The 68th annual Grammy Awards show is slated for this Sunday, February 1st, and there are some very deserving country nominees, as well as performers, that will be taking the stage throughout the evening.
And just like with the big country award shows when they roll around, I’ve been taking a look back at some of the most notable moments in Grammy history, and while this one might have happened offstage, it’s a really cool story from Eric Church from right around the time he released his mega hit “Springsteen.” The song was nominated for two awards at the 55th Grammy Awards on February 10th, 2013, including Best Country Song and Best Country Solo Performance.
Of course, his anthem holds a special place in many of our hearts, and Eric released it as the third single from his breakout third studio album Chief, which was a huge moment in his career, and really launched him into a new realm of success. His fans were as loyal as they come, but after “Springsteen,” he shot to the forefront of the mainstream country genre.
Written by Eric along with Jeff Hyde and Ryan Tyndell, it’s become one of his signature songs, a fan-favorite, and I don’t think anyone would argue if you called it the biggest song of his entire career. It peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, and has since been certified 7X Platinum by the RIAA.
It’s of course named for one of Church’s musical heroes Bruce Springsteen, but the song is really about much more than that. It’s about the power of music to take you back in time, how a melody can transport you right back into the heart of a memory. With imagery of a teenage summer romance, it provides a level of nostalgia that honestly can make it hard for me to listen to at times without getting emotional. It’s not even really a sad song, but there’s something about it that always transports me to a different place and time, in terms of the lyrics and the song itself, but also where I was in my own life the first time I heard it… a young teenager myself, at a similar point in life to what he talks about in the song.
I’ve never really heard him talk much about Bruce Springsteen’s reaction considering how massive that song was, and during an interview on the red carpet at the time, Church talked about how cool it was to be nominated for “Springsteen” on the same night Bruce was actually honored as the MusiCares Person of the Year:
“I never put a lot of weight in these. Although, it’s cool, the coolest thing for me is our song that’s nominated twice is ‘Springsteen.’ And it’s the same year that Bruce is honored in MusiCares, and that’s cool. You know, it is about the man, but it’s also about more than the man. It’s about what his music has represented, there’s a line in the song about melodies and memories connecting with each other, and that’s what that’s about. It’s about hearing a song that you’ll never forget.”
And Eric also revealed that after “‘Springsteen’ became a two week #1 at country radio, Bruce sent him a note on the back of a three hour and 37-minute set list from Sweden, filling up the whole back side of it with a note about how much he loved the song and looked forward to meeting Eric. I mean, a dream come true in so many ways, but to have something like that from a musical hero had to be a “pinch me” moment for sure:
“He sent me a note when ‘Springsteen’ was a two week #1 at country radio, he sent me a note on the back of a set list from Sweden, I think. Three hours and 37 minutes long, and he filled up the whole back of the set list with a note about how much he loved the song and how he looked forward to meeting me, and it was just really cool… and signed it Bruce Springsteen. I’ve got it locked up.”
I imagine it’s probably framed on his mantel or a focal point in his office now… kind of a shame Bruce has become such a political buffoon these days.
Eric is nominated this weekend in the Best Contemporary Country Album category for his project Evangeline vs. The Machine, and the main Grammy ceremony airs at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBS and streams on Paramount+, with Trevor Noah taking over as host once again.
While Chief never took home a Grammy for this song, we all know it’s a classic and was the song of the year and then some back then…
“Springsteen”
