Fifteen years ago, I saw Bruce Hornsby for the first time here in Cleveland at Music Hall, a show that sealed the deal making me permanently a diehard Bruce Hornsby fan.

As a kid, Hornsby caught my ear with songs from The Way It Is and the followup Scenes from The Southside.

A Night On The Town, the third and final album Hornsby recorded with his longtime band The Range, was my first official Hornsby album purchase, and I would have been interested to see where things would have gone musically, had Bruce continued recording with the Range.

Instead, he struck out on his own with the release of Harbor Lights, and started doing shows during that period that were heavily loaded with audience requests, a free-form byproduct of his recent time spent playing keyboards with The Grateful Dead.

On the night that I saw Hornsby at Music Hall, I had a few specific tracks that I wanted to hear from Harbor Lights, and a hope for “Across The River” and “A Night On The Town.” Thanks to the audience participation, I heard all of those tracks, and even some that I wasn’t expecting, like Don Henley’s “End of the Innocence,” a Hornsby co-write, and Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” a track which featured Hornsby’s signature piano playing on the recorded version of the hit.

Throw in a few Dead covers, and the show was one heck of an eye-opener for this 18 year old kid.

I was smiling today when Popdose guru Jeff Giles posted his weekly Friday Mixtape, a collection of various live Hornsby performances.

I’ve had a similar compilation in mind for a while now, something I started working on for a female friend that wasn’t Hornsby educated. I wanted to put together a collection that highlighted everything that I love about Hornsby’s live shows, and limit it to two CDs worth of material. With some of Hornsby’s live renditions stretching past the 10 minute mark, you can fill two CDs very quickly.

As a result, I’ve had that intended compilation, which I wanted to share here, sitting in flux as a playlist on my Ipod. Just haven’t quite gotten the ideal playlist together that I am envisioning.

The Popdose collection is a great one that mixes some of the better Hornsby covers from over the years, with songs that are more familiar like “Every Little Kiss”, “I Will Walk With You,” and “Mandolin Rain.”

The tracks are a mix of solo and full-band recordings, and there are SO many highlights, including Bruce and Bela Fleck’s version of “Tangled Up In Blue,” a very inspired version of “The Boxer” by Simon and Garfunkel, and the previously mentioned “I Will Walk With You,” which starts out beautifully, and in the middle of the song, shifts into something even better.

One of these days, perhaps I’ll get my own Hornsby live mix together – until that point, feast your ears here, but hurry – the Popdose download is only available for a week.

The Friday Mixtape 8/15/08: Bruce Hornsby

I’ll accessorize Jeff’s mix with three of my favorites from the two disc’s worth of live Hornsby/Noisemaker recordings that were posted this past December on Hornsby’s site as a holiday gift to the fans. I love the back to back “Country Doctor”/”Resting Place” combo, and I’m HOPING that this isn’t the first time that you’ve heard Hornsby’s “Fortunate Son” melt into Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.”

If it is your first time, prepare for a psychedelic treat!

I’ll leave you with a 16 minute (!) live version of “Across The River,” recorded live on Further Fest in 1997. I dug this particular performance up on Bruuuce.com, a must-surf site for Hornsby fans. If you’re not aware of Si Twining’s great Hornsby site, you’re really missing out on a great community of Hornsby fans!!

Bruce Hornsby – Country Doctor (live)
Bruce Hornsby – Resting Place (live)
Bruce Hornsby – Fortunate Son/Comfortably Numb (live)
Bruce Hornsby – Across The River (live)

P.S. – as long as we’re talking about live stuff:

Captain’s Dead has a neato live Cracker show from 1994 posted. We love David Lowery and Cracker, oh yes we do.

AND…..

LiveCountingCrows.Com has a slew of new downloads since the last time we spoke, including the 8/5 Hershey, PA show, which is ACOUSTIC!

That should keep you all busy with plenty of good stuff to listen to!

Relevant Links:

Bruce Hornsby’s official website

Bruce Hornsby official concert downloads

Purchase Bruce Hornsby’s Greatest Radio Hits from Amazon – CD or MP3

Purchase A Night On The Town – CD or MP3

Purchase Harbor Lights – CD or MP3

Purchase Intersections, the incredible Bruce Hornsby box set featuring 4 CDs/1 DVD of a TON of live/unreleased/rare Bruce Hornsby tracks – CD

Purchase the Three Nights on the Town live DVD