How The Lumineers’ Jeremiah Fraites Created an Authentic Sound for ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere’
Jeremiah Fraites, pianist and co-founder of The Lumineers, explains how he approached scoring the Scott Cooper-directed Bruce Springsteen biopic Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere to evoke the tone of Springsteen’s iconic Nebraska album.
Personal Connections to Springsteen
Fraites, who lived in New Jersey for 24 years like Springsteen, had existing ties to the project. He previously covered “State Trooper” for the launch of Warren Zanes’ book, the source material for the film. This connection caught the attention of director Scott Cooper and Zanes, leading to his involvement in scoring the film.
Intentions Behind the Score
At Deadline’s 2025 Sound & Screen Film event held at UCLA’s Royce Hall, Fraites shared his vision for the score:
“I had expressed a great deal of interest in scoring this film. I had written some demos, and I thought a lot about how I want to attack the score. I think I thought more about what I wanted not to do versus what I wanted to do, and I wanted to stay away from an overly polished sound.”
Choosing an Authentic Instrument
To achieve a raw, unpolished sound, Fraites used a “crummy upright piano” named “Firewood,” located in his Denver home. He recalled:
“Long story short, I have a piano tuner in Denver, Colorado. He’s originally from Los Angeles, and many years ago, he was tuning my piano. And I said, ‘Michael, what do you think of this piano?’ It’s my favorite piano.”
This choice helped Fraites capture the intimate, stripped-down aesthetic that parallels Springsteen’s Nebraska.
Summary
Jeremiah Fraites intentionally avoided a polished sound in his score, opting for a raw piano tone to authentically reflect the spirit of Springsteen’s Nebraska album.
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