In 1984 Hornsby formed Bruce Hornsby & the Range, who were signed to RCA Records in 1985. Besides Hornsby, Range members were David Mansfield (guitar, mandolin, violin), George Marinelli (guitars and backing vocals), Joe Puerta (bass guitar and backing vocals), and John Molo (drums).
During the 1990s he toured with the Grateful Dead, and released four albums, including A Night on the Town (1990) after which he split from The Range. Harbor Lights (1993) was his first solo album and signaled Hornsby was moving in a new jazz-influenced direction, whilst retaining elements of rock and pop. Later releases include Hot House (1995) and Spirit Trail (1998).
His experimental album Big Swing Face (2002) attracted much criticism as it veered away from his piano-based style. Despite these criticisms, he returned with his next studio album, shrugging off RCA and signing to Sony Music Entertainment. Halcyon Days, released in 2004, saw a return to the piano as the key instrument; this album also became the premise for his world tour the same year.
Hornsby continues to tour with his live band "The Noisemakers", in addition to solo shows and his progressive bluegrass performances with Ricky Skaggs.
In 2007 he released Camp Meeting, his first total jazz album as The Bruce Hornsby Trio, which involved jazz giants, Jack DeJohnette and Christian McBride with whom he made live appearances with throughout 2007.
In March 2007 Hornsby teamed with bluegrass player Ricky Skaggs to produce a bluegrass album, Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, and played several tour dates together. The seeds for the album had been sown in 2000 when the pair collaborated on "Darlin' Cory", a track on the Big Mon Bill Monroe bluegrass tribute album and then proposed recording an album together. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby, featuring the duo backed by Skaggs's band Kentucky Thunder, combined bluegrass, traditional country, "a tinge of Hornsby's jazzy piano and a splash of humor" on a spectrum of songs from the traditional to new compositions such as the opening track "The Dreaded Spoon," "a humorous tale of a youthful ice cream heist. The pair also reinvented Hornsby's hit "Mandolin Rain" as a minor key acoustic ballad and "give his cautionary tale of backwoods violence", "A Night On the Town," a treatment highlighting the "Appalachian storytelling tradition that was always at the song's heart. The album ended with a surprise cover of Rick James's funk hit "Super Freak" in a bluegrass arrangement. Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby topped Billboard's bluegrass charts for several weeks. The album showed Hornsby carving out a place for piano within traditional bluegrass, disproving the notion that the piano is not compatible with "string-oriented" bluegrass.
Concurrently with the bluegrass project, Hornsby recorded a jazz album, Camp Meeting. with Christian McBride (bass) and Jack DeJohnette (drums). Alongside original compositions by Hornsby, the trio delivered "newly reharmonized versions" of tunes by John Coltrane, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell, a previously unrecorded Ornette Coleman work ("Questions and Answers") and an early Keith Jarrett composition ("Death and the Flower.") The trio made a series of appearances in the summer of 2007, including the Playboy Jazz Festival, the Newport Jazz Festival and at the Hollywood Bowl.
On January 4, 2007, former Grateful Dead members Bob Weir, Bill Kreutzmann and Mickey Hart reunited along with Hornsby, Mike Gordon (of Phish and the Rhythm Devils) and Warren Haynes to play two sets. including Dead classics, at a post-inauguration fundraising party for Nancy Pelosi, the first woman to serve as Speaker of the House in the United States Congress.
Hornsby wrote songs for a Broadway Musical, titled "SCKBSTD"; one song from this project, a playful biographical tune about real-estate tycoon Donald Trump titled "The Don of Dons," made several appearances in setlists during his early-2007 solo piano performances. He also composed the score for Spike Lee's ESPN documentary, Kobe Doin' Work, about NBA star Kobe Bryant and his MVP season.
Outside of music composition and performance, Hornsby has taken an ownership interest in Williamsburg area radio station "The Tide," WTYD 92.3 FM, and he has endowed the Bruce Hornsby Creative American Music Program at University of Miami's Frost School of Music, encouraging the study of songwriting broadly across traditional genres. Hornsby played himself in a cameo role in the Robin Williams movie World's Greatest Dad, in which Williams' character is a Bruce Hornsby fan.
He has also been honored by piano makers Steinway & Sons with their Limited Edition Signature Piano Series. Hornsby selected ten Model B Steinway Grands to be featured in this collection, each one personalized with his signature. Hornsby owns three 9-foot Model D Steinway Grands himself.
Another Day
Bruce Hornsby Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
There's a couple of men talking
I'm not so sure what they mean
There's a conversation, many men running wild
We learn about the world while they're fighting in the aisles
Here we go
What do you say, what do you know
It's just another day in this old town
So get down
Home Shopping Channel's got us by the eyes
Scrambling to the phones ordering porcelain flies
Talk to the women talk to the wives
Everybody's buying important things for their lives
Here we go
What do you say, what do you know
You've got your life and you watch it away
It's just another day in this old town
So get down
He's a high performance engine with Jesus as the fuel
Old father's handing out forty acres and a mule
Preaching the word of prosperity
Make a little more money they might just put you on TV
Here we go
What do you say, what do you know
You've got your life and you watch it away
Ain't no big thing it's just another day
Ain't no big thing so let it ring
Turn off the lights honey, turn off the set
Life around here don't make a lot of damn sense
As I closed my eyes I saw in my mind
Somebody selling me a nickle for a dime
Here we go
What do you say, what do you know
You've got your life and you watch it away
It's just another day in this old town
So get down, ain't no big thing so let it ring
In this old town so get down
Another day so go ahead
Go ahead
Everybody go
The lyrics to Bruce Hornsby's "Another Day" is a commentary on society's obsession with consumerism and media. The song depicts how people adjust their lives and priorities based on the news and advertisements that they encounter on their screens. The opening lines describe the confusion and uncertainly that the media can instill in people. The men on the screen are talking, but the listener is not so sure what they mean. Hornsby then goes on to describe different aspects of media manipulation. The Home Shopping Channel is portrayed as a manipulative force that preys on viewers' insecurities, convincing them to buy things that they don't necessarily need. At the same time, religious leaders are depicted as using religion to convince their followers that material success is proof of piety. The theme of manipulation and control continues with the closing lines of the song, where Hornsby describes the absurdity of life around him, where people offer him "a nickel for a dime" while he is trying to close his eyes.
Line by Line Meaning
Woke up this morning looking at the screen
I woke up this morning and first thing I looked at was the screen – checking out news, social media or anything else that might pique my interest.
There's a couple of men talking
I see two men talking but I don't really know what they are talking about.
I'm not so sure what they mean
I am not really sure what these men are talking about or what their discussion is related to.
There's a conversation, many men running wild
I can see a conversation going on, but it looks like it's going in different directions.
We learn about the world while they're fighting in the aisles
While these men fight their battles, we are trying to make sense of the world and what's happening around us.
Here we go
Let's see what's next.
What do you say, what do you know
What is your opinion or knowledge on the matter?
You've got your life and you watch it away
You have your own life, but you are just wasting it by watching these pointless conversations.
It's just another day in this old town
It's just a typical day in this usual town where people still repeat the same things all over again.
So get down
So let's move on to the next thing.
Home Shopping Channel's got us by the eyes
We are engrossed and hooked by the Home Shopping Channel or any other form of infomercials.
Scrambling to the phones ordering porcelain flies
We are going to the extent of ordering even silly things, just out of fascination from the infomercials.
Talk to the women talk to the wives
The infomercials are catering to all sorts of people - men and women, husbands and wives.
Everybody's buying important things for their lives
People are buying things which they consider important for their lives, but in reality those things might not really matter.
He's a high performance engine with Jesus as the fuel
He is motivated and inspired by Jesus Christ who is a source of his inner energy and strength.
Old father's handing out forty acres and a mule
The father is handing out some valuable assets, sort of an inheritance or helping in some way.
Preaching the word of prosperity
He is teaching the philosophy that promotes growth and improvement in one's life.
Make a little more money they might just put you on TV
If you earn more money or become successful, you might become famous and appear on TV.
Ain't no big thing it's just another day
It's not a big deal, just another day in our lives.
Ain't no big thing so let it ring
It's not really important, so let it be or forget about it.
Turn off the lights honey, turn off the set
Let's turn off the lights and all electronic or audio-visual devices e.g, TV or sound system.
Life around here don't make a lot of damn sense
Life around here doesn't seem very reasonable or logical.
As I closed my eyes I saw in my mind
As I close my eyes, I see something inside my mind.
Somebody selling me a nickle for a dime
Someone is trying to sell me something I don't really need or is not worth the price they are asking for.
Another day so go ahead
It's just another typical day, so let's carry on as we usually do.
Everybody go
Let's all move forward or do whatever we want to do.
In this old town so get down
In this regular old town, just let things be and do your own thing.
Contributed by Camilla K. Suggest a correction in the comments below.