American Babylon wasn’t Bruce’s only collaboration with a singer-songwriter named Joe in 1995.
Around the same time he and Joe Grushecky were putting the finishing touches on Grushecky’s landmark album (which was just released as a 25th anniversary edition, and you should really check it out), Bruce also made a side trip to Austin, where he contributed his vocal and keyboard talents to the opening and closing tracks of Joe Ely’s album, Letter to Laredo.
It’s the opening track that gets all the attention, and it’s hard to argue that “All Just to Get to You” isn’t deserving of it. (We’ll take a listen to that track sometime in the next year.) But the undeservedly overlooked final track merits some love, too.
“I’m a Thousand Miles From Home” is everything “All Just to Get to You” isn’t: slow, simple, meditative, and world-weary.
It also features some very Springsteenian lyrics:
Travelin’ down this weary road
A troubled mind is a heavy load
Hold my ticket in my hand
Lookin’ for the Promised Land
I’m a thousand miles from home
It’s pretty easy to see why Bruce would be attracted to a song like this. Bruce’s impassioned backing vocals are clear in the mix, and his voice blends well with Ely’s. (Bruce tends to take the high harmonies when backing other artists.)
Unlike “All Just to Get to You,” which Bruce has performed with Ely seven times in concert, Bruce has yet to perform “I’m a Thousand Miles From Home.” But that’s okay: this is a delicately crafted studio track that’s perfect in its original form.
I’m a Thousand Miles From Home
Recorded: April 1995
Released: Letter to Laredo (1995)
Never performed
