Some “new” Bob Seger songs are coming in September — the Detroit rocker’s first fresh material in nine years.
Four bonus tracks, three previously unheard, will be part of a 20th anniversary re-released of Seger’s 16th studio album, “Face the Promise,” due out Sept. 18. The songs were recorded during the same sessions that produced the original 12 track album; “Red Eye to Memphis” was available as an iTunes bonus track at the time, while “Time,” “Little Jane” and “Let Me Try” have never been released.
“Little Jane” is one of three instant-gratification tracks, along with the album’s “Wait For Me” and “Wreck This Heart,” for those pre-ordering the album. Seger previewed the album announcement with a social media video detailing the writing of “Wait For Me,” which was the album’s lead single.
Released Sept. 12, 2006, “Face the Promise” was Seger’s first new album since “It’s a Mystery” in 1995. Recorded in Nashville with session musicians rather than members of his Silver Bullet Band, the set debuted at No. 4 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum. At the time Seger said the long gap between albums was spent mostly raising his children — son Cole and daughter Samantha — but he was inspired to put something out after his 2004 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction.
“It was kind of like, ‘Oh, man, now you’re in the Hall of Fame — (the album) better be pretty damn good!’,” he explained. “I don’t want to put some dog meat out there if I’m in the Hall of Fame — know what I mean?”
Seger had, in fact, recorded an album with the Silver Bullet Band called “Blue Ridge,” which he had ready in the late 90s. He scrapped it, however, feeling that the sonics weren’t up to snuff. “We listened to it next to what was on the radio,” Seger recalled. “I was listening to groups like matchbox twenty and stuff like that, and the sonic sound compared to what we had, it sounded like a garage band. So rather than re-record everything, I just kept writing.” He added that working with the Nashville musicians — a corps that included Silver Bullet backing vocalists Shaun Murphy and Laura Creamer as well as onetime touring keyboardist Bill Payne of Little Feat — was simply “an expedient way of doing things.”
Songs on the original album included duets with Patty Loveless on “The Answer’s in the Question” and with Kid Rock on Vince Gill’s “Real Mean Bottle.” The song “Simplicity,” meanwhile, was inspired by the Detroit Pistons’ NBA championship season during 2005-2006.
Bob Seger will release a 20th anniversary edition of his 2006 album “Face the Promise” — featuring four bonus tracks, three previously unreleased — on Sept. 18 (Photo by Clay McBride)
“Face the Promise” also brought Seger back on the road for the first time in more than 10 years; the tour kicked off Nov. 8, 2006, in Grand Rapids and included five shows at Joe Louis Arena and three at Cobo Arena.
Seger’s last album, “I Knew You When,” came out during 2017, and he’s kept a low profile since the last date of his Roll Me Away: The Final Tour on Nov. 1, 2019 in Philadelphia, popping up only occasionally at sporting events such as Detroit Lions games and at the 2024 NFL Draft in Downtown Detroit.