Listen: Bruce Springsteen Salutes the Soldaderas on “Adelita,” Previewing ‘Inyo’ from ‘Tracks II: The Lost Albums’

Photo Credit: Danny Clinch

Bruce Springsteen has turned in the fifth single from Tracks II: The Lost Albums, a collection of seven divergent full-length albums recorded between 1983 and 2018, now pulled off the shelf and slated for release on June 27 via Sony Music. His latest advance offering, “Adelita,” previews Inyo, a ten-track thematic and historical exploration of border country in Texas and California spurred by long rides through the region.

“Adelita” fixes Springsteen’s focused storytelling on soldaderas, the military women who were vital to the Mexican revolution as soldiers, officers and camp followers. The song takes its name and form from “La Adelita,” a famous corrido hero ballad of one of those fighters, underscoring the artist’s intention to build his vision of the culture at the border from a thorough historical foundation and nuance its place in common discourse. “There was constant border reporting in the Los Angeles Times, so it was a big part of your life,” he recalled.

Like “Repo Man,” the rockabilly revel that previewed Somewhere North of Nashville, “Adelita” and what would become Inyo were cut in the wake of 1995’s The Ghost of Tom Joad. That landmark release launched a definitive country bent in Springsteen’s output that trucked on through 2005’s Dust and Devils and 2006’s We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions and has cropped up since in albums like 2019’s Western Stars. 

“Inyo was a record I wrote in California during long drives along the California aqueduct, up through Inyo County on my way to Yosemite or Death Valley,” recalled Springsteen. “I was enjoying that kind of writing so much. [On The Ghost Of Tom Joad tour] I would go home to the hotel room at night and continue to write in that style because I thought I was going to follow up The Ghost of Tom Joad with a similar record, but I didn’t. That’s where Inyo came from. It’s one of my favorites.”

“Adelita” follows “Repo Man” and the similarly Southwestern “Faithless,” a dusty, contemplative spiritual wandering from his unreleased Faithless soundtrack, as well as “Blind Spot,” a stormy, loop-based reflection on doubt and betrayal from the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, and “Rain In The River,” which previewed Perfect World, “the one thing on this that wasn’t initially conceived as an album.” The wealth of music on Tracks II includes two more releases not yet sampled by singles: the smoky traditional string-backed noir in Twilight Hours and LA Garage Sessions ’83, the coveted missing link between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. that’s been among the most widely bootlegged projects from Springsteen’s discography in recent years.

Springsteen first opened up his archives in 1998 with Tracks, a celebrated four-disc collection of 66 unheard recordings from throughout his career. While he’s followed up on that impulse since with expanded reissues of Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River and more, he’s also kept stirring the pot for a follow-up to the revealing compilation–which he seems to have been just as eager to share as the fans have been to hear it.

“The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed and not released,” Springsteen said. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them. I hope you enjoy them.”

Tracks II: The Lost Albums will be released on all digital platforms and as deluxe 9-LP and 7-CD packages. Pre-order the record here, and listen to “Adelita” below. Learn more about Springsteen’s busy year ahead at brucespringsteen.net.

Read on for the collection’s full tracklist.

Tracks II: The Lost Albums – Bruce Springsteen:

LA Garage Sessions ’83:

1. Follow That Dream

2. Don’t Back Down On Our Love

3. Little Girl Like You

4. Johnny Bye Bye

5. Sugarland

6. Seven Tears

7. Fugitive’s Dream

8. Black Mountain Ballad

9. Jim Deer

10. County Fair

11. My Hometown

12. One Love

13. Don’t Back Down

14. Richfield Whistle

15. The Klansman

16. Unsatisfied Heart

17. Shut Out The Light

18. Fugitive’s Dream (Ballad)

Streets of Philadelphia Sessions:

1. Blind Spot

2. Maybe I Don’t Know You

3. Something In The Well

4. Waiting On The End Of The World

5. The Little Things

6. We Fell Down

7. One Beautiful Morning

8. Between Heaven and Earth

9. Secret Garden

10. The Farewell Party

Faithless:

1. The Desert (Instrumental)

2. Where You Goin’, Where You From

3. Faithless

4. All God’s Children

5. A Prayer By The River (Instrumental)

6. God Sent You

7. Goin’ To California

8. The Western Sea (Instrumental)

9. My Master’s Hand

10. Let Me Ride

11. My Master’s Hand (Theme)

Somewhere North of Nashville:

1. Repo Man

2. Tiger Rose

3. Poor Side of Town

4. Delivery Man

5. Under A Big Sky

6. Detail Man

7. Silver Mountain

8. Janey Don’t You Lose Heart

9. You’re Gonna Miss Me When I’m Gone

10. Stand On It

11. Blue Highway

12. Somewhere North of Nashville

Inyo:

1. Inyo

2. Indian Town

3. Adelita

4. The Aztec Dance

5. The Lost Charro

6. Our Lady of Monroe

7. El Jardinero (Upon the Death of Ramona)

8. One False Move

9. Ciudad Juarez

10. When I Build My Beautiful House

Twilight Hours:

1. Sunday Love

2. Late in the Evening

3. Two of Us

4. Lonely Town

5. September Kisses

6. Twilight Hours

7. I’ll Stand By You

8. High Sierra

9. Sunliner

10. Another You

11. Dinner at Eight

12. Follow The Sun

Perfect World:

1. I’m Not Sleeping

2. Idiot’s Delight

3. Another Thin Line

4. The Great Depression

5. Blind Man

6. Rain In The River

7. If I Could Only Be Your Lover

8. Cutting Knife

9. You Lifted Me Up

10. Perfect World