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Bruce Hornsby, Mixing Pop and Improvisation

Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Bruce Hornsby and his band perform live at NPR.
Jacques Coughlin, NPR
Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter Bruce Hornsby and his band perform live at NPR.

Bruce Hornsby plays everything from bluegrass to jazz. But one thing he avoids is playing the same song, the same way, twice. He improvises on even his best-known songs like "The Way it Is," "Mandolin Rain" and "The End of the Innocence."

"What we really do is way more interesting, way more adventurous, and just frankly better than just being a group that just regurgitates the hits faithfully," Hornsy says. "I was always terrible at being a Top 40 musician, playing the same arrangement just like the record every time."

Hornsby performs songs that span a 20-year career in a live appearance at NPR. The Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter also talks about his numerous collaborations with artists of almost every musical genre.

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