β€œTucson Train” is on Bruce Springsteen’s new solo album, β€œWestern Skies.”

 Columbia Records

Bruce Springsteen takes a tour out West on his recently released album β€œWestern Stars” β€” his first studio album since 2014’s β€œHigh Hopes” and his first record of new original songs since he put out β€œWrecking Ball” in 2012.

β€œWestern Stars” takes Springsteen back to his roots when he wrote songs populated by working-class guys and girls just trying to get by and figure out life. There’s plenty of heartbreak and making up, including on the album’s months-old second single β€œTucson Train.”

β€œThis record is a return to my solo recordings featuring character-driven songs and sweeping, cinematic orchestral arrangements,” Springsteen said in a statement. β€œIt’s a jewel box of a record.”

We’re not really sure what inspired the Tucson reference β€” as far as we can tell, Springsteen hasn’t played a Tucson show since he sold out the Tucson Convention Center during 1978’s β€œDarkness on the Edge of Town” tour. But the song conjures up visions of the downtown rail station on East Toole Avenue β€” especially if you’ve found yourself parked behind the blinking red crossing guard lights as a train rambled along β€” and a working-class Joe anxiously awaiting love to pull into the station.

In β€œTucson Train,” Springsteen writes about finding love on the 5:15 after a crash-and-burn romance in β€˜Frisco. β€œNow I carry my operator’s license / And spend my days just runnin’ this crane / And my baby’s coming in on the Tucson train.”

The song has an almost folksy country-Western feel with sweeping orchestral passages. There are similar full-string compliments on the record, and while Springsteen hasn’t done a whole lot of media around β€œWestern Stars,” he said in an interview with Variety back in December that the record was inspired and influenced by β€œSouthern California pop music of the ’70s” and artists including Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb and Burt Bacharach.

β€œI don’t know if people will hear those influences, but that was what I had in my mind,” he told the magazine. β€œIt gave me something to hook an album around; it gave me some inspiration to write. And also, it’s a singer-songwriter record. It’s connected to my solo records writing-wise, more β€˜Tunnel of Love’ and β€˜Devils and Dust,’ but it’s not like them at all. Just different characters living their lives.”

The reviews of β€œWestern Stars” have been mostly positive, with The Associated Press saying the album β€œbreaks fresh ground for the veteran rocker, who turns his back not only on the blistering sound of the E Street Band but also abandons the haunting acoustic moods pioneered on β€˜Nebraska’ and fine-tuned on later solo efforts.”

Said the New York Post: β€œAlthough Springsteen has ventured into country and folk territory in the past on albums such as 1982’s β€˜Nebraska,’ 1987’s β€˜Tunnel of Love’ and 1995’s β€˜The Ghost of Tom Joad,’ here he brings a cinematic scope to the rootsy terrain with sweeping strings and vivid, scene-setting lyrics.”

Springsteen’s hometown newspaper, The Star-Ledger in New Jersey (NJ.com), called the record the β€œmost disappointing” of Springsteen’s career.

β€œβ€˜Western Stars’ exhibits no discernible purpose, no new ground covered by the 69-year-old songwriter fresh off his glitzy Broadway run,” it said. β€œ(It) is, ultimately, a tumbleweed β€” here for a few moments, but soon to be gone and forgotten, swept away by the howling wind that’s already begun to swirl around the news that Springsteen will record with The E Street Band this fall and then head back on the road for a full-band concert tour in 2020.”

26 songs that have the word "Tucson" in them:

Become a #ThisIsTucson member! Your contribution helps our team bring you stories that keep you connected to the community. Become a member today.

Contact reporter Cathalena E. Burch at cburch@tucson.com or 573-4642. On Twitter @Starburch