Before E Street, before The Bruce Springsteen Band, there was Steel Mill.<\/p>\n
Actually, there was a succession of bands that featured Bruce Springsteen as a member or leader, each with their own sound, but Steel Mill is probably the most well known.\u00a0Bruce, Vini Lopez, Danny Federici, and Vinnie Roslin formed the band’s original line-up (it would see a few personnel changes before disbanding in early 1971), and together they generated a fervent following not just on the Jersey Shore, but in the Bay Area and in Richmond, Virginia as well.<\/p>\n
Steel Mill started out as Child, changing their name in late 1969 when they discovered another band recording under the same name. But under either name, the band was known for their sets filled with hard rocking, Springsteen-penned original songs punctuated by blistering guitar jams.<\/p>\n
But there were exceptions.<\/p>\n
At the tail end of the summer of ’69, three days shy of his 20th birthday in Richmond, Virginia, Bruce gave his electric guitar a rest, along with half the band.<\/p>\n
Switching to his acoustic guitar, accompanied primarily by Vini Lopez on (of all things) the recorder, Bruce performed a remarkable original song about an infatuation with a Catholic nun. (Even then, Bruce’s songs were inescapably infused with religious imagery.)<\/p>\n
You can listen to that first performance by Child below, but I suggest skipping ahead –there’s a much, much better recording a little further down.<\/p>\n