Bruce Springsteen Confirms Existence Of Long-Rumoured 'Electric Nebraska' Album

Just one day after letting slip there’s another release of archival material on the way, Bruce Springsteen has confirmed the existence of one of rock music’s holy grails.

The Boss is currently gearing up to release Tracks II next week, a long-awaited collection of albums which had been gathering dust in the vaults. With records such as L.A. Garage Sessions '83, Streets Of Philadelphia Sessions, Twilight Hours, Perfect World, and more in the mix, it’s a treasure trove for Springsteen fans.

However, speaking to the New York Times, Springsteen revealed there was more on the way. “Tracks III, that is finished,” he explained. “It’s basically what was left in the vault.”

Springsteen noted that the upcoming set would feature material that goes back over 50 years to the sessions for his 1973 debut, Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., and even as recent to 2024. “So there was a lot of good music left,” he added. “There are five full albums of music.”

In The Music’s reporting of this revelation just yesterday, we ruminated on whether the long-rumoured Electric Nebraska album would ever arrive – or if it even exists. Now, Springsteen has confirmed it does indeed occupy space in the vaults.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, Springsteen touched on the topic, only to initially let down fans hoping for the good news. “I can tell you right now, it doesn’t exist,” he explained.

“We tried to do a few songs with the band for a few minor electric versions of Nebraska, maybe something else, I’m not sure. But that record simply doesn’t exist. There is no electric Nebraska outside of what you hear us performing on stage.”

This initial news was undeniably bad news for The Boss’ ravenous fanbase. Nebraska arrived in 1982 as Springsteen’s sixth album, with its sparse and largely acoustic composition winning fans across the board.

The story goes that Nebraska had originally begun as a series of demos which would later be expanded upon by the remainder of the E Street Band, which is why the album is so sparse and intimate. However, the lo-fi recordings were what the world ended up hearing after full-band recordings failed to capture the same essence that had been hoped for.

In fact, this was something that Rolling Stone put to Springsteen, noting how both Roy Bittan and Max Weinberg had previously recalled recording full-band versions of the songs. In the latter’s case, he explained the songs were in the vault somewhere.

“The E Street Band actually did record all of Nebraska and it was killing,” Weinberg told Rolling Stone in 2010. “It was all very hard-edged. As great as it was, it wasn’t what Bruce wanted to release. There is a full band Nebraska album, all of those songs are in the can somewhere.”

When pushed by Rolling Stone in his recent chat, Springsteen could not echo his bandmate’s comments. “I have no recollection of it, but I can tell you there’s nothing in our vault that would amount to an electric Nebraska,” he explained.

Despite his initial refusal, Springsteen followed up the interview by later messaging writer Andy Greene to provide some good news. “Just wanted to give you a heads up,” Springsteen wrote. “I checked our vault and there IS an electric Nebraska record, though it does not have the full album of songs.” 

While we now have the confirmation that the record does exist, the remaining question is whether we’ll get to hear it. Though it seems as though it may have missed the cut for Tracks III, here’s hoping that Springsteen can be persuaded to unveil a Tracks IV one day.