Bruce Hornsby – HuffPost 4.29.11

Mike Ragogna: Well, we just talked about the school, and then about all the great music out there that flies under the radar. That said, what is your advice for new artists?

Bruce Hornsby: Well, these days, it’s so hard to get attention and to establish and retain a career of music of any length. It’s so difficult now that my advice would be not to follow any trends. Don’t try to write in the current style because by the time you figure it out, they’ll be on the next style, and you’ll look back at years of trend chasing where you’re always behind it. I would just say be true to yourself and find your own unique voice rather than trying to figure out some notion of commerciality and how to be successful in that way.

MR: And that’s how you did it?

BH: Well, it’s funny because for many years, I was trying to write “hit” music. I was a songwriter for 20th Century Fox, and that leads me to a good story that kind of goes with my advice there. I was a songwriter for 20th Century Fox, and they signed me because they thought I was going to be an artist that was going to make records and have success. So, I was trying to write songs for others and trying to write commercial music, whatever that was–my notion of it, anyway. It was unfulfilling, one, and it was unsuccessful, two. I was beating my head against a wall trying to get a record contract with this music. Finally, just out of frustration with several aspects–for one, the band I had at the time playing my songs would always leave me walking away from rehearsals thinking, “Man, I thought this song was better than this, but I guess it’s no good.” Finally, I just said, “I’m going to make a tape with a drum machine, and me playing synth bass, and everything will come out of my head.” It was the least commercial tape I had ever made, and when my two brothers heard it, they said, “Wow, this is you for the first time. It’s purely you, it’s completely unique, and it my be completely non-commercial, but it’s really true, and it has something very special about it.” Sure enough, that “least commercial tape I ever made,” was the tape that got me signed by the major label. So, it’s a good story that shows that people in the record companies just want to be moved. The guy who signed me at RCA, beautifully enough, was the old rhythm guitar player for The Zombies, Paul Atkinson. He signed me, and he didn’t necessarily think it was commercial, he just couldn’t stop listening to it because it moved him–he just couldn’t take it out of his cassette player.

MR: Wow.

BH: That’s a good story that shows that if you just try to find yourself, it’s the best way to go.