Singer/songwriter, actor, improv comic and the man behind the soulful stare of Nashville’s Deacon Claybourne, Charles Esten, joins me to open up about his love for Bruce Springsteen and ‘Born to Run’.

We talk about how the album awakened him as a musician in his teens, the country music strain in Bruce’s writing, how the album taught Charles to identify with stories he hasn’t lived, why he likes to call on Deacon’s point of view when writing songs, the unexpected reaction he had to finally seeing Bruce in concert, his seminal Springsteen karaoke moment and how he would approach it if he ever had to play Bruce as an actor.

My Favorite Album is a podcast unpacking the great works of pop music. Each episode features a different songwriter or musician discussing their favorite album of all time - their history with it, the making of the album, individual songs and the album’s influence on their own music. Jeremy Dylan is a filmmaker, journalist and photographer from Sydney, Australia who has worked in the music industry since 2007. He directed the the feature music documentary Jim Lauderdale: The King of Broken Hearts (out now!) and the feature film Benjamin Sniddlegrass and the Cauldron of Penguins, in addition to many commercials and music videos.

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