E Street Band Clemons, Federici, Lopez, Sancious, Tallent and Van Zandt honed their skills in numerous bands, both with and without Springsteen. These included Little Melvin & the Invaders, the Downtown Tangiers Band, the Jaywalkers, Moment of Truth, Glory Road, Child, Steel Mill, Dr. Zoom & the Sonic Boom, the Sundance Blues Band, and the Bruce Springsteen Band. In 1972, when Springsteen gained a recording contract with CBS, he picked the cherries among Jersey Shore musicians to record – and to tour in support of – his debut album, "Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J." By 1973, they had recorded a second album with
Greetings from Cairo, Illinois Greetings from Cairo, Illinois Greetings From Cairo, Illinois is a 2005 concept album and historical album by Stace England with songs referencing the history of Cairo, Illinois from 1858 to 2005. The project encompassed five years of research and two years of writing and recording the music. The songs concern people, places and things throughout Cairo's history including Ulysses S. Grant, the American Civil War, blues music, lynching, the Great Migration (African American), Civil Rights struggles, vigilante groups, Jesse Jackson, political corruption, economic decline and hope for renewal. The album was the subject of a radio documentary on VPRO Dutch