Nils Lofgren reflects on life, loss and the Boss

"Old School" — the latest in a long line of solo albums for E-Street Band guitarist Nils Lofgren, whose professional rock ‘n' roll career began at age 17 when he joined Neil Young's band — takes stock of the world around him and things witnessed during his 43 years on the road, 28 of those spent with Bruce Springsteen.

"I turned 60 during the making of this record," said Lofgren, who recorded it at his leisure in his garage studio. "There was no pressure, no clock to watch, no budget to sweat. I had the luxury of being able to take my time making this album," he said of working for the last year and a half on "Old School," while enjoying down time after two successive albums and tours with Springsteen.

During the making of "Old School," Lofgren and musical cohort Greg Varlotta took occasional breaks to do some acoustic duo shows and road test new material and work out arrangements.

The E-Street Band will spend most of 2012 on the road, promoting Springsteen's 17th career album (details of which are still under wraps), including spring and fall U.S. runs with a summer leg in Europe.

Though not an E-Streeter himself until 1984, Lofgren, a Chicago native, recalled how his early band, Grin, shared an audition night at the Fillmore East with Springsteen's first band, Steelmill.

"We met and became friends that night. I've always admired Bruce and his music," Lofgren said.

Some other famous friends of Lofgren's guest on "Old School." Paul Rodgers of Bad Company/Free fame sings on "Amy Joan Blues," former Foreigner frontman Lou Gramm duets on the title track, and R&B legend Sam Moore of Sam & Dave does the same on "Ain't Too Many Of Us Left."

"It's a very personal album, but one I think a lot of people can relate to because there's a lot of common ground," Lofgren said of "Old School." "It's about pros and cons. It's about being grateful to be alive and well, but also about looking around and not being happy with the planet I'm on and the world I'm living in."

On the title track, Lofgren comes out with guns blazing as lyrics compare "the apples of today with the oranges of yesterday," firing off criticism at a society so much different then the one his generation of starry-eyed hippies expected to find awaiting them in their senior years.

"The album is a reflection of the journey," Lofgren said. "Of looking back from this vantage point of being 60 and trying to navigate life in a much different place than we expected. It's about feeling powerless. When you're a kid, you expect when to get to this age, you'll have everything together. But the reality is you don't. The song ‘60 Is The New 16' is about that, only the guy in the song has a much tougher time than I am."

One of the real gems on the album is Lofgren's treatment of a song he co-wrote 30 years ago with the late Root Boy Slim. "Let Her Get Away" pines for true love lost. Another stand out is Lofgren's cover of "Irish Angel," another lament about lost love, written by Jonny Lang keyboardist Bruce McCabe.

The loss of a hero is dealt with on "Miss You Ray."

"Ray Charles was a musical hero of mine," said Lofgren. "I used the loss of Ray as a metaphor for all the losses we face in life. If live long enough, you have to say ‘goodbye' to people you love. If you focus on those left in your life it helps get you through things, but that gets harder as you get older and lose more and more people."

Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Billie Holiday and Frank Sinatra are also memorialized in the lyrics, along with Lofgren's late father. "My dad was my greatest hero growing up. A very spiritual guy who was a great mentor."

"Miss You Ray" was written and recorded months before Lofgren and the rest of the music world suffered the loss last summer of Clarence Clemons, whose soulful saxophone was a huge part of the E-Street Band's trademark sound.

"I've stood next to Clarence for 27 years and we had a deep friendship offstage and would talk every week," said Lofgren. "It's certainly going to be strange going on tour and not seeing him there on stage with us, but we are committed to playing. We just have to figure out what kind of band we can be, because we can't be the band we were without him."

Though the future sound of the venerable E-Street Band remains to be seen and heard, Lofgren is confidence in The Boss.

"I don't think there has ever been a better band leader than Bruce Springsteen," he said. "Bruce is challenging us to see what kind of band we can be, and with the cast of characters still left standing, I am sure we'll come up with something special. But no matter what, we will all greatly miss Clarence. There will be no replacing him. There will be no ‘Clarence 2', because he was truly one of a kind. It's so awfully hard to say goodbye and to carry on, but we must and we will."