In February 1988, just prior to the kickoff of Bruce’s Tunnel of Love Express Tour, Nanci Griffith released her sixth studio album, Little Love Affairs.
Tucked away at the end of Side One of that album is a gorgeous duet with Mac McAnally called “Gulf Coast Highway,” that sounds for all the world like a Bruce Springsteen song.
In fact, with lyrics like these, “Gulf Coast Highway” would be right at home on The Ghost of Tom Joad (even though that album was still seven years in the future):
Gulf coast highway, he worked the rails
He worked the rice fields with their cold dark wells
He worked the oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico
The only thing we’ve owned is this old house here by the road
…
Highway 90, the jobs are gone
We kept our garden, we set the sun
This is the only place on Earth blue bonnets grow
And once a year they come and go
At this old house here by the road
Bruce was apparently taken with the song, because not long after the song’s release, he soundchecked it at least once. The recording below is from a soundcheck sometime during his stand at Madison Square Garden in 1988. Take a listen–it’s a beautiful arrangement featuring Patti’s lovely backing vocals.
Too bad Bruce bluffs some of the vocals; this is one cover I’d love to have a true recording of.
Gulf Coast Highway
Never performed live (but soundchecked in 1988)
