Bruce Springsteen and Zach Bryan Discuss Writing Music and Struggling With Impostor Syndrome

With less than a decade in country music, Zach Bryan has already dominated the charts thanks to albums like American Heartbreak and The Great American Bar Scene. Knowing that finding one’s footing in the music industry can take years and even decades, Bryan was somewhat surprised by how fast his career took off. Besides helming his own tour throughout the year, the country star recently found himself sitting beside icon Bruce Springsteen, who decided to hurl a few questions at the rising star. 

Getting the chance to meet a legendary singer like Springsteen is already a heart-pounding experience, but that was just the start for Bryan as the singer asked him about his time in the Navy. Having served, Springsteen wondered if the Navy helped influence his writing. Bryan explained, “I had a lot of friends in the Navy, and we’d go out to the bars and we’d always have these times, and I’d go back to my barracks room and I’d sing about it. I never had anything else to express myself. You work so much you never really have time to talk about these things. So I’d go home and I would write, and I never in a million years thought I would become a songwriter because I never thought I had the talent.”

Even when Springsteen asked Bryan if he considered himself a serious songwriter now, Bryan insisted, “I still don’t! To this day I have really bad imposter syndrome.” 

[RELATED: Bruce Springsteen Offers Update on Wife Patti Scialfa’s Tough Battle With Cancer]

Bruce Springsteen Shares How His Inspiration Never Changed

Not all the questions were pointed to Bryan as the country singer also wanted to know about Springsteen. Having spent decades in the music industry, Bryan asked Springsteen about his inspirations and if they changed over the years. 

Much to his surprise, Springsteen admitted, “Same goal as from when I was 15 to now. So that’s 60 years. And it’s basically, ‘Hey, we come out onstage at night, we give everything we have. This is the last night we may play. This is the last audience we may see.’”

Finding common ground when it came to the struggles of songwriting, Springsteen revealed it took years before he considered his writing “good.” “I don’t think I felt really comfortable with the idea that I was writing good songs till I was about 22 or 23, when I was coming up with the songs for my first record, a record called Greetings From Asbury Park, N.J., which came out in 1973.”

While discussing the struggles of songwriting, Springsteen and Bryan shared more than a conversation as a few months ago, they took the stage for a special performance at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. And outside of music, the two seem to be nurturing a promising friendship.  

(Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images)