Foxygen’s Jonathan Rado is covering Springsteen’s Born To Run and that’s cool with us

Rock and roll eccentric Jonathan Rado of Foxygen has his work cut out for him juggling irony, sincerity and pure showmanship, and he always manages to keep those parts in fluid motion. For his latest undertaking — besides, you know, Foxygen’s fourth LP Hang and their upcoming appearance at the XPoNential Music Festival — Rado will cover Bruce Springsteen’s epic 1975 LP Born To Run in its entirety.

Despite the comical / ridiculous promotional photo with Rado’s face superimposed on both The Boss and Clarence Clemons, this project isn’t some goofball flight of fancy; he is doing it as part of Turntable Kitchen’s Sounds Delicious series, where contemporary artists cover classic albums in their entirety.

The record is out May 12th, and you can get a taste by listening to Rado’s anthemic take on “Thunder Road” below. Say what you will about the image; it’s clear from the first notes of the song that he’s doing this out of love and reverence for one of the greatest records from the rock and roll canon.

Foxygen performs at the 2017 XPoNential Music Festival; for tickets and more information, head to XPNFest.org.