BRUCE HORNSBY TO RELEASE NON-SECURE CONNECTION

Award-winning pianist, singer and songwriter Bruce Hornsby’s forthcoming album, Non-Secure Connection, is set for release on August 14 and is now available for pre-order at https://orcd.co/nonsecureconnection. In advance of the release, the album’s lead single, “My Resolve,” which features James Mercer (The Shins, Broken Bells), debuts today. Hornsby calls the song “a Sisyphean tale of the creative life, sung with a fellow climber.” Listen/share it here: https://orcd.co/nonsecureconnection

The new record follows the release of 2019’s acclaimed album, Absolute Zero, which The New York Times praised as “one more daring, rewarding turn in his catalog: 10 knotty, thoughtful yet rambunctious songs that juggle scientific concepts, history and human relationships.” NPR Music declared, “Far from a conventional Hornsby album, Absolute Zero is the sound of an artist subverting expectations and pulling it off brilliantly. At this point in his career, Hornsby could easily coast on writing cozy songs and settling for that. Thankfully for us, he’s still up for an adventure.” Pitchfork furthered, “Hornsby plays with elegance… It’s a confidence that arrives with both comfort and age and it’s what unifies all the disparate elements of Absolute Zero, shaping the album into a testament to the full range of Hornsby’s gifts.”

Hornsby’s music changed when he started having the genesis of his songs be from film music. Through composing for writer and director Spike Lee, Hornsby would often feel that the certain atmospheric quality of a “cue” he’d written should be developed into a song. About this unique approach, Hornsby notes, “It takes my music to a place that I like that sets it apart from other things I’ve done. I’m often looking to make a sound that I haven’t heard before and find a place in what I guess is the context of popular song for some new information.” Hornsby’s continued growth as a musician enables him to build upon and explore new musical techniques. On Non-Secure Connection, he’s created something different that touches on a broad range of themes, from civil rights to computer hackers, mall salesmen and the Darwinian aspects of AAU basketball.

“The new album’s chromaticism and dissonance quotient is exactly twice as high (three songs featuring that language compared to one and a half on the last record),” says Hornsby of Non-Secure Connection. “I feel like my music has never been a part of any trend that defined any era of music during my 34 years of doing this. I may be wrong, but that’s how it feels to me.”

Predominantly produced by Hornsby, the 10-track album includes added production from Justin Vernon (Bon Iver), Brad Cook (Sharon Van Etten, Hiss Golden Messenger) Wayne Pooley (Bon Iver, Jack DeJohnette) and Tony Berg (Phoebe Bridgers, Andrew Bird, Aimee Mann), who Hornsby credits as the album’s “aesthetician and ombudsman.” Non-Secure Connection also includes musical contributions from Mercer, Vernon, Jamila Woods, Leon Russell, Vernon Reid, Rob Moose and Hideaki Aomori of yMusic, The Orchestra of St. Hanks (Frost School/Univ. of Miami), Hornsby’s longtime band The Noisemakers and more. The tracks “Non-Secure Connection” and “Porn Hour” were co-written with Chip deMatteo while “Bright Star Cast” was inspired by with James Weldon Johnson’s “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” and “Anything Can Happen” was co-written with Russell, who appears thanks to a demo that he and Hornsby recorded together more than 25 years ago.

Based out of Williamsburg, VA, Hornsby first rose to national prominence with The Way It Is, his 1986 Grammy-winning debut album with The Range. The title track became the most-played song on American radio in 1987 while Tupac Shakur’s timeless song “Changes” builds on “The Way It Is” and set the stage for many subsequent versions of the track, including Polo G’s current single “Wishing For A Hero.” In 1991, Hornsby collaborated with Bonnie Raitt, playing on her iconic hit “I Can’t Make You Love Me.” Additionally, Hornsby was a part-time member of the Grateful Dead from September 1990 to March 1992, performing over 100 concerts in America and Europe. He has written six full film scores for Spike Lee including his recent Netflix series She’s Gotta Have It, and contributed music to four others, including 2018’s BlacKkKlansman.

The 13-time Grammy nominee has solidified his status as a highly sought-after collaborator. Hornsby’s own 21 albums have sold over 11 million copies worldwide, and he has appeared on over 100 records including releases with Bob Dylan, Don Henley, the Grateful Dead, Ricky Skaggs, Bob Seger, Chaka Khan, Brandon Flowers, Bonnie Raitt, Sting, Mavis Staples, Willie Nelson and more.