The Gaslight Anthem

I still remember the grit and grime of my first visit to New Jersey many years ago when I found myself couped up in an after-midnight Hackensack diner booth waiting for my work colleagues to fly into Newark. I still remember the over-aged waitress, her chain-smoker stench and her hilarious retelling of far too many failed relationships. She killed the final dregs of her shift in my booth, as amused by my West Coast innocence as I was by her wrinkled, "I've seen things you can't even imagine" vibe. Her posture and manner reminded you that here was a fighter. Here was somebody that no man, circumstance, community, or underpaying job could hold down. Blue-collar soul in spades.

"No retreat. No regrets. Meet me by the river's edge. We're gonna wash these sins away."

And as I listen to The Gaslight Anthem, I can't imagine them coming from anywhere but Springsteen's Jersey. This is music built in overcoming. Music that is honest with life in all of its vagaries. No pretense or bull. You see, Jersey to me (beyond the affluent areas) has always seemed like the kind of place that would gladly break you if you let it. And if you didn't, it would give you a spine of steel. This is the soundtrack for the latter with choruses laden with hooks, hope, and triumph. And man I love it. (Buy it now; this entire album is solid).

"No surrender, my Bobby Jean".

The Gaslight Anthem - "The '59 Sound".
The Gaslight Anthem - "High Lonesome".
The Gaslight Anthem - "Meet Me At The River's Edge".