Bruce Hornsby is the kind of guy you want to be your dad. He's laid back. He appreciates a good tune. He wants to be your friend.
Monday night, he wanted you to dance with him.
Five songs into his first set at the Center for the Arts, part of a current tour in promotion of his summer release, "Halcyon Days," the lanky jam piano man invited the crowd to share in his party.
"All the women voters, get on stage," Hornsby said. It was one of many references the Southern drawl-laden singer made to the following day's presidential election.
During his opening jam, Hornsby proclaimed, "We're gonna get us a new king tomorrow."
In his usually casual mood - one mirrored by a suspiciously smoke-influenced audience - Hornsby wound his way through two sets of impartially multi-genre rock. Equal parts smooth jazz, bluegrass, Top 40 pop, and improvisational jam rock, Hornsby is best known hit is 1986 Grammy Award-winning "The Way It Is."
"Halcyon Days" is Hornsby's ninth studio album since his 1986 debut with band The News, but critics have noted that his work is still as strong today. His performance Monday included much of his new work, as well as a mini-set of blues jams.
"Hooray for Tom" was bouncy and light, as is much of his non-radio-friendly work. "This is about a guy who doesn't have anything so he tries to buy everything," said Hornsby in his introduction.
Some in the crowd, whose average age appeared no less than that of a baby boomer, were up out of their seats, dancing in the aisles. Hornsby and his band later welcomed the crowd to dance with him on stage in a devilishly exciting bluegrass jam set with Hornsby on accordion.
The evening's more subdued, if not altogether poppy, material was still peppered with the pianist's signature dream-like imagination. His 1986 chart-topping hit, "The End of the Innocence," a mid-tempo coming-of-age pop ballad, had less of its traditionally Phil Collins-like mediocrity; it was more transcendent than its mid-'80s radio single counterpart.
Mid-sentence in the poppy ballad, Hornsby professed, "Don't blame me, I didn't write the words."
More impressive than Hornsby's ability to re-invent familiar radio hits into more substantive improvisations, though, is his sheer mastery of the piano as a multi-faceted tool. Perusing the keys with the grace of a concert pianist, his skill is phenomenal and his performance relaxing.
"Don't you feel like you came into our garage and we're kind of like fooling around?" he said. How true it was.
His band showed unparalleled showmanship. Drummer Sonny Emory and Bobby Read on saxophone were especially noteworthy, giving Hornsby ample room to improv and jam.
In addition to the singer's established roots in adult/contemporary pop, he has also made a name for himself among fans of The Grateful Dead and Willie Nelson, having toured extensively with both acts.
Based on the reaction his devoted fans gave Monday night - letting loose, dancing to your own unique beat, riding the wave, so to speak - Hornsby's career is one of multi-generational appeal.
As evidenced by his strong second set, the piano man shows no signs of repeating himself anytime soon. Jerry Garcia would be proud.
