Bruce Hornsby Ranges Into Hazy Drone Music

Published: Aug. 13, 2020, 4 p.m.

Bruce Hornsby wrote a classic pop song with “The Way It Is” in 1986 (later sampled by Tupac Shakur for "Changes.") But his new album, Non-Secure Connection, is full of unexpected collaborations with Jamila Woods and Vernon Reid, and the late Leon Russell, as well as sounds drawing from contemporary classical music, hazy drones, driving minimalism, and the film scores he’s done with Spike Lee. (In fact, some of the tunes on the intriguing and at times, daring, record were inspired by music cues written for some of Spike Lee's films.) The one-time member of the Grateful Dead and Bonnie Raitt, Mavis Staples, Chaka Khan, and Willie Nelson collaborator, Bruce Hornsby, joins us to play a couple of songs and talk about a surprising range of wildly eclectic music. 

"My Resolve":

"Shit's Crazy Out Here":

This is "Bright Star Cast" with Jamila Woods and Vernon Reid: