Friday, June 09, 2006

Song of the Week 6/9/06

Bruce Hornsby and The Grateful Dead - "The Valley Road (Live)"

I spent much of the week listening through the upcoming Hornsby box set Intersections 1985-2005 in hopes that I'd be getting him for an interview for work. Alas, that looks like it won't happen. The four disc/one DVD set is heavy on previously unreleased live tracks, including this one representation of Hornsby's time as a member of the Grateful Dead. I was a fan of Hornsby's until the mid 90s when he started moving away from the tighter songs structures of his first three albums. That's why I'm so surprised at how much I love this Deadafied rearrangement. Hornsby, Jerry Garcia and other keyboardist Vince Welnick (RIP) nail some great three part harmonies; Garcia rips off a classic solo; and the whole band just basically kicks the shit out of this song. They sound like they're having a ton of fun backing Hornsby here, and it makes me regret not going to see the band during his brief tenure in the beyboard seat.

(For those who might care, Intersections is in stores July 25th.)

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