Springsteen and Human Rights: “Chimes of Freedom”

Since the beginning of his career, Springsteen has been haunted by his label as “the next Dylan.” Though promoted by John Hammond at Columbia Records (as Dylan had been), and admiring Dylan greatly (as he recently articulated while reflecting on Dylan’s 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature), Springsteen consciously chose to distance himself from Dylan’s musical style and forge his own path as a songwriter, embracing instead a carefully orchestrated, hard-rocking sound.

“Cosmic American Music”: Religiosity and Old-Time America

By: Joshua Kalin Busman (University of North Carolina, Pembroke) // In August 1968, California rock band The Byrds released their sixth full-length recording, an album of mostly country-western cover songs called Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Up to Sweetheart’s release, The Byrds had been primarily associated with two important musical styles of the 1960s. Their first …