In honor of Record Store Day, Tom Cunningham offers a hot dish: Songs of Springsteen: A Covers Collection from 105.7 The Hawk's Bruce Brunch.
As the host of 105.7 The Hawk's "Bruce Brunch," host Tom Cunningham serves up tasty tunes for fans of Bruce Springsteen every Sunday morning.
In honor of Record Store Day, today April 16, Cunningham will offer a hot dish: Songs of Springsteen: A Covers Collection from 105.7 The Hawk's Bruce Brunch.
The six-song, 10-inch vinyl disc is a must for Springsteen enthusiasts, with covers by Bobby Bandiera, Joe Gruschecky, James Maddock, Emily Grove Willie Nile, Bobby Bandiera, and the British artist, Passenger.
Proceeds from the record will benefit Ocean Of Love, an Ocean County-based organization that assists families of children with cancer.
What makes the disc extra special is that it has Springsteen's blessing.
"The coolest thing is the album was something that Bruce signed off on," he said.
This isn't Cunningham's first time releasing a vinyl album.
Cunningham - a friendly voice to Mercer County radio listeners for ten years from 1979-1989 at WPST - released an "Unsigned Heroes" (with then unknown artist Glen Burtnik) disc in the '80s celebrating local artists.
To do it again, he said, with great live performances from his radio show at The Hawk for charity on Record Store Day is "a hat trick."
"I'm a big fan of Record Store Day, since its inception," Cunningham said. "The thought of doing something to support it and a local charity and to have these great performances out there just all came together."
Record Store Day 2016 - N.J. plant fills pressing need
The front and back cover art, Cunningham said, is another nice touch for Springsteen fans. The front was shot by legendary Springsteen photographer Frank Stefanko (who shot the cover art for Darkness on the Edge of Town).
"It's a mural of a wall in Asbury Park and it was only up for three weeks, and this is the image that is on the Darkness album cover, so to have the guy that took the Darkness album cover find a mural with his image on a wall in Asbury Park in 2003, is crazy that ended up here," he said.
The back cover was shot by Springsteen photographer Danny Clinch, who has taken numerous album covers for the musician.
"That was the day after Hurricane Sandy in Mantaloking, and it was this perfect shot of the beach," he said of Clinch's photo.
Although not officially a record store day release per se as it will also be sold online, the EP will be available for purchase at The Princeton Record Exchange in Princeton and at Randy Now's Man Cave in Bordentown.
Other stores include: Jack's Music Shoppe in Red Bank, Hold Fast in Asbury Park, Vintage Vinyl in the Fords section of Woodbridge, The Record Store in Howell and Backsteets.com.
Cunningham's has hosted "Bruce Brunch" since 2003 on the Toms River based station.
The program - which features frequent interviews with members of the E Street Band and artists associated with The Boss - gave him access to many of the acts on the disc.
His "day job" as a music executive also scored a special moment with Passenger covering "Dancing in the Dark," recorded by Joe Bellante at radio station Q102 in Cincinnati.
"I found out he was a huge Bruce fan," he said.
The record, Cunningham said, has been in the works for three years.
Nile, Grove and Gruschecky all recorded live in The Hawk's studios. Maddock was recorded on location at Martell's Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant while Bandiera was live at The River Watch in Brick. Both performances were mixed on site by Tom Trembly.
"There have been so many great performances on my show, and I wanted to get them out to folks," he said. "Vinyl is so hot right now, and everything just came together."