Bruce Springsteen has shared “Adelita,” the latest preview of his Tracks II collection. “Adelita” appears on the lost album Inyo, recorded in the 1990s as a potential follow-up to The Ghost of Tom Joad. Instead, the 10-track LP of songs set at the Californian and Texan borders was shelved until June 27 this year, when it will b e unvaulted alongside six other full-lengths as Tracks II: The Lost Albums. Listen to “Adelita,” Springsteen’s mariachi-assisted ode to the Mexican “soldadera” freedom fighters, below.
During the period when he recorded Inyo, “There was constant border reporting in the Los Angeles Times, so it was a big part of your life,” Springsteen says in press materials. “Inyo was a record I wrote in California during long drives along the California aqueduct, up through Inyo County on my way to Yosemite or Death Valley. I was enjoying that kind of writing so much. [On The Ghost of Tom Joad tour] I would go home to the hotel room at night and continue to write in that style because I thought I was going to follow up The Ghost of Tom Joad with a similar record, but I didn’t. That’s where Inyo came from. It’s one of my favorites.”
Though mostly recorded solo, Inyo features mariachi contributors including Luis Villalobos, Alberto Villalobos, Angel Ramos, Humberto Manuel Flores Gutierrez, David Glukh, Jorge Espinosa, and Miguel Ponce. Springsteen’s previous Tracks II singles were the title track from Faithless, the score to a movie that was never made; “Blind Spot” from the loop-based Streets of Philadelphia Sessions; and “Rain in the River” from the Perfect World compilation.