Bruce Springsteen’s Fender Esquire guitar, which he holds on the cover of the Born in the U.S.A. album, is on view in a new Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum exhibit.  Photo courtesy of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame + Museum. LP cover courtesy of Columbia Records.

CLEVELAND — The crowds and the excitement at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum April 4 stemmed not only from the 2009 induction ceremony and free admission for the day, but the opening of a long-awaited exhibit devoted to Bruce Springsteen.

From Asbury Park to the Promised Land: The Life and Music of Bruce Springsteen spans the top two floors of the museum and features hundreds of artifacts, including Springsteen’s hand-written lyrics, signature clothes, instruments, childhood photos, audio and video interviews and live concert footage.

Rock Hall Curator Jim Henke has long wanted an exhibit devoted to Springsteen.

“Bruce is a truly American artist, distinguished by his ability to reflect and connect with working-class America and his great live performances,” Henke said. “He stands in the upper echelon of rock artists.”

Henke was invited to handpick items collected by Springsteen and stored in a warehouse in New Jersey. Perhaps the most important artifact in the exhibit is Springsteen’s Fender Esquire guitar, which he holds on the cover of the Born in the U.S.A. album and played in hundreds of concerts over the decades, including this year’s Super Bowl halftime show.

According to Henke, Springsteen purchased it for $180 in 1972 after signing his first record deal. He loves its lightness and versatility and originally wanted it because it was the guitar used by Jeff Beck, a 2009 Rock Hall inductee for his solo career. In an interview with Henke, Springsteen said, “It’s the only instrument I can’t feel. It’s an extension of my body. That thing is an extension of who I am. It, literally, was the receptor of all my hopes and dreams, the symbol of my ambitions and desires.”

The exhibit begins with Springsteen’s middle class childhood in New Jersey and his start with teen bands, including the Castiles, at age 14. Visitors can listen to his audition for Columbia Records executive John Hammond.

Hammond, who signed Springsteen to the label, said in the exhibit, “The kid absolutely knocked me out. I only hear somebody really good once every 10 years, and not only was Bruce the best, he was a lot better than [Bob] Dylan when I first heard him.”

As revealed in his handwritten speech for his induction into the Rock Hall in 1999, Springsteen was greatly influenced by Dylan. In the speech, Springsteen recalls the first time he heard “Like a Rolling Stone” playing in the car while driving with his mother.

It was a voice unlike any other he had heard on the radio and a sound “like somebody took his boot and kicked open the door to your mind,” he wrote.

Fans of Springsteen and his E Street Band will savor up-close views of instruments such as Steve Van Zandt’s electric guitar, the saxophone played by “Big Man” Clarence Clemons on “Jungleland,” and Danny Federici’s accordion, prominently heard in “Sandy,” and glockenspiel heard on “Thunder Road” and other songs. Federici died in 2008.

Springsteen wrote most of his best-loved lyrics in spiral notebooks, often at a round wood table that’s included in the exhibit. Those who appreciate insights into the artistic process will enjoy listening to Springsteen’s audio interview with Henke in which he describes his approach to songwriting.

Springsteen calls it a very relaxed, meditative process and compares it to a potter who turns a piece of clay into something special. The work is shaped by the songwriter’s emotions, the issues on his mind, his relationship to the world, the sounds he wants to hear, what the song is telling him and what the characters are telling him about their fate.

“It’s a magic act,” said Springsteen in the interview. “Nothing existed in the room and, then, you pull something from thin air. Boom, there it is. Abracadabra.”

The exhibit will continue through spring 2010. The museum is open seven days a week from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (9 p.m. on Wednesdays). For more details, visitwww.rockhall.com.

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