And I love doing that as well. But I’m
also interested in playing my instrument
well. I’m interested in virtuosity on
the instrument.
“Don’t get me wrong,” Hornsby qualifi es.
“I love to write simple music and I do it all
the time. But the people who wanted me to
sound the same? I apologise to them,
because I’m not that person. I’m looking to
grow and evolve.”
PLAYING THE HITS
On his solo piano tour in November (his
fi rst UK dates in six years and his fi rst on
the Continent in a decade-and-a-half ),
Hornsby says he will be visiting the full
spectrum of music that’s he’s released in the
past three decades.
“Someone who comes to the concert will
hear the hits – the nostalgia lover’s reason
to be there. I will placate that person who
OBruce Hornsby plays the Royal
Concert Hall, Glasgow, on 1
November, and O2 Shepherd’s Bush
Empire, London, on 3 November.
Absolute Zero is out now.has not really continued to follow what I do.
But I also owe it to myself, and I owe it to
them, to deal with a lot of areas of music
that I’ve developed since then that I think
are of great worth. I’ll defi nitely be playing
some of the new record because it’s gotten
such attention and validation for me –
which is, of course, very gratifying. Also, it
should be known that I take requests.”
Looking towards the future, Hornsby is
currently “deeply involved” in making his
next album.
“I’m driving myself crazy,” he states. “I
drive myself crazy every time because I
think you kinda have to do that to make
something that I think is special. You’ve got
to beat your head against a creative wall to
try to fi nd something that’s striking,
different and resonant.”
Will Justin Vernon be on it?
“Justin has been on my last two, so I’mprobably going to leave him alone,” Hornsby
laughs. “He’s actually already on my next
record as a writer, because some of the
songs that are earmarked for it are ones we
worked on in my second visit to Eau Claire
last year that haven’t seen the light of day
yet. We started six or seven things in the
fi ve or six days we were at his April Base
Studio when we worked on Cast-Off for
Absolute Zero.
“But he’s not singing on anything yet, and
he’s one of the great singers, so that’s what
people would want to hear. Right now, there
are no guests, because I only started this
recently. But there will be. yMusic [the
contemporary classical sextet that features
on Absolute Zero] will be on it. So will
[violinist and arranger] Rob Moose, who’s
all over the new Bon Iver record as well.
“So maybe Justin will sing on it and
maybe he won’t. I’m defi nitely not gonna
badger him!”You’ve got to beat your head against a
creative wall to try to find something that’s
striking, different and vibrant
BRUCE HORNSBYDon’t necessarily expect an easy
ride at Hornsby’s live shows, the
ever-evolving artist always plays
plenty of new material alongside
classic tracks
© Megan Holmes