Music fans inside Englewood, NJ’s bergenPAC this Thursday, May 1, 2025 evening are filled to the brim with excitement as they ready themselves for a concert featuring singer/songwriter/pianist Bruce Hornsby and his group, BrhyM, a collaboration with yMusic, a NYC-based chamber ensemble.
Born in Williamsburg, VA, Hornsby started taking piano lessons at the age of seven and formed his first band in the sixth grade. After studying at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and the University of Miami, Hornsby along and his band, The Range, scored a 1986 #1 record with his civil rights song, “The Way It Is.” Hornsby also co-wrote and played piano on “The End of the Innocence” with Don Henley and played piano on Bonnie Raitt’s hit, “I Can’t Make You Love Me,” in addition to appearing on albums by Bob Dylan; Crosby, Stills and Nash; and Stevie Nicks.
Over the course of his career, the three-time Grammy winner went on to become known for his piano, keyboard, and accordion work with The Grateful Dead, his work as a solo artist, in addition to his highly spontaneous and interactive live concerts with his group, The Noisemakers. Hornsby is currently touring with yMusic as BrhyM (an acronym for Bruce R. Hornsby and yMusic) in support of the collaborative ensemble’s debut album, 2024’s Deep Sea Vents.
The auditorium lights dim and the members of yMusic — Rob Moose on violin, Nadia Sirota on viola, Gabriel Cabezas on cello, Marc Dover on bass clarinet, Alex Sopp on flute and vocals, and CJ Camerieri on brass — take their places on stage.
Opening with “Zebras,” quick strumming of the cello and tapping on the bass clarinet lead into Alex Sopp’s vocalizations which are followed by muted trumpet, fast bowing on violin and viola, and flute on this contemporary classical piece. Next, “Three Elephants” slowly ambles along before growing in intensity aided by the sound of French horn and piccolo. Pizzicato strings tick-tock away under legato horns on “Peter Inn” before rhythmic playing from the ensemble engulfs “Flood.” Lastly, a siren-influenced storm of sound characterizes the chamber group’s dramatic final number, “The Wolf,” eliciting animated applause from the audience.
Following a short intermission, the crowd cheers as Bruce Hornsby enters the stage and takes a seat at the Steinway grand. Hornsby’s chordal piano prelude leads into “20/20 Vision” where he cries, “I know that she cheated, I knew all the time/ 20/20 vision and I’m walkin’ ‘round blind,” on this Jimmy Martin waltz. Segueing into “A Night on the Town,” Hornsby spins a tale singing, “Van and Willie went out one night…” on this story song which features a dynamic syncopated piano solo that evokes whistles and cheers from the crowd.
Hornsby greets the audience and honors a request for a selection which, as he explains, comes from “Southwest Virginia’s coal mining country.” Rolling piano accompanies Hornsby’s emotional vocal on “The Road Not Taken” where he chants, “Every time I see her face/On the street in the hollow in the bend/I see her in my mind and then/I go down the road not taken again,” on this melodic folk-rocker.
After revealing, “This next song was picked by The New York Times as one of the best pop songs of the year 2020,” Hornsby launches into “My Resolve” where moving piano lines support the tune’s strong skipping melody. Explaining, “I love to play solo because that’s the deepest expression of what I do — I can go anywhere I want to, and if I make a mistake, I can do it again and it sounds like I meant it,” Hornsby concludes the solo portion of tonight’s program with “Sneaking Up on Boo Radley.” After singing, “They say he’s crazy, they say he’s gone/We play our tricks, make up funny songs,” Hornsby renders a climbing two-handed and then left-handed piano interlude on this off-beat funky and rhythmic tune.
The crowd hoots and hollers and Hornsby invites the yMusic ensemble back onto the stage where, as BrhyM, they sail into Deep Sea Vents’ “Wild Whaling Life.” Hornsby strums his dulcimer on this contemporary classical take on a sea chantey as he sings, “When I push myself, I feel prouder/I can scream just a little louder/This is what I chose for my life’s work/It’s the wild whaling life for me,” accompanied by swirling violin, viola, cello, trumpet, piccolo, and bass clarinet.
Violin, viola, and cello introduce the somber “(My) Theory of Everything” where Hornsby’s legato vocal is supported by moving piano and static strings which contrast with twittering and chittering winds and the calling sound of a jazzy trumpet.
Music lovers cheer when they recognize Hornsby’s first radio single, 1986’s “Every Little Kiss,” featuring an orchestral arrangement from yMusic violinist Rob Moose. As Bruce chants, “When the day goes down on the water town/When the sun sinks low all around,” he’s supported by yMusic’s swelling strings and crying winds along with his own impeccable piano playing.
Hornsby explains that during the COVID shutdown, the members of yMusic sent him a song called “Duck Hunt” to which he added some self-described “crazy-ass” lyrics. Here, BrhyM propels into the cartoon-like “Platypus Wow,” where Hornsby warbles, “Part-human, part-bird/Part-beaver, reptile nerd/I’m weird just like you/Let’s exult in greens and blues,” backed by a whimsical wheezing accompaniment provided by the ensemble.
Moose strums his violin like a ukulele on BrhyM’s melodic “Phase Change” before Hornsby renders the cascading piano prelude that segues into an orchestral arrangement of Hornsby’s “The Way It Is.” As Hornsby sings, “That’s just the way it is/Some things’ll never change,” the sextet accompanies him with shimmering strings, clarinet, flute, and trumpet. Marc Dover contributes a fluttering clarinet solo and Hornsby channels a Bach invention on his piano break before he cries, “Thank you, sister Rosa Parks!” on this civil rights anthem which ends with a dynamic boogie-woogie piano coda.
The crowd cheers and Hornsby acknowledges, “I’m a big George Jones fan,” before singing BrhyM’s “Foreign Sounds,” a song which he says is “about a clownfish who sings like George Jones.” Picking up his dulcimer, Hornsby harmonizes with Alex Sopp on the contemporary modal piece, “The Wake of St. Brendan.”
Announcing, “Here’s a song I wrote with Don Henley,” Hornsby and Co. perform Henley’s 1989 hit, “The End of the Innocence.” Tremelo violin, a cello bass line, as well as viola, clarinet, flute, and trumpet accompany Hornsby as he sings, “Offer up your best defense/But this is the end/This is the end of the innocence.” After an impressionistic piano interlude, Hornsby cries, “This is the end of the end,” the ensemble swells, and Hornsby concludes with a twinkling piano coda to enthusiastic cheers and applause.
Hornsby and BrhyM follow up with a funky and soulful version of “Deep Blue” where Dover renders a funky bass line on his bass clarinet and Sopp sings along with Hornsby on the rhythmic, “Between heaven and the deep blue sea/Between blue skies and briny deep,” chorus.
Music lovers applaud and begin to call out requests for the ensemble to play. When a fan suggests Hornsby and yMusic’s “Never in this House,” Hornsby looks at the sextet before responding, “We can do that!”
On this poignant ballad, Hornsby and Sopp sing together in harmony, “Somewhere, some day/In this house I’ll touch and you’ll feel/Somewhere, some day/In this house I’ll love and you’ll see/Somewhere, some day/In this house I’ll dream and you’ll hear/All our problems disappear/Some day.”
Concertgoers cheer and a fan yells out, “Can you wish my dad a happy birthday? He’s 75 today!” Hornby responds by playing a boogie woogie piano version of “Happy Birthday to You,” prior to concluding tonight’s show with the jazzy title song from BrhyM’s Deep Sea Vents where Hornsby’s lead vocal is cheerfully backed by the ensemble’s swinging ragtime accompaniment.
“Thank you all, goodnight!” announces Hornsby as he and his musical colleagues exit the stage. The crowd stands and cheers and the musicians return to perform an encore of Hornsby and yMusic’s “The Blinding Light of Dreams.” Nadia Sirota plays a sliding viola solo on this bitonal pop song about “perfect Southern gothic history” before Hornsby exclaims, “Thanks again, goodnight — we appreciate it!” in front of the standing, cheering crowd.
To learn more about Bruce Hornsby and BryhM please click on brucehornsby.com. For more information on yMusic, please go to ymusicensemble.com. For info on great upcoming performances at BergenPAC — including Ben Folds on June 21, Rick Wakeman on July 23, and Herbie Hancock on October 30 — please click on bergenpac.org.
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