1) The Ghost Of Tom Joad
2) Straight Time
3) Highway 29
4) Youngstown
5) Sinaloa Cowboys
6) The Line
7) Balboa Park
8) Dry Lightning
9) The New Timer
10) Across The Border
11) Galveston Bay
12) My Best Was Never Good Enough

Bruce: "On Tom Joad one song led to another. The ex-con of "Straight Time" bacame the shoe salesman of "Highway 29" The unemployed steelworker of "Youngstown" left to the Monongahela Valley and became "The New Timer". These last two songs, along with "The Ghost Of Tom Joad", chronicled the increasing economic division of the '80s and '90s and the hard times and consequences for many people whose work and sacrifice helped build the country we live in.

A lot of the songs on The Ghost of Tom Joad have settings in the Southwest. I'd been through the Central Valley many times on the way visiting my parents. I'd often stop and spend some time in small farm towns off the interstate. But it still took a good amound of research to get the details of the region correct. I traced the stories out slowely and carefully. I thought hard about who these people were and the choice they where presented with.

I knew that The Ghost of Tom Joad wouldn't attract my largest audience. But I was sure the songs on it added up to a reaffirmation of the best of what I do. The record was something new, but it was also a reference point to the things I tried to stand for and be about as a songwriter."

The Ghost of Tom Joad / Meeting Across the River / One Step Up / Nebraska

Vocals, Guitar, Harmonica, Keyboard