Photo by Michael Martin
If you already have your tickets for Bruce Hornsby’s spring concert at the Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts, be prepared for a little audience participation.
Hornsby – known for his solo work and his work with backing band the Range, as well as his collaboration with the Grateful Dead – made a big impact on the charts with such tunes as “The Way it Is,” “Mandolin Rain” and “The Valley Road.” Each of his concerts has a bit of a twist, he says.
Related: Bob Dylan performs in Columbus May 16
“The main tease regarding my set list is the fact there is no set list,” Hornsby says, adding that he takes requests from the audience and will focus mainly on the music he’s most passionate about. “That is what I feel I owe the people who come to my concerts.”
They can expect some Grateful Dead covers, Hornsby says, given that 2015 marks the band’s 50th anniversary. And since Hornsby’s style has varied from rock to bluegrass and just about everything in between, his song selection will be eclectic.
“(The set list will) range far and wide stylistically,” he says.
The last time Hornsby played in Columbus, it was the summer of 2012. Returning to the city for his 2015 tour was an easy choice, he says, joking that “Thad Matta would be mad at me if I didn’t take the gig.”
Seating just under 800 people, the McCoy Center is certainly a smaller venue. But its size doesn’t deter Hornsby.
“As an acoustic musician, I prefer smaller venues,” he says. “Larger venues can sometimes be very unmusical places to play because, to reach the back rows, one may feel the need to bang and play hard, sacrificing tone and occasionally creating a nervous, hyper feeling that nobody likes.”
Along with having a say in his set list, audience members will also go home with Hornsby’s first entirely live studio album, Solo Concerts. Hornsby says that, for years, his fans have been asking him to make a solo concerts record.
“Mostly because they felt the experience was unique and there was no document they could find, other than some possibly mediocre bootlegs, that gave a good representation of this type of concert that I play,” he says. “There is a certain intangible feeling that generally happens only in the live situation, and so I hoped to capture that on this record.”
In fact, if anyone were to ask Hornsby what his musical style is, he says he would give them the three live records he’s released in the last four years: Solo Concerts, Bride of the Noisemakers and Cluck Ol’ Hen.
Along with the Grateful Dead, Hornsby has collaborated with Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks, among many others. He’s written songs for Broadway musical SCKBTSD and documentary Kobe Doin’ Work.
In 2009, Hornsby stepped out of his comfort zone and took a part in a movie, in which he played himself: World’s Greatest Dad, starring the late Robin Williams. In the black comedy, Williams’ character is an avid Hornsby fan.
“Oh, I was terrible,” Hornsby says. “I had two lines (…) but we sure had a great time working with Robin Williams and Bobcat Goldthwait, and I think the movie is really great. Really creative and soulful in its own way.”
His three deepest collaborative relationships, he says, are with Spike Lee, bluegrass musician Ricky Skaggs and the Grateful Dead.
Those relationships are still thriving. Hornsby composed the music for Lee’s revenge thriller film Da Sweet Blood of Jesus, which was released in February.
“I’ve been so fortunate to have been asked to work with so many of my heroes and inspirations through the years,” Hornsby says.
If You Go
Date: May 6, 2015
Time: 8 p.m.
Place: Jeanne B. McCoy Community Center for the Arts, 100 E. Dublin-Granville Rd., New Albany
Buy tickets at www.mccoycenter.org
Hannah Bealer is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.
