By Chad Taylor
soundcheck@dmcityview.com

Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers perform at Nitefall on the River, Wednesday, June 20 at the Simon Estes Amphitheater. The concert starts at 7 p.m. with opening act Cornmeal. Tickets are $25 and $30.

If you’re only familiar with Bruce Hornsby thanks to a quarter-century-old pop song, you’re missing the bigger picture. For more than three decades of music, Hornsby has developed a reputation as a tireless worker and endlessly creative song writer. His jazz roots are the grounds for his willingness to experiment with his sound and the driving force behind his creativity. It’s also the impetus for his live shows, which have long been known for their free-flowing, improvisational nature.

Hornsby in concert is an organic affair. He eschews set lists, preferring to shape his shows based on audience feedback. And while he’s toured extensively as both a solo act and as part of a band, he clearly has a preference.

“They’re very different things,” said Hornsby in a phone interview from Virginia. “Performing solo is more interactive with the audience. It’s a little easier because, as the Troggs said, ‘there’s only one fucking mind on it.’ So there’s less to worry about. But with a band, there’s definitely more ways to open things up and have fun.”

Hornsby knows a thing or two about having fun with a band, having performed as the Grammy-winning Bruce Hornsby and The Range, as well as spending time with The Grateful Dead and with his current act, Bruce Hornsby and the Noisemakers.

Despite a discography that includes more than a dozen albums, most casual listeners know Hornsby through his multi-platinum 1986 debut album, “The Way It Is” and the title track’s iconic piano hook. The album netted Hornsby the Grammy for Best New Artist, and the track remains Hornsby’s highest-charting single to date, hitting No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Eventually the song would undergo a re-birth of sorts, being sampled by several rap artists — something that taps into Hornsby’s own penchant for re-invention.

“It’s been sampled many times,” Hornsby said. “Tupac (Shakur), E-40 did one, Snoop Dogg did one, I believe…and I LOVE the Tupac song. I think it’s brilliant. I also really like what E-40 did with it. Some of it has been very good.”

Hearing his own work sampled and re-imagined, and given his improvisational nature, does Hornsby ever wish he could mulligan his early efforts?

“ ‘The Way It Is,’ yes, ” he said. “(1998 solo album) ‘Spirit Trail,’ no. I actually feel like ‘Spirit Trail’ holds up really well. In fact, many of my hardcore fans consider it to be the strongest album. If you want to know what Hornsby is all about, listen to ‘Spirit Trail,’ or one of the newer (Noisemakers) albums.”

In an attempt to capture the unique feel of each live performance, Hornsby has offered soundboard recordings of his live concerts for most of the past decade. But Hornsby is selective of which concerts are made available.

“A lot of it just comes down to how ‘on’ we are that night,” he said. “Some bands will just release every show they do, and that’s fine if it works for them, but that’s not me. Sometimes there are a lot of clams (mistakes) in a show, and I don’t want that out there. And we know it when it happens. We’ll come off stage and be like ‘well that was a clam bake.’ ”

But the big risk/big reward gamble is an accepted part of performing when your live shows are as free-wheeling and lucid as Hornsby’s — a gamble best summed up in Hornsby’s own words: “We strive for transcendence.” CV