Jesse Malin Credits Bruce Springsteen for Getting Him Out of Jail

Long before the Hold Steady and Gaslight Anthem drew comparisons to Bruce Springsteen, New York City singer-songwriter Jesse Malin wasn't shy about big-upping the Boss.

"All my friends that liked punk hated Springsteen," Malin tells Spinner. "They thought it was all this patriotic Jersey 'Rambo' stuff."

A more enlightened listener, even as a teenager, Malin saw Springsteen as a sort of American Joe Strummer, a Telecaster-wielding left-wing rabble-rouser whose hairstyle even resembled the one favored by the iconic Clash frontman.

"I'd be like, 'No, man. He's got the same guitar and the sideburns, and it's not even that -- he's singing about the same thing,'" Malin remembers telling his dubious East Village punk brethren. "'It's just done differently. It's not working-class England. It's political.'"

Since splitting with the glam-punk outfit D Generation in 1999 and going the solo troubadour route, Malin has expressed his Springsteen fanhood in various ways. Live, he's been known to cover such songs as 'Hungry Heart,' and in 2007, he dueted with Springsteen on 'Broken Radio,' the leadoff single from his 'Glitter in the Gutter' album. Malin has even joined Springsteen and the E Street Band onstage at Giants Stadium.

Looking back, he's amazed people ever confused Springsteen for some flag-waving jingoistic Reaganite.

"Read the lyrics to 'Born in the USA': It's not patriotic," Malin says. "It's not 'get a pickup truck and a rifle.' That whole record -- it's this huge platinum record, and at least four or five of the songs, the characters, at the end of the song, they go to jail or they're dead."

"The 'Nebraska' lyrics are still there," Malin adds, referring to the dark, somber acoustic album Springsteen released in 1982, two years before the slick, mega-selling 'Born in the USA.' "I always saw that connection before it was fashionable. Now it's fashionable to like Bruce, which is great. All these young bands are into it, and that's cool, because he deserves it."

Luckily for Malin, old-timers -- police officers included -- still dig the Boss, too. Last year, Malin and a friend drove to Cornish, N.H., in search of J.D. Salinger. Malin was working on songs for director Shane Salerno's forthcoming 'Salinger' documentary, and he figured that meeting the reclusive author might help the creative process. Of course, the local police were used to dealing with such literary pilgrims, and Malin was arrested before he could ring the writer's doorbell.

He tried to explain about the film project, but the cops either didn't believe him or didn't care. Wary of spending the night in jail, he told them to pull up YouTube and find the 'Broken Radio' video, which shows him singing with Springsteen. They did, and before long, Malin was free to go.

"I still haven't thanked Bruce for that one," Malin says.