Friday Keyboard Magic at the 2022 Birthday of the Great Piano Master Bruce Hornsby

by Robert Wilkinson

Wednesday was the birthday of the great Bruce Hornsby. Today and tonight we dance and listen to all kinds of great piano!!

Bruce Hornsby (November 23, 1954) founded “The Range” in 1984, broke loose with “The Way It Is” in 1986, and rocketed to the top. It is said this song is about the Civil Rights Movement and “institutional racism.” Lyrics at the end of the tribute.

We’ll begin with a great music video, performed “live in the studio,” by Bruce Hornsby and the Range! This turned the world on to a sound it really never had before, and set a mood for the late Reagan era with Iran-Contra in the news. “The Way It is”

Keep moovin’ and groovin'! From 1988, the very danceable rocking music video of “Valley Road”

We now go to a great 1990 music video of “Across the River”

From June 1991, Bruce and the Dead live at Giants Stadium giving us “The Eyes of the World”

From Sept 1991, Bruce Hornsby, Branford Marsalis, and the Grateful Dead live at MSG performing "Franklin's Tower." Here’s the entire 2 hour 51 minute show! Bruce Hornsby, the Grateful Dead, and Branford Marsalis Live at Madison Square Garden 1991

From Halloween 1991 at the Oakland Coliseum, Bruce and the Dead in an entire 1 hour 57 show! Bruce Hornsby and the Grateful Dead at Oakland 1991

From 2012 in Connecticut at the Gathering of the Vibes Festival, Bruce Hornsby, Bob Weir, and Branford Marsalis cranking it up for 15 minutes of “King of the Hill” and “Big Boss Man.” From the same gig, “Mexicali blues” and the Grateful Dead standard, “Me and My Uncle”

We’ll finish this uptempo section with a gentle lead in to a great rocker! Featuring Bruce on accordion backed by the Range, here’s a live 1987 performance of “On The Western Skyline”

We now transition into a deeper mood with THE song that defined the 80s, written by Mister Bruce Hornsby! For your enjoyment, a live performance by Don Henley of “The End of the Innocence”

2 years ago I had a more jazzy version offered up by Bruce in 2006 live on solo piano, but this year it’s nowhere to be found. Instead, from April 2019 with yMusic in Brooklyn, a very hip delivery of “The End of the Innocence”

Last year I had a great clip from Leno, where Bruce is joined by Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, Jackson Browne, and David Lindley for a beautiful performance of “The End of the Innocence” but this year it’s gone.

We’ll continue with a great live 1987 video of “Mandolin Rain”

From the 1988 MSG Rainforest benefit, a partial 30 minute set of Bruce and the Herd! Bruce Hornsby at Madison Square Garden – 1988

From the “Mountain Arts Center” in Maine, 36 minutes of Bruce solo on the piano! Bruce Hornsby Live at the Mountain Arts Center

A live 12 minute concert performance of “the Road Not Taken”

From Virginia in 2010, Bruce live performing “China Doll”

A great score! From the 2012 “Gathering of the Vibes” festival in Bridgeport CT, Bruce got together with Branford Marsallis and Bob Weir, and give us a great 7+ minute performance of “Standing on the Moon”

Here's the same lineup at the All Good Music Festival at Legends Valley in Thornville, OH on July 19, 2012 giving us a 14+ minute performance of ”Franklin's Tower"

We begin to close this celebration with Bruce live in Boston in 2011 for a great solo performance of “Standing on the Moon” and “Halcyon Days”

We’ll now go to a classic concert at Red Rocks outside of Denver! From the 1999 tour featuring Bruce, Jackson Browne, Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, and the awesome David Lindley, 3 hours of great music! Bruce, Jackson, Bonnie, David, and Shawn at Red Rocks - 1999

Even though I posted it earlier, I figure if this was the lineup at the time, then another play on the turntable is in order. “The End of the Innocence”

For our closer, back to the awesome beginning. We’ll begin with the original video of Bruce performing the iconic “The Way It Is,” and follow it with a great live performance on Live on Countdown in 1986 of “The Way It Is.” Our third version is from GMA in August 2004, a blurry clip of Bruce and the Noisemakers in a live performance of “The Way It Is.” To finish the quartet, Bruce was on Howard Stern in 2006, and after a short interview about how he wrote it, and does a fantastic jazzy version of “The Way It Is.” (The last one is a great rendition!)

For our first encore, a full 56 minute show! Here’s his 1993 PBS Center Stage appearance, live in Chicago! Bruce Hornsby Live on PBS Center Stage - 1993

For our second encore, a full one hour concert at Rome NY! Bruce Hornsby at Woodstock West Stage 1999

The song that broke it all open!

The Way It Is

Standin' in line marking time Waiting for the welfare dime
'Cause they can't buy a job The man in the silk suit hurries by
As he catches the poor old lady's eyes Just for fun he says, 'Get a job

That's just the way it is Some things'll never change
That's just the way it is Ha, but don't you believe them

Said, 'Hey little boy you can't go Where the others go
Cause you don't look like they do' Said, 'Hey, old man how can you stand
To think that way Did you really think about it
Before you made the rules?' He said, 'Son

That's just the way it is Some things'll never change
That's just the way it is' Ha, but don't you believe them

Well, they passed a law in '64 To give those who ain't got, a little more
But it only goes so far 'Cause the law don't change another's mind
When all it sees at the hiring time Is the line on the color bar But who knows

That's just the way it is Some things'll never change (right)
That's just the way it is That's just the way it is, it is, when you're waiting.

The Way It Is lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Article © Copyright 2022 Robert Wilkinson

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