Bruce Hornsby may be among the nominees for best pop instrumental performance in this year’s Grammy Awards, but his latest project has the gifted pianist and singer-songwriter moving in a decidedly different musical direction.

Playing before an SRO audience at New York’s BB King’s Blues Club Jan 21, Hornsby and Ricky Skaggs, backed by the 11-time Grammy Award-winning bluegrass veteran’s crack four-piece band, Kentucky Thunder, previewed tracks from their collaborative debut album that is due out March 20.

After launching their lively joint set with “The Dreaded Spoon,” an autobiographical number that also opens the forthcoming release on SonyBMG/Legacy, the pair took turns handling lead vocals and shared them on new reworkings of Hornsby’s “The Way It Is” and Skaggs’ #1 country hit version of Bill Monroe’s “Uncle Pen.”

“We try to reinvent songs,” said Hornsby.  That was certainly evident in the reworked rendition of his 1980’s pop hit, “Mandolin Wind.”  Although the tune was instantly recognizable, it’s been reinvented as a slower, acoustic ballad.  Stretching musical boundaries even further, the pair also delved into a hillbillyesque version of Rick James’ “Super Freak.”

Alhough Hornsby asserts that his “whole trip to bluegrass came when The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band called me up to play on “Will The Circle Be Unbroken II,” his well-received performance with Skaggs, whom he describes as “a deep musical soul,” at BB King’s is proof that his music has come full-circle.

Prior to the release of their debut album together, Hornsby and Skaggs will be the focus of a CMT “Crossroads” special slated to air on Feb. 24.
                                                                                                                                                                                – Michael Kornfeld