Release date
Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail was released on October 27 2023.
Track listing
Personnel
Bruce Hornsby (piano, vocals, Hammond B3 organ, Wurlitzer), J.V. Collier (bass), Bonnie Bonaparte (drums), Doug Derryberry (guitar, 12-string guitar).
Premise
In June 2000, Bruce Hornsby informed RCA Records that he had written new songs for his next studio album and invited David Bendeth to his home recording studio to listen. Bruce refers to this experience as “hearing music through other people’s ears,” a phenomenon where one gains perspective on their work by playing it for others.
Bruce played eight to ten songs, and Bendeth delivered a surprising critique: “Lots of good songs; a few great songs… but I don’t care”. He challenged Bruce to make a more modern record, referencing Beck’s success with “Loser,” and offered to co-produce it with him. Big Swing Face was the result, and released in 2002.
Back in Bruce’s studio, there sat an old CD labeled “LP #8 Roughs – 6/1/2000.” In January 2021, he decided to revisit it, playing the tracks in his car. He rediscovered four songs that had never been released. Happy with their quality over twenty years later, he shared them with others in the studio, and their positive reactions led him to include the tracks in the 25th anniversary collection of Spirit Trail.
Bruce spoke about Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail to BroadwayWorld in October 2023:
“To me, it was pretty far along. These were not just demos with a drum machine or solo piano demos. They featured my band playing. There was mostly piano, bass and drums on a lot of them but there was also guitar on a couple, and I’d thrown some organ on one of them. So I felt it was fairly far along. These were rough mixes but they were fairly close, at least in conception, to me.”
“I’m glad these songs are coming out because they’re fun to play and I think a certain fan of mine will go, “Why doesn’t he do this more?” I was still dealing with two-handed independence. I’m starting to learn those songs now to play them in concert, and they’re not easy because they’re deeply involved in split-brain playing. I’ll really have to practice to keep the left-hand patterns together while playing and singing freely with the right hand.”
“Lost and Found on the Spirit Trail” was part of the anniversary release on October 27 2023.