#bruce hornsby
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Like the music in the new Hunger Games movie but not really know anything about folk/bluegrass/country? Here are some quick recs to get you started!
(This is not comprehensive and the genres here are a little whack, these are just songs I listen to as someone raised on good Appalachian vibes. Not necessarily from just Appalachian artists, particularly in the second section. Just think it’s nice that people are getting more exposure to folk + bluegrass!)
Protest Songs / Coal Criticism
(Hazel Dickens I would give you smooches.. also these are just the ones living in my playlists rn)
“You’ll Never Leave Harlan Alive,” Patty Loveless
“The L and N Don’t Stop Here Anymore,” Jean Ritchie
“Coal Tattoo,” and I’m exercising my free will and linking the Hazel Dickens version
“The Yablonski Murder,” Hazel Dickens
“Coal,” Tyler Childers
“Trip to Hyden,” Tom T. Hall
“Coal Miner’s Daughter,” Loretta Lynn
“Devil Put the Coal in the Ground,” Steve Earle
Assorted Personal Favorites
(where my love for Sierra Ferrell is really on display)
“West Virginia Waltz,” Sierra Ferrell
“Across the Great Divide,” Nanci Griffith
“Blue Ridge Mountain,” Hurray for the Riff Raff
“Iowa (Traveling, Pt. 3),” Dar Williams
“Rhododendron,” Bella White
“Boulder to Birmingham,” Emmylou Harris
“Silver Dollar,” Sierra Ferrell
“Hands of Time,” Margo Price
“Lilacs,” Waxahatchee
“Way of the Triune God,” Tyler Childers
“The Dreaded Spoon,” Ricky Skaggs + Bruce Hornsby
“Preacher in the Ring, Pt. 1,” Bruce Hornsby
“The Green Rolling Hills of West Virginia,” Hazel Dickens
“Rocky Top,” The Osborne Brothers
“Do You Think About Me At All,” Bella White
“In Dreams,” Sierra Ferrell
#hunger games#tbosas#folk music#bluegrass#country#appalachia#ballad of songbirds and snakes#sierra ferrell#bella white#hazel dickens#bruce hornsby#hunger games renaissance#music recs#folk#protest songs
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Year-End Poll #38: 1987
[Image description: a collage of photos of the 10 musicians and musical groups featured in this poll. In order from left to right, top to bottom: The Bangles, Heart, Gregory Abbott, Whitney Houston, Starship, Robbie Nevil, Whitesnake, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Bob Seger, Bon Jovi. End description]
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Lots of things happening this year. What I want to draw attention to first is the influx of glam metal (or hair metal). Heavy metal as a genre had existed for a few decades by this point, mostly branching off of the blues and psychedelic rock of the late 1960's. To avoid going on an overly-long tangent about metal, I'll leave it at that for now. Glam metal has its roots in the heavy metal sound while also (as the name would suggest) taking additional influences from the glam rock of the 1970's. MTV was very kind to this style of music, and glam metal reached a level of fame where you didn't have to be deep in the metal scene to be exposed to. Other subgenres like thrash and death metal would also grow in popularity around this time, but only to those who were aware of what was going on. Metallica would have to wait to breach the underground and MTV would probably have a hard time getting middle America on board with Necrophagia. So while there was a lot going on in metal throughout the 80s, there's a reason why when most people think of "80s metal", there's a very specific image that comes with that.
But that isn't to suggest that rock music in the mainstream was able to escape controversy by featuring more hairspray and less corpse paint, because there's another moment in music history that will culminate this year. In 1985, the PMRC (Parents Music Resource Center) put together a list called the "Filthy Fifteen", which listed fifteen songs thought to be inappropriate and damaging towards traditional family values. Songs on the list include Prince's Darling Nikki (which seemed to have raised the most ire out of the PMRC's co-founder, Tipper Gore), Mötley Crüe's Bastard, Twisted Sister's We're Not Gonna Take It, and Cyndi Lauper's She Bop. A senate hearing over the matter of explicit lyrics was held in 1985, with musicians Frank Zappa, John Denver, and Twisted Sister's Dee Snider speaking out in opposition to censorship. There is a lot behind this conflict, both inside the courtroom and outside, so I'm aware that I'm giving a very fly-over view of the events for the sake of this poll. I'll just mention that these hearings were sometimes dubbed "The Porn-Rock Hearings", the outcry from these concerned parents groups fit really well in Reagan's America, and Zappa gave this absolute bomb of a quote that has been sitting with me a lot as of late:
"Bad facts make bad law, and people who write bad laws are, in my opinion, more dangerous than songwriters who celebrate sexuality. Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religious Thought, and the Right to Due Process for composers, performers and retailers are imperiled if the PMRC and the major labels consummate this nasty bargain."
There are so many good quotes, so I linked to the Full Video and Transcript
To make a long story unfortunately short, something of a compromise was reached by requiring musicians and labels to put "parental advisory" stickers on their albums, alerting potential consumers of the "objectionable" material within. Some musicians found the label as a loss for free speech and another example of the U.S. government deciding whose voices get to be considered moral or not. Other musicians predicted that the parental advisory sticker would only make their music more appealing to young people. You probably didn't need me to tell you this, but Tipper Gore and the PMRC did not stop the "moral downfall of America", if such a thing could even be quantified.
So now we all have little black and white stickers on our albums, yay. But this is far from the last time we'll see a major court case over music and obscenity. But we'll go over that next decade.
#billboard poll#billboard music#tumblr poll#1980s#1980s music#1987#the bangles#heart#gregory abott#whitney houston#starship#robbie nevil#whitesnake#bruce hornsby#bob seger#bon jovi
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Song Review: Bruce Hornsby with the BBC Concert Orchestra - “The Way it Is”
In its sunny, hit-single arrangement, “The Way it Is” did a spectacular job of hiding its dim message.
But Bruce Hornsby gave his tale of economic and racial discrimination a more appropriately melancholic presentation when he performed it live, in-studio, sans audience alongside the BBC Concert Orchestra for Radio 2’s “Piano Room Month.”
Hornsby’s voice and piano remain at the fore even with a large symphony and a slowed-down tempo at their back as the songwriter takes unaccompanied solos to add some jazz to the classical underpinnings.
It’s a testament to the strength and elasticity of Hornsby’s composition, not to mention his ability to think quickly on his butt (he is at the piano bench, after all).
As “The Way it Is” says: some things will never change. And in Hornsby’s improvisational case, that’s a good thing.
Grade card: Bruce Hornsby with the BBC Concert Orchestra - “The Way it Is” - A
1/31/24
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Goose with Bruce Hornsby performing "The Way It Is".
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The Way It Is
Songwriter: Bruce Hornsby
Standing 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 will never change
That's just the way it is
Ah, 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 will never change
That's just the way it is
Ha, but don't you believe them
Ooo, yeah
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
That's just the way it is
Oh Don't you believe
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The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby - 1986
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This version is absolutely beautiful
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Bruce Hornsby - The Way It Is (Radio 2 Piano Room)
*those strings...
#bruce hornsby#radio 2 piano room#music#rock#pop#soft rock#20s#performance#groove#the way it is#the way it is live
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One of the most remarkable 80's songs I have ever heard, the piano gives a really unique vibe which brings a feeling of nostalgia and happiness.
Song: The Way It Is
Artist: Bruce Hornsby
Year: 1986
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So I've been watching Veep for the first time lately- very much enjoying it. There's a character called Kent who's very dry and gets minor details right that everybody gets wrong (ie Daylight Saving Time instead of Daylight Savings Time). Every time one of those bits happen I think "i understand him."
Anyway, today I get to an episode and suddenly Kent says "you said on air that Bruce Hornsby was a member of the Grateful Dead. He was a touring member from '90 to '92, he never officially joined." And now I truly feel like I understand him.
#jam band#grateful dead#bruce hornsby#veep hbo#veep#kent veep#jam band posting AND sitcom posting? in the same post??
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Bruce Hornsby and The Range - The Show Goes On
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Bruce Hornsby, The Range - The Way It Is (Video Version)
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80's Fest Song 🎵 of the day: The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby & The Range (1986) #BruceHornsby #brucehornsbyandtherange #thewayitis #80s #80sfest #durandurantulsas5thannual80sfest
#bruce hornsby#bruce hornsby and the range#the way it is#80s#80s fest#duran duran tulsa's 5th annual 80s fest#Youtube#Spotify
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Song Review: Grateful Dead - “Saint of Circumstance” (Live, June 28, 1991)
With Bruce Hornsby and Vince Welnick playing keyboards in the band, the Grateful Dead’s sound got bigger - and sometimes more cluttered - after Brent Mydland’s death. Meanwhile, the vocals got smaller.
Both changes are evident on the June 28, 1991, version of “Saint of Circumstance” that’s been released as part of the band’s ongoing “All the Years Live” video series. With less than a year of stage time in the rear view, the seven-piece Grateful Dead is already on the same musical page; however, the vocal-dependent “Saint” is one of those songs that never fully recovered from Mydland’s all-too-early exit.
And when Hornsby abandons the ivories for the synth atop his piano, the era’s Techo Dead sound is in full flower.
Grade card: Grateful Dead - “Saint of Circumstance” (Live - 6/28/91) - B
Read Sound Bites’ previous “All the Years Live” coverage here.
11/30/23
#Youtube#grateful dead#saint of circumstance#jerry garcia#bob weir#phil lesh#bill kreutzmann#mickey hart#vince welnick#bruce hornsby
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I been to the doctor he says I'm all right
I know he's lying, I'm losing my sight
He should have examined the eyes of my mind
20/20 vision and walkin' 'round blind
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