Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers Share Single Featuring Justin Vernon Off Upcoming LP

Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers have revealed plans to release a new studio album entitled Rehab Reunion through 429 Records on June 17. The group has shared the first single which features Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon.

The piano-less 10-song set was produced by Hornsby (who wrote and performed exclusively on the dulcimer) and recorded in his Tossington Sound studio in Williamsburg, Virginia. Backed by a Noisemakers lineup composed of organist J.T. Thomas, bassist J.V. Collier, drummer Sonny Emory, guitarist Gibb Droll and mandolin/fiddle player Ross Holmes, the new LP also includes a guest contribution by Mavis Staples.

“Some may ask, ‘Why?’, ‘What in the world?,’” Hornsby said regarding Rehab Reunion. “What I’m doing here is not about virtuosity: It’s about a song and a singer. In my piano writing I’ve gotten really bored with triads. I’ve been that way for years. My piano writing has become more strange, chromatic and dissonant. But on the dulcimer I love the limited palette that you’re allowed to paint with. It’s just the white notes – it’s not even like a guitar, where the whole chromatic scale is on the fret board. On the dulcimer it’s just an old-timey instrument. It’s just scalar. So it limits your range and it makes you write real simple songs. I kept writing more and more. And all of a sudden the record needed to be made.”

Vernon and Hornsby also appear together with the former’s former band DeYarmond Edison on the upcoming Day Of The Dead Grateful Dead tribute album produced by members of The National. Vernon has expressed his admiration for Hornsby’s music a number of times, telling host Jimmy Fallon during an appearance on Late Night “There’s not enough Hornsby in my scene” prior to performing Bonnie Raitt’s “I Can’t Make You Love Me” whose original recording featured Bruce.

This summer Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers will perform Rehab Reunion as well as the classic The Way It Is albums in their entireties at the Hornsby co-curated inaugural Funhouse Fest. Premiered by Pitchfork, the Vernon-assisted single “Over the Rise” is featured on Rehab Reunion and can be streamed below:

Rehab Reunion Tracklist

1. Over The Rise featuring Justin Vernon
2. Soon Enough
3. M.I.A. In M.I.A.M.I.
4. Tipping
5. Rehab Reunion
6. Hey Kafka
7. Tropical Cashmere Sweater
8. TSA Man
9. The Valley Road”
10. Celestial Railroad featuring Mavis Staples