“I Was Terrified”: Zach Bryan Reflects on Meeting Bruce Springsteen for the First Time

Zach Bryan has taken to his lesser-known Instagram account, @portrazach, to share a heartfelt message for his good friend and ’Sandpaper’ collaborator, Bruce Springsteen.

The ‘Oklahoma Smokeshow’ has uploaded a few atmospheric photographs, captured on 35mm, showing when they met for the first time at a cabin in New Jersey late last year.

He recalls how they crossed paths ahead of their now-iconic Rolling Stone conversation, during which the trailblazers interviewed one another about their creative process.

In the lengthy caption, Bryan candidly reflects, “To commemorate Bruce’s movie, ‘Deliver Me From Nowhere’ coming out this past week I wanted to share this photo I took of him in April of ‘24 on 35mm and a story from his porch in New Jersey”.

He expands, “I was terrified on my way to meet Bruce for a Rolling Stone interview. My dad had gotten me a bagel and I threw it up and I couldn’t stop shaking. This man wrote ten of the best songs of all time and numerous more great ones. We arrived there, and long story short, him and I ended up sitting on a porch”.

Then, the ‘Something in the Orange’ singer-songwriter reveals that The Boss not only gifted him some words of wisdom, but a treasured instrument, “We talked for a long while. He gave me advice I will never forget. Shortly after, he walks away for about ten minutes. He comes back with a guitar he had recorded many records on and said, “It’s still got some songs in it. I’m hoping you can make use of them...Then he handed it to me and we carried on with the photo shoot”.

The Oklahoma native concludes, “Afterwards, my friends and me went to a bar in Asbury Park, got a little buzz going and caught fish off the coast of Manhattan for the rest of the night. (Last photo)”, before praying tribute to Springsteen and Jeremy Allen White, who plays him in the new film, Deliver Me From Nowhere, “Congrats on the biopic to Bruce, Jeremy and everyone else involved. You’re carrying on a legacy of songwriting that will be remembered until the end of time”.

Bryan and Springsteen have struck up a close friendship since they first met, with the former recruiting the ‘Nebraska’ legend to appear on ‘Sandpaper’, one of the many stand-outs from his widely lauded 2024 album, The Great American Bar Scene.

They've teamed up a number of times on-stage, and we're keeping our fingers crossed they've found time to hit the studio once again for Bryan's next album, With Heaven On Top.

It's a heartwarming message from Bryan, and one that undoubtedly contains a great deal of truth regarding the impact Springsteen has had - and continues to have - on the contemporary music scene. But one element he fails to mention, of course, is the fact that Bryan himself, in many ways, is also playing pivotal role in carrying the torch that Springsteen has lit across his rebellious, inspiring catalogue.

Bryan's recent run-in with the US Government courtesy of his controversial but defiant lyric criticising the ICE Raids embodies the same spirit that underpins much of Springsteen's material, with both artists refusing to conform or water-down their message, simply because it might ruffle a few feathers or upset those in power.

As Bryan's nostalgic collection of photographs highlights, he holds a deep-seated sense of respect for Springsteen, one that the ‘Born to Run’ icon reciprocates. The symbiosis between these pioneering songsmiths only accentuates the excitement we feel at getting to witness where Bryan chooses to take his sound, and the cri-de-coeur he next decides to weave into his rallying battle-cries.

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