minute video side of the DualDisc contains extensive behind the scenes footage of the recording of the album. In addition, the DualDisc will contain two bonus tracks, special artwork, and a note from Springsteen.

Springsteen is planning a short tour in the U.S. and Europe to accompany the release of the album. He will be appearing with most of the musicians who appeared on the CD. Details will be announced separately.

According to Springsteen's longtime manager Jon Landau, "We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions has a lightness and ease to it, a sheer joyfulness, that makes it very special from top to bottom. Bruce has taken a core group of classic American songs and transformed them into a high energy, modern and very personal statement."

We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Track Listing
Old Dan Tucker
Jesse James
Mrs. McGrath
O Mary Don't You Weep
John Henry
Erie Canal
Jacob's Ladder
My Oklahoma Home
Eyes On The Prize
Shenandoah
Pay Me My Money Down
We Shall Overcome
Froggie Went A Courtin'

Bonus Tracks
Buffalo Gals
How Can I Keep From Singing