18-15: Bruce Hornsby and The Noisemakers, and The Mavericks

About This Episode

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers brought quite a show to the Big
Blue Tent in 2017. The band's perfect mix of top-notch
songwriting and adventurous, virtuosic, and just plain fun
improvisation kept the whole tent spellbound from note one.


Bruce Hornsby has built one of the most diverse, collaborative
and adventurous careers in contemporary music. Drawing from a
vast wellspring of American musical traditions, the
singer/pianist/composer/bandleader has created a large and
accomplished body of work and employed a vast array of stylistic
approaches. Throughout this period, Hornsby has maintained the
integrity, virtuosity and artistic curiosity that have been
hallmarks of his work from the start.


Hornsby and his band The Range's first album The Way It Is (1986)
was steadily and slowly building in popularity in the U.S. when
in August the title track exploded on BBC Radio One in England,
then Europe, the rest of the world and finally in the United
States. The record went on to sell three million records, the
band played Saturday Night Live and opened for Steve Winwood,
John Fogerty, Huey Lewis, the Grateful Dead and the Eurythmics
before becoming headliners on their own tour supported by Crowded
House.


Soon Hornsby was being approached regularly to collaborate with a
broad range of musicians and writers, a demand that continues to
this day. Over the years Hornsby has successfully ventured into
bluegrass, jazz, classical, and even electronica. His three
Grammy wins (along with his ten Grammy losses!) typify the
diversity of his career: Best New Artist (1986) as leader of
Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Best Bluegrass Recording (1989) for
a version of his old Range hit "The Valley Road" that appeared on
the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's Will The Circle Be Unbroken Volume
Two, and a shared award with Branford Marsalis in 1993 for Best
Pop Instrumental for "Barcelona Mona", a song written and
performed for the 1992 Olympic Games. The sales stats and breadth
of his collaborations (including being sampled many times by
rap/hip-hop artists) speak volumes about Hornsby's unique fusion
of mainstream appeal and wild musical diversity. His albums have
sold over eleven million copies worldwide.


Indeed, Bruce Hornsby's restless musical spirit continues to
spontaneously push him forward into exciting new musical
pursuits. Three decades after Bruce Hornsby established his
global name as the creator of pop hits that defined "the sound of
grace on the radio," as a Rolling Stone reviewer once wrote, such
projects continue and are consistent with his lifelong pursuit of
musical transcendence. "It's always been about staying inspired,
broadening my reach and range of abilities and influences, and
exploring new areas", Hornsby says. "I'm very fortunate to be
able to do that, to be a lifelong student, and to continue to
pursue a wide-ranging musical life."


This episode of Tent Show Radio also features songs from a past
performance from The Mavericks, and also from the Blue Canvas
Orchestra's Big Top Does the Beatles show. And if you like the
magic flowing out of your radio on these performances, swing on
over to BigTop.org and buy some tickets, because both The
Mavericks and Big Top Does the Beatles are returning to the tent
in 2018.
About Michael Perry

Michael Perry is a New York Times bestselling author, humorist
and radio show host from New Auburn, Wisconsin.


Perry’s bestselling memoirs include Population 485, Truck: A Love
Story, Coop, and Visiting Tom, and his latest, Montaigne in Barn
Boots: An Amateur Ambles Through Philosophy. His first book for
young readers, The Scavengers, was published in 2014 and first
novel for adult readers, The Jesus Cow, was published in May of
2015.


Raised on a small Midwestern dairy farm, Perry put himself
through nursing school while working on a ranch in Wyoming, then
wandered into writing. He lives with his wife and two daughters
in rural Wisconsin, where he serves on the local volunteer fire
and rescue service and is an intermittent pig farmer. He hosts
the nationally-syndicated “Tent Show Radio,” performs widely as a
humorist, and tours with his band the Long Beds (currently
recording their third album for Amble Down Records). He has
recorded three live humor albums including Never Stand Behind A
Sneezing Cow and The Clodhopper Monologues.


Learn more about Michael and where to get his publications at
www.sneezingcow.com.


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