A Conversation with Bruce Hornsby (continued)

PM: I mean, without blowing smoke, there is no one else in the country--in the world, maybe--that does that kind of thing.

BH: Well, I don't think so. I mean, that's for you to say, but I think that's absolutely true.

PM: No, there's nobody doing that.

BH: The closest one instrumentally would be Bela Fleck.

PM: Yeah. And frankly, that's a banjo. [laughs]

BH: And he doesn't write and sing. I mean, he doesn't write songs. I mean, he writes instrumental music, and he's a killer.

PM: Oh, yeah.

BH: Bela, hell, I've played on a bunch of his records. We're old friends. We've done banjo and piano duo concerts. I mean, he's a great person, a great musician. So he would be the closest. But right, no one does it in this way.

PM: And the piano makes a bridge across the genres in a way that, I'm sorry, the banjo cannot. I mean, the cross genre stuff from Bela and from Allison Brown is amazing in its virtuosity, I just don’t think that the instrument itself makes the sonic leap as well as some of its masters.

BH: Well, that's right. That's exactly right. But Ricky has always wanted to make this record with me because he always thought I was the guy to play bluegrass piano.

PM: Absolutely. And there's amazing bluegrass soloing on the piano on this CD.

BH: Right, there are two. There's the "Darling Corey" with Ricky, and there's the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band "Valley Road."

PM: And the "Valley Road" cut is the one I'm referring to, because I've heard it a bunch of times. And it's unbelievable. It's like, "Is that is banjo or a piano?" "No, it's a piano," as the solo starts to develop. [laughs]

BH: It sometimes sounds like a banjo, doesn't it?

PM: Yeah.

BH: That's exactly right. I think the same thing. That's the one that won us the Bluegrass Grammy and pissed off all the bluegrass purists.

PM: Oh, yeah. And they're easy to piss off, too.

BH: Oh, yeah, they think Bill Monroe should win every year.

PM: [laughs]

BH: And I don't blame them. I understand their aesthetic. But at the same time, I was really proud of our record, and it was great to win that. It was great fun just to make the record. And on the DVD there's also a video of us playing that in the studio.

PM: Wow. And Ricky has got such a smokin' band right at the moment.

BH: Oh, it's killer. Kentucky Thunder, yeah. So we had a ball. We did a bluegrass version of "Super Freak."

PM: [laughs] Oh, that's fantastic.

BH: With John Anderson singing.

PM: Oh my.

BH: Not from Yes, but the--

PM: Right. The one with the great voice, yeah.

BH: [imitating John Anderson] "Sure is really wild, baby..."

PM: Hey, that's good. Now John Rich is producing him.

BH: Oh, yeah. I bet he's going to come back and have a big deal again.

PM: Yep.

BH: Good for him.

PM: Sounds like.

BH: He deserves it.   continue

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