Springsteen's Nebraska In Images

Is it cold where you are? Out on the plains it get’s so cold your bones freeze.

The cover art of Brice Springsteen’s Nebraska (below) matches the gloomy brooding music inside the record sleeve. David Michael Kennedy’s image is black and white, grainy, freezing. Snow covers the hood of the car, and for all we know the windshield wipers may not work. The framing is imperfect, just like the music itself, recorded on a four track cassette recorder, and initially intended as a demo only.

Photographer Kennedy recalls taking the 1975 cover shot Springsteen selected:

“The cover shot was taken from the window of an old pick-up truck in the dead of winter. I was on a road trip, and my girlfriends brother was driving. We were in a super great snow storm and within minutes of this shot the storm hit hard and we were in total white out for hours. I thought that image might be my last! ”

Creative imitation arises from despair

A few years ago I took a winter trip on similar roads through-out the Mid-West. Stepping out of the car to shoot photos in the cold chilled me to the bone. I’ve included the images taken in the video at the top. It was bleak out there, but unlike Springsteen I wasn’t suffering from depression and allowed some colour sneak into my shots.

Of the Nebraska period Springsteen said: “I just hit some sort of personal wall that wasn’t there. It was my first real major depression, where I realised I’ve got to do something about it…”