{"id":21176,"date":"1984-01-26T11:00:00","date_gmt":"1984-01-26T19:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/?p=21176"},"modified":"2026-03-11T14:40:24","modified_gmt":"2026-03-11T21:40:24","slug":"cover-me-jeff-stevens-and-the-bullets-darlington-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1984\/01\/26\/cover-me-jeff-stevens-and-the-bullets-darlington-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeff Stevens and the Bullets: Darlington County"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The next time you&#8217;re playing Springsteen trivia and you get this old softball:<\/p>\n<p>How many <em>Born in the U.S.A.\u00a0<\/em>songs charted as singles?<\/p>\n<p>&#8230;stump your questioner by answering eight instead of seven.<\/p>\n<p>Because in addition to &#8220;Dancing in the Dar<a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2021\/12\/25\/roll-of-the-dice-dancing-in-the-dark\/\">k<\/a>,&#8221; &#8220;Cover Me,&#8221; &#8220;Born in the U.S.A.,&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m on Fire,&#8221; &#8220;Glory Days,&#8221; &#8220;I&#8217;m Goin&#8217; Down,&#8221; and &#8220;My Hometown,&#8221; one other song made a brief appearance on the Billboard charts.<\/p>\n<p>Except it was the Country chart rather than the Hot 100, and it didn&#8217;t chart until 1986.<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and Bruce Springsteen wasn&#8217;t the recording artist.<\/p>\n<p>Jeff Stevens and the Bullets recorded &#8220;Darlington County&#8221; as their debut single and took it to #69 on the U.S. Country chart.<\/p>\n<audio class=\"wp-audio-shortcode\" id=\"audio-21176-1\" preload=\"none\" style=\"width: 100%;\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"audio\/mpeg\" src=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c87_322-Jeff-Stevens-Darlington-County-256K-S-4.07.mp3?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c87_322-Jeff-Stevens-Darlington-County-256K-S-4.07.mp3\">https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/c87_322-Jeff-Stevens-Darlington-County-256K-S-4.07.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n<p>The single was successful enough to earn Stevens a live television performance on The Nashville Network in 1987.<\/p>\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"youtube-player\" width=\"758\" height=\"427\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cO6_vEfNGHg?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent\" allowfullscreen=\"true\" style=\"border:0;\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<p>That success led the way to their 1987 debut album, <em>Bolt Out of the Blue, <\/em>which featured their Springsteen cover, advertise prominently on the album cover.<\/p>\n<p>The album didn&#8217;t break through. Neither did their follow-up self-titled album. None of their singles cracked the Top 40 on any chart, and the band finally broke up in 1990. Stevens went on to a successful career as a songwriter and producer.<\/p>\n<p>The story of Jeff Stevens and the Bullets is a short one, but it earned Bruce an eighth charting single (as songwriter, at least) from his landmark album.<\/p>\n<p>\u00a9 September 11, 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In 1987, &#8220;Darlington County&#8221; became the eighth song from Born in the U.S.A. to hit the Billboard charts, but it wasn&#8217;t Bruce who took it there.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":68245,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3611,4],"tags":[1273,2892],"class_list":["post-21176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bitusa","category-cover-me","tag-darlington-county","tag-jeff-stevens-and-the-bullets"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/s-l1200-4.jpg?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9w3Lk-5vy","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":20598,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/1984\/01\/05\/roll-of-the-dice-darlington-county\/","url_meta":{"origin":21176,"position":0},"title":"Darlington County","author":"Ken","date":"January 5, 1984","format":false,"excerpt":"The continuing mis-adventures of Wilson and Wayne, chicken delivery men and fugitive ne'er-do-wells.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;BITUSA&quot;","block_context":{"text":"BITUSA","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/bitusa\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darlington.jpg?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darlington.jpg?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darlington.jpg?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darlington.jpg?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/darlington.jpg?fit=1200%2C1012&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":7842,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2019\/08\/28\/roll-of-the-dice-delivery-man\/","url_meta":{"origin":21176,"position":1},"title":"Roll of the Dice: Delivery Man","author":"Ken","date":"August 28, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Darlington County\" has a prequel, Wayne's buddy has a name, and Bobby Jean has yet another sister. Don't believe me? Take a listen to Bruce's unreleased lark, \"Delivery Man.\"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Roll of the Dice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Roll of the Dice","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/roll-of-the-dice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chicken-Truck.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chicken-Truck.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chicken-Truck.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chicken-Truck.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/03\/Chicken-Truck.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":57023,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/08\/kingdom-of-days-june-8-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":21176,"position":2},"title":"June 8","author":"Ken","date":"June 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Happy wedding anniversary, Bruce and Patti! Also on this date: Bruce plays a Born in the U.S.A. warm-up gig at The Stone Pony--listen to the first public airing of much of the album. Plus: the stadium breaker!","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/brucepatti.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/brucepatti.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/brucepatti.jpg?fit=640%2C640&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5781,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/26\/where-the-band-was-vancouver-november-26-2012\/","url_meta":{"origin":21176,"position":3},"title":"Where the Band Was: Vancouver, November 26, 2012","author":"Ken","date":"November 26, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A solid setlist, a loose performance, and some surprising placements made for a great night in Vancouver on the Wrecking Ball Tour.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Where the Band Was&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Where the Band Was","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/where-the-band-was\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20121126_front.jpg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20121126_front.jpg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20121126_front.jpg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20121126_front.jpg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/20121126_front.jpg?fit=1200%2C1198&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15193,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2020\/01\/04\/roll-of-the-dice-car-wash\/","url_meta":{"origin":21176,"position":4},"title":"Roll of the Dice: Car Wash","author":"Ken","date":"January 4, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Originally entitled \"Small Town Girl,\" this unusual Born in the U.S.A. outtake makes for a fine honky-tonk companion song to \"Darlington County.\"","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Roll of the Dice&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Roll of the Dice","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/roll-of-the-dice\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/carwash.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/carwash.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/carwash.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/carwash.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/carwash.jpg?fit=1080%2C810&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":55846,"url":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/2025\/02\/03\/kingdom-of-days-february-3-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":21176,"position":5},"title":"February 3","author":"Ken","date":"February 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"On this date: Springsteen on Broadway wraps up its winter run, and Max's Kansas City makes the opening act the closers, too.","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Kingdom of Days&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Kingdom of Days","link":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/category\/kingdom-of-days\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2023-02-03-atlanta.webp?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2023-02-03-atlanta.webp?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2023-02-03-atlanta.webp?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2023-02-03-atlanta.webp?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/estreetshuffle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/2023-02-03-atlanta.webp?fit=1200%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21176"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":67809,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21176\/revisions\/67809"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/68245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/estreetshuffle.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}