The album came out of songwriting and recording that Springsteen continued with towards the close of his previous work, 2007's Magic, as the band worked on a video for one of that album's songs.
Albummet kom ud fra sangskrivning og optagelse da Springsteen fortsatte henimod slutningen af sit tidligere arbejde, 2007 Magic, da bandet arbejdede på en musikvideo til en af albummets sange.