There’s a sweet symmetry to Nils Lofgren’s latest CD. He may be better known of late as Bruce Springsteen’s guitar slinger, but Lofgren’s first break came as a 19-year-old prodigy picked to play on Neil Young’s 1970 benchmark album “After the Gold Rush.” 
Nearly four decades later, the singer/guitarist has repaid the favor with a tribute CD to Young, “Nils Sings Neil.” The album originally came out last summer, but this week it receives a deserved re-release. It’s an all-acoustic work, turning down the volume even on former barn-burners like “The Loner” and “Like a Hurricane.” It’s a savvy way to bring a fresh light to these songs.
For several reasons, Young’s songs always sound fundamentally different when other people perform them. Maybe Young’s high, lonesome voice and hard shards of guitar work distract us from his songs’ impressive formality.
Happily, that leaves a wide swath of revelation for others to discover. Many artists have, from Paul Weller to k.d. lang to Linda Ronstadt. But Lofgren seems to have a special affinity for these songs. His careful phrasing on the CD bores deep into the lyrics, especially in “Birds,” which may be the most sensitive song ever written about giving someone the shaft.
Nils doesn’t just render Young’s best-known numbers. Along with touchstones like “Long May You Run” and “I Am a Child,” he includes rarer pieces, like “World on a String” and “Flying on the Ground.” Part of what he brings to them is history. Another part is affection. But mostly he brings an understanding of every element that’s made these songs linger in our minds to begin with.
when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band perform Sunday night during the N.F.L. championship game between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers at Raymond James Stadium, the only new wrinkle will be the size of the television audience. Up to 90 million viewers of NBC might watch New Jersey’s best-known musical act since Frank Sinatra. Springsteen will perform for about 12 minutes, enough time for three or four songs, the titles of which will not be announced beforehand. If Springsteen is nervous about the size of the audience, he said it would not compare to playing in Washington before the inauguration of President Barack Obama. “You’ll have a lot of crazy football fans,” Springsteen said Thursday at a news conference. “But you won’t have Lincoln staring over your shoulder. That takes some of the pressure off.” As for football, Springsteen said, “I don’t know anything about it.” Later, he said: “I did play the game in my backyard around the summer of 1958. I haven’t played a lot since. I’ll date myself. When I hear Steelers, I think Terry Bradshaw.” Bradshaw quarterbacked the Steelers in the 1970s. Springsteen (Photo Credit: Tannen Maury/European Pressphoto Agency, Bruce Springsteen will perform for about 12 minutes during halftime, enough time for three or four songs. )acknowledged that he had been asked before to play the Super Bowl but had turned down the invitation. “It was sort of a novelty,” he said. “It didn’t feel quite right.” He said the production values of recent shows have impressed him. And there are other considerations. “We have a new album coming out,” he said. “We have our mercenary reasons, of course.” Then, in a mock formal tone, he added, “Besides our deep love of football, blah-blah-blah.” His set should start about 8 p.m., Eastern time, an hour that is historically significant for rock music on American television. In the decades before cable fragmented the audience and expanded viewer choice, 8 p.m. was the start of “The Ed Sullivan Show” on CBS. Now, as then, that hour draws large audiences, especially in winter. So Sullivan’s variety show provided a little of everything for everyone in the family, including major exposure for rock ’n’roll acts like Elvis Presley and the Beatles. Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBC Universal Sports and Olympics, reflected on the cultural change in TV this week. “Without Sullivan around anymore, there is no place for you to see in prime time a good musical performance,” he said. In general, Ebersol said, music causes some viewers to change channels because not every act appeals to all age groups and tastes. That is why “Saturday Night Live” allows no music until the second half-hour, he said. But the Super Bowl is an exception, Ebersol said, because it draws a varied demographic, much like an audience for Springsteen, who is 59 years old. In that way, Ebersol said, Springsteen is like Sinatra was. “A lot of gray hair, but a whole new generation of young people,” Ebersol said of the typical audience at a Springsteen show. “He’s one of the very few people like that. His fan base has expanded.” When someone asked Springsteen on Thursday about his multigenerational appeal, he said his fan base “sort of skipped a generation: last two tours, we’ve noticed a large influx of young people.” As for the song list, Springsteen said: “Who decides? The Boss decides. People suggest, hint. They cajole.” One option might be “Glory Days,” which is played often in sports arenas after championships are won. The irony of the song is sometimes overlooked. Rather than celebrate victory, the lyrics in part sketch a former athlete boring a companion with tales of youthful baseball triumphs amid the complicated realities of middle age. Springsteen will perform free, said Charles Coplin, vice president for programming for the N.F.L. “We don’t pay for the acts,” Coplin said. “We produce the show and pay for the production costs, but there’s no fee for appearing.” The payoff comes from the exposure. Coplin said recent Super Bowl acts like Tom Petty, the Rolling Stones and Paul McCartney measured increases in music sales after their appearances. “It’s probably no secret that we’ve been trying to get Bruce and the E Street Band to do the show for many, many years,” Coplin said. “This year there was an overture by them. But, rest assured, had they not called us we would have called them again.” The modern musical era for the Super Bowl began in 1993, Ebersol said, when Michael Jackson appeared in the Rose Bowl stadium in 1993. The biggest gaffe was the wardrobe malfunction of Jackson’s sister, Janet, in 2004. Nudity is not a part of the Springsteen tradition, but he has been a political activist who supported liberal causes and Democrats. At his regular concerts, Springsteen has been known to preach about many things. But Coplin said of the Super Bowl: “There’s an understanding this is not a political forum. We have conversations. It’s standard operating procedure. We are putting this on the air for entertainment value.” Among the few Americans not to be able to observe the performance are the players on the Cardinals and Steelers. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger of Pittsburgh said: “Yeah, I wish I could watch it. He’s a rocker.” Defensive end Brett Keisel said: “I love the Boss. Saw the Boss in Mellon Arena in Pittsburgh. When we found out that the Boss was going to be playing, we felt we had a good chance to come down here. He’s a lucky charm. Hopefully, I can meet him.” Keisel said that if someone leaves the locker room door open, “hopefully I can jam out a little bit” before the coaches start yelling at the players. Springsteen said Sunday’s show would be “a 12-minute party” that would be like what would happen if a concert fan showed up at Giants Stadium 2 hours 48 minutes late because of traffic and other problems on the New Jersey Turnpike. Hines Ward, the wide receiver of the Steelers, said, “I love Bruce,” and hoped he would sing “Born in the U.S.A.” “He’s got a lot of swag about himself, he’s very confident,” Ward said. “When he’s up there performing, it’s all about him.” But Pittsburgh defensive end Aaron Smith said he did not care his music. “I never really grew up listening to Springsteen, no,” Smith said. “You might have to find someone a little older than me, probably.” And how old is Smith? “I’m 32,” he said. And linebacker Bruce Davis of the Steelers said of Springsteen’s music: “That’s not really my genre. But you’ve got to love a man named Bruce, right?”