
Bruce Hornsby Is Still Seeing What He Can Get Away With Since The Way It Is, the visionary songwriter has made his mark on so many genres. His latest, Deep Sea Vents, dives once again into something new.
By
John Mirisola
March 6, 2024
Bruce Hornsby '74
Image by Tristan Williams
Press play on Deep Sea Vents, the new collaboration from Bruce Hornsby '74 and the sought-after contemporary classical ensemble yMusic, and one thing quickly becomes obvious: This is not Hornsby resting on his past successes-many and multifaceted as they may be.
Over the past forty years Hornsby has amassed one of the most varied catalogs in modern music. Its not boring anyway, he joked in a phone interview last month.
The Music that Made Berklee
See how The Way It Is and so many other songs have shaped Berklees legacy.
To summarize, incompletely: Theres his deep well of thoughtful, slightly askew pop-rock songs, beginning with 1986s The Way It Is, whose title track helped launch Hornsbys career and then enjoyed a bank-shot second life as an iconic 2Pac sample. There are his contributions to the jam music world (most famously as a live keyboardist for the Grateful Dead for a number of years in the '80s and '90s); his bluegrass group with Ricky Skaggs; his jazz trio with Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride; and his many screen scoring projects with director Spike Lee. Then theres his more recent emergence as a key collaborator in the modern indie music world, working with Bon Ivers Justin Vernon and Vampire Weekends Ezra Koenig, among others, and sharing the stage with indie-jam crossover act Goose. Also, should we mention he played the memorable piano part on Bonnie Raitts classic hit, I Cant Make You Love Me?
Watch Bruce Hornsby join Goose for their live cover of The Way It Is:
Yet the wry, experimental chamber pop of Deep Sea Vents, released under the collective moniker BrhyM, sounds like nothing else in that discography, and proves he still has more sonic territory to explore, even if he needs to survey the ocean floor to find it.
The Wild Whaling LifeIm just always looking for the new, and looking for inspiration in new places, and also looking not to repeat myself, said Hornsby, describing himself as a wandering minstrel, stylistically.
Something just presents itself emphatically, saying to me, This is where you should go. This will not be denied. Do this, dont f*** around. Deal with this right now. And so I try to listen to that loud voice.
The inspirational touch-points across these ten tracks are vast. He draws on a New York Times science story (Deep Sea Vents), web research on the platypus (Platypus Wow), a decades-old family joke (the song Barber Booty is a nod to how his sons used to pronounce their family barber shop, Barber/Beauty, as young children), and a couple Stephen Crane poems recalled from an eighth-grade English class (Deep Blue), among other sources.
Listen to The Wild Whaling Life by BrhyM
Hornsbys voracious curiosity has always been an engine for his creativity, and literature has played a particularly significant role in his compositions. My reading life has, for the last many years, completely influenced my songwriting life, he said. Prior to Deep Sea Vents, there have been songs referencing novels by Don DeLillo and David Foster Wallace, for instance. And then theres The Wild Whaling Life on this new album, which came together as Hornsby was reading Moby-Dick during the pandemic.
[yMusic] sent me this track around late November of 2020, he recalled. And their track just sounded like the book. A lot of the sounds they were making sounded sea-like. Seagulls and bushy ocean birds making sounds. And so it just led me to this place where I thought, Okay, let me go back through this book that Ive been reading. So Hornsby flipped through marked-up passages and margin notes, eventually shaping those ideas into a celebration of a life that sounds a lot like the one hes been lucky enough to lead-a wanderer, feeling pride in pushing forward, always in search of the big one. This is what I chose for my lifes work, he sings, Its the wild whaling life for me.
I Am the PlatypusWhile Hornsby has never shied away from weighty subjects in his songwriting (The Way It Is alone tackles issues of class, race, and social progress), hes also one of the only songwriters of his stature to follow that loud voice of inspiration into songs of humor and frivolity. For evidence, look no further than the skronky, honking Platypus Wow.
The song began as a yMusic demo with the word duck in its working title, and by a series of associative leaps from the horns quacking and the titles billing, Hornsby found his way into a deep dive on the egg-laying mammal and its ilk.
I just started doing a little research about the platypus, and platypuses related cousins, which led me to some old cartoon characters that I knew from my sons early days-Crash Bandicoot and Knuckles the Echidna, Hornsby said. And so I just went from there, learning about this whole area and writing about it, with a light strain on a tone level, because the music had that.
The result is a track that manages to sashay along the boundary between absurdity and fascination, and that BrhyM successfully carry off on the strength and strangeness of their performance.
Part human, part bird / Part beaver, reptile nerd / Im weird just like you / Lets exult in greens and blues, he sings with a swagger, and its easy to imagine Hornsby identifying with the platypus here.
Because of the way Im singing, I call it Sugarfoot of [funk band] the Ohio Players meets [20th century avant-garde composer] Pierre Boulez, said Hornsby-a string of words only this artist could credibly utter. Its completely an odd match. Im sure Pierre Boulez has never heard of Sugarfoot and vice-versa. I feel pretty confident about that.
A Zappo ProductionWhi
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
02/05/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
01/05/2026
January 5 2026, 18:30 (PST) NBCUniversal's Peacock to Be First Streamer to ...
01/04/2026
January 4 2026, 18:00 (PST) DOLBY AND DOUYIN EMPOWER THE NEXT GENERATON OF CREATORS WITH DOLBY VISION
Douyin Users Can Now Create And Share Videos With Stun...
12/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
12/02/2026
TIME100 Health list features Scripps Research Professor Darrell Irvine Irvine is recognized for his work in empowering the immune system to fight disease, which...
11/02/2026
FYI: Phone Support Maintenance One thing we pride ourselves on here at Utah Scientific is our 24-hour support included with our signature 10-year hardware warra...
11/02/2026
Leading provider of video streaming solutions, Bitmovin, has appointed Ian Baglow as Co-CEO alongside existing CEO and Co-Founder Stefan Lederer. Under this str...
11/02/2026
Paramount and the CBS Television Network will partner to air UFC 326: HOLLOWAY vs. OLIVEIRA 2 live on Saturday, March 7, from T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, mar...
11/02/2026
Beginning February 10, fans can buy MLB.TV on ESPN, a new milestone in one of sports media's longest-standing partnerships. ESPN becomes the new streaming h...
11/02/2026
Fubo Sports Network is available to Hulu's Live TV subscribers in the core $89.99 a month subscription plan, which also includes full access to the entire H...
11/02/2026
Following a competitive public tender process, Rai (Radiotelevisione Italiana), the national public broadcasting company of Italy, has awarded Imagine Communica...
11/02/2026
Major League Baseball is making in-market streaming subscriptions for 20 Clubs available today for fans. Subscriptions for the following Clubs are available vi...
11/02/2026
Building on successful demonstrations during the Paris Olympics 2024, Italian public service broadcaster Rai and the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) are condu...
11/02/2026
Following Sunday's Super Bowl LX, ESPN and Disney unveiled We're Going,...
11/02/2026
Delayed streams are a growing source of frustration for sports fans. During the 2026 Super Bowl, some streams lagged up to 62 seconds behind the action on the f...
11/02/2026
NASCAR and FloSports announces an expanded slate of racing events that will bring FloRacing coverage live throughout the 2026 season to the NASCAR Channel, furt...
11/02/2026
Manifold technologies GmbH announces the appointment of Nick Tucker as Sales Manager for Europe, reinforcing the company's continued growth across broadcast...
11/02/2026
Genies, the AI avatar technology company powering the next era of interactive digital identity, entered into a landmark collaboration with MLB Players, Inc., th...
11/02/2026
The International Cricket Council (ICC) and Google have joined forces for an AI-...
11/02/2026
Dolby's CEO Kevin Yeaman and Giles Baker, SVP of Dolby Cloud Solutions, shared how the brand's latest innovations - Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, and Dolby...
11/02/2026
Ilitch Sports + Entertainment has entered a first of its kind partnership with Major League Baseball, which will provide broadcast support to both the Detroit T...
11/02/2026
For major U.S. events like Super Bowl 2026, FIFA World Cup, America 250, and the...
11/02/2026
Broadcasts of the NHL's Detroit Red Wings will also be produced by the leagu...
11/02/2026
Video moves fast can your DAM keep up?
Join Blue Lucy in LA for the West Coast's leading Digital Asset Management event as we explore, celebrate, and acc...
11/02/2026
NEW YORK - February 10, 2026 - An estimated 124.9 million viewers watched Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8, according to Nielsen's Big Data Panel measu...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Clear-Com provided an advanced, IP-based communications infrastructure for TEDNext 2025, supporting production, media, and editorial teams with a highly flexib...
11/02/2026
Astera introduces QuikBeam, the newest addition to its acclaimed Quik family of focusing LED Fresnels. This ultra-compact spotlight combines the equivalent powe...
11/02/2026
Following a competitive public tender process, Rai (Radiotelevisione Italiana), the national public broadcasting company of Italy, has awarded Imagine Communica...
11/02/2026
With Convertible Mount for NL Bowens & Aputure A Mounts See it at BSC Expo Stand #133 LCA
DoPchoice continues to refine light shaping tools for professional LE...
11/02/2026
World Premiere at BSC Expo, Booth #319 Oberkochen/Germany, 10 February 2026
ZEISS introduces the new Aatma, set of nine high-end full frame T1.5 cinema primes ...
11/02/2026
As Re-recording Mixer and Head of Sound at The Farm, one of UK's leading post-production facilities, Nick Fry has built his career on making stories sound a...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
11/02/2026
Graduate Spotlight: Gabrielle Rodriguez The educator, who grew up in the Philippines, shares how shes bringing what she learned at Berklee back home.
Februar...
11/02/2026
Wednesday 11 February 2026
Sky brings together Netflix, Disney , HBO Max and Ha...
11/02/2026
Back to All News
Netflix Confirms Production of Love O'Clock' From the...
11/02/2026
Back to All News
Investing in Belgian Stories: A Commitment to Culture and Choice
From left to right: Undercover, Ang le, Rough Diamonds, Into the Night, John...
11/02/2026
At the end of January, ICG headed off to the Portuguese capital, Lisbon, for our annual conference.
An early flight gave us plenty of time to start exploring s...
11/02/2026
ABS Strengthens Ku-Band Capacity and Expands Regional Reach Through Strategic Pa...