Somewhere around his 70th birthday, Bruce Hornsby thought he might take a minute, slow down and put music on the back burner. He'd been on a five-year, four-album creative tear. Yet despite his best efforts, the songs just kept coming.
The latest batch arrives on his new album, Indigo Park, which features collaborations with longtime friends like Bonnie Raitt and the late Bob Weir, as well as artists from a younger generation, including Vampire Weekend's Ezra Koenig and Blake Mills.
Today, Hornsby talks about the song that wouldn't leave him alone and ultimately sparked this new album. He also talks about how, after a career spent looking forward and trying new things, he's allowed himself to look back, writing about aging, memory and the passage of time.
Featured Songs
- "Indigo Park"
- "Ecstatic (feat. Bonnie Raitt)"
- "Might As Well Be Me, Florinda (feat. Blake Mills & Bob Weir)"
- "Memory Palace (feat. Ezra Koenig)"
This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.