https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/bright-eyes-conor-oberst-interview?utm_source=Facebook&utm_campaign=SocialFlow&utm_medium=Social&fbclid=IwAR0Mvmmu8td2OLVddLMMbhrR4jHO-dmIshFjBRYqQl0iC3BwP2YClVJ1Lbc
“Springsteen’s a class act. Back in 2004, we did this Vote For Change thing – a tour of Springsteen, REM and Bright Eyes. We’re in our little dressing room and right before showtime Springsteen was like, “Just want to tell you, so happy you guys are here.” So, so nice. Then obviously Bush got re-elected and I had to go to Europe to do a press trip. This is days after the election and I was just so dark, because I was like, “Everyone hates America and I have to explain my country – this is going to be a nightmare.” I’m sitting in the airport inNew Yorkand my publicist called or texted me saying, “Your phone’s going to ring in five minutes. Pick it up.” And it’s Springsteen. He just gave me the sweetest pep talk. He’s like, “Go over there and tell them that half of us don’t feel this way.” Somehow he found out I was going to Europe and then called me.”
Love all three of these guys, which adds icing to the cake of fandom, tons of artists I love, love Bruce and have been inspired by him. Impeccable taste they have if I do say so myself.
From an Eddie Vedder story in RS 2006:
One night, Vedder and Springsteen – who famously worked out his own father issues in his music – stood on a Manhattan rooftop, drinking tequila. "We were talking politics, and then got into family politics, of which we'd experienced a great deal and had a lot in common. It was a pretty intense conversation," Vedder says, haltingly. "He exposed me to some truths that he'd processed in a healthy way, that for me were still in a diseaselike state. He helped me cure some things I had been living with for a long time."
That night, Vedder told Springsteen how he used to play "Independence Day" and how his music had affected him. "You helped me as a voice coming from a piece of vinyl," he told him. "Now you helped to put it away by being a human being in front of me."
Not long after the conversation with Springsteen, Vedder attended the wedding of one of his brothers. There, he came face to face with his stepfather for the first time since the Eighties. "When I finally had to meet that guy again, Bruce was the one who got me in the right space to handle it," he says. "I have three younger brothers – if it affected them that I didn't have a relationship with this guy, that was enough reason to forgive and resolve things. I didn't want them to be torn between the two of us."
Another nice one:
“Bruce Springsteen called Southeastern a “lovely record” and sneaked up on Isbell at a Dr. John benefit to sing Isbell’s song “Traveling Alone” into his ear.
Again, what a nice guy.