Jeremy Allen White puts his own spin on Bruce Springsteen classics for Deliver Me From Nowhere soundtrack album
Jeremy Allen White has recorded nine Bruce Springsteen classics for the Deliver Me From Nowhere soundtrack album.
Jeremy Allen White has recorded nine Bruce Springsteen classics for the soundtrack album for Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere.
Set for release digitally on CD and vinyl on December 5, the collection largely boasts songs from The Boss' 1982 LP Nebraska, and a few tracks from its 1984 follow-up, Born in the U.S.A..
The LP also includes rock 'n' roll staples, such as Little Richard’s Lucille and John Lee Hooker’s Boom Boom, which Springsteen and the E Street Band have covered at their concerts.
There is also a rendition of Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put a Spell on You.
The Dave Cobb-produced album features contributions from Rival Sons singer Jay Buchanan, Greta Van Fleet’s guitarist Jake Kiska and vocalist Sam Kiszka, bassist Aksel Coe, and keys player Bobby Emmett.
Allen White recently admitted he found it "daunting" to perform in front of Springsteen.
The 34-year-old actor transformed into The Boss, circa 1982, in the biopic, but Allen White's lack of musical experience made him think his singing was a "gamble".
Asked what it was like playing Springsteen - who was on set the "whole time" and "couldn't tell the difference" between his and The Bear actor's voice - on a recent episode of the WTF podcast, he said: "It was very hard.
"I had not had a lot of experience or any experience singing, playing guitar, any of it. And so that was daunting, to say the least, in the beginning.
"And I didn't have - I mean, I had a lot of time, but I didn't have as much time as I would have liked. You never do, you know?
"I had about six months."
Maron chimed in: "What's fortunate with those songs, the guitar playing is not like [tricky]."
Allen White replied: "Exactly. It's not a lot of - yeah, the chords are pretty simple. There's not many of them.
"And a lot of the songs are the same. But the singing was a gamble."
The Shameless actor - who said the phrasing on the film's main record, 1982's Nebraska, was tough to get right - credited celebrity vocal coach Eric Vetro for helping him with his vocals.
Speaking about Vetro - who worked with Austin Butler, 34, in the 2022 Elvis Presley biopic, as well as Timothee Chalamet, 29, in the 2024 Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown - Allen White said: "I worked with this guy, Eric Vetro, who's the guy.
"He helped Austin with the Elvis movie. He helped Timothee Chalamet with the Dylan movie.
"He's the go-to. And he works with a lot of amazing vocalists and real singers, and performers.
"But I got together with him just to like see what I can do, or see where we could get at least.
"And that's what you start with. You're just like, 'Can I sing? Can I see in key? Do I have a good ear? Is all this stuff working?'
"And then you try to find a little bit of that rasp, and then you try to get the - you start messing around with nasal ...
"I really have to give Eric credit because he was there to kind of - or I thought he was there to be like, 'You know, this is how you sing a song, this is how you make it sound good."
Allen White got "worked up" at times about sounding like Springsteen, and Vetro noticed he was not connecting to the music.
He said: "But he would catch me not feeling connected to it and doing what, as an actor, I should have just been doing naturally, which is like, 'What are you talking about? What's going on?'
"It should have been simple, but I was so worked up with, 'How does it sound?' And sounding like Bruce, so that was like a breakthrough."
And when Springsteen realised Allen White's connection to his music, it released the actor's "anxiety".
He said: "I remember Bruce was great the first time he heard one of my pre-records, 'cause he was like, 'You sound like me, but you're singing the song, you're making the song your own. You've got your connection to the song.'
"And I think once he gave me that permission, not just with the music, but in a sense the entirety of the film, I feel like that released me a little bit from the anxiety."
Deliver Me From Nowhere Soundtrack tracklisting:
1. Born in the U.S.A. (Power Station) — Jeremy Allen White
2. Nebraska — Jeremy Allen White
3. Atlantic City — Jeremy Allen White
4. Mansion on the Hill — Jeremy Allen White
5. Highway Patrolman — Jeremy Allen White
6. State Trooper — Jeremy Allen White
7. My Father’s House — Jeremy Allen White
8. Reason to Believe — Jeremy Allen White
9. I’m on Fire — Jeremy Allen White
10. Lucille — Jay Buchanan, Jake Kiszka, Sam F. Kiszka, Aksel Coe, Bobby Emmett, and Jeremy Allen White
11. Boom Boom — Jay Buchanan, Jake Kiszka, Sam F. Kiszka, Aksel Coe, Bobby Emmett, and Jeremy Allen White
12. I Put a Spell on You”= — Jay Buchanan, Jake Kiszka, Sam F. Kiszka, Aksel Coe, and Bobby Emmett
