'Bridge and Tunnel Boys' examines connections between Billy Joel, Bruce Springsteen 

An upcoming book by Northport-raised historian Jim Cullen explores the overlapping cultural legacies of Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, placing the respective Long Island and New Jersey music icons within the tradition of the “New York metropolitan sound” dating back to the early 1900s.

“Bridge and Tunnel Boys: Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and the Metropolitan Sound of the American Century,” due out Oct. 13, “explores how each man drew from the city’s diverse racial and ethnic influences,” according to publisher Rutgers University Press’ website, and how “despite frequently releasing songs that questioned the American dream … [they] were able to appeal to wide audiences during both the national uncertainty of the 1970s and the triumphalism of the Reagan era."

In an accompanying blurb, veteran music writer Fred Schruers (“Billy Joel: The Definitive Biography”) said the book provides “context as to where Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen overlap — in terms of geography, musical approach, and audience — and where they diverge.”

Cullen, 60, who was born in Queens and now lives in Hastings-on-Hudson in Westchester County, is the author of several nonfiction books including “Born in the U.S.A.: Bruce Springsteen and the American Tradition” (1997), “Those Were the Days: Why ‘All in the Family’ Still Matters” (2020) and “Martin Scorsese and the American Dream” (2021). He teaches at Greenwich Country Day School in Connecticut. In 1981, Cullen won a Newsday High School Journalism award in the Typography and Layout category for his work on Northport High's school newspaper, The Rag.

“I consider myself a thoroughgoing product of suburbia generally and Long Island in particular,” Cullen told Newsday in an email. “Billy Joel, whom I’ve seen in concert a number of times, has been a backdrop for my life.” Having written extensively about Springsteen, Cullen realized in recent years how the two musicians were “born within months of each other, each on one side of the city, signed to the same label the same year, and so on. That was the genesis of the book.”

Their metropolitan sound is “a quintessentially polyglot experience dating back to the time of Irving Berlin (who also spent time on Long Island)” and continued through “the songs of Frank Sinatra, the Brill Building pop of the early ‘60s” and more. “Joel and Springsteen were both shaped by it, but took it in distinctive directions.”

Hicksville-raised Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Joel, 74,  continues to play monthly concerts in Madison Square Garden’s first residency. Each of his scheduled performances through Feb. 9 — his 99th in the series and his 145th at the Garden overall — are sold out, according to Joel’s website. His residency, which began Jan. 27, 2014, is set to end with his 150th lifetime show at the venue next summer.

Fellow hall of famer Springsteen, 73, is currently on his 2023 world tour, which played UBS Arena in Belmont Park on April 9 and 11, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center on April 3 and Madison Square Garden on April 1. Upcoming are three dates at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey, on Aug. 30, and Sept. 1 and 3.