Bruce Springsteen embraces Detroit music classics on Motown-heavy covers album

Acknowledging his debt to Motown and other consequential soul music, Bruce Springsteen has announced the release of "Only the Strong Survive," an album of classic cover songs.

Works popularized by the Four Tops, Temptations, Supremes, Commodores, Jimmy Ruffin and Frank Wilson are among the songs tackled by Springsteen on the forthcoming album, due Nov. 11 on Columbia Records.

Springsteen said in a video announcement the project helped him “rediscover the power of my own voice.”

“I put my own spin on the singing, and my team mastered and sonically modernized some of the most beautiful songs in the American pop songbook,” the New Jersey rocker said.

More:Bruce Springsteen to play Little Caesars Arena in March

The album, revealed Thursday morning, will also feature material from the catalogs of Stax Records (Sam & Dave), Gamble & Huff (Jerry Butler) and others.

“I wanted to make an album where I just sang. And what better music to work with than the great American songbook of the Sixties and Seventies?” Springsteen said in a news release. “I’ve taken my inspiration from Levi Stubbs, David Ruffin, Jimmy Ruffin, the Iceman Jerry Butler, Diana Ross, Dobie Gray, and Scott Walker, among many others. I’ve tried to do justice to them all — and to the fabulous writers of this glorious music.

“My goal is for the modern audience to experience its beauty and joy, just as I have since I first heard it. I hope you love listening to it as much as I loved making it.”

The album’s first single is a cover of Frank Wilson’s 1965 record, “Do I Love You (Indeed I Do),” released by Motown’s Soul Records in 1965. An accompanying video, directed by Thom Zimny, premiered Thursday.

"Only the Strong Survive” is a follow-up to Springsteen’s 2020 album, “Letter to You.” It comes ahead of a 2023 tour with the E Street Band that will include a March 23 stop at Detroit's Little Caesars Arena.

'Only the Strong Survive' track list

1. "Only the Strong Survive"

2. "Soul Days" feat. Sam Moore

3. "Nightshift"

4. "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)"

5. "The Sun Ain’t Gonna Shine Anymore"

6. "Turn Back the Hands of Time"

7. "When She Was My Girl"

8. "Hey, Western Union Man"

9. "I Wish It Would Rain"

10. "Don’t Play That Song"

11. "Any Other Way"

12. "I Forgot to Be Your Lover" feat. Sam Moore

13. "7 Rooms of Gloom"

14. "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted"

15. "Someday We’ll Be Together"

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Bruce Springsteen embraces Detroit music on Motown-heavy covers album