I love Bruce Hornsby because....

Bruce Hornsby is back from The Dead to make a little noise

I love Bruce Hornsby, and the fact that he is arguably the most versatile American musician working in popular music — ranging from jazz band to jam band — is not the only reason why . As we prepare for his Wednesday show at the House of Blues, let me tick down the reasons for my Hornsby affection.

I love Bruce Hornsby because... he is the author of several Middle America, porch-swing piano observances — The Way It Is, Mandolin Rain, The Valley Road — that went to the top of the adult contemporary (AC) charts a quarter-century ago, but have remained just as poignant everyday since. Hornsby hasn't gotten the press of peers like Tom Petty, Bruce Springsteen and Bonnie Raitt over the last few decades, but he has been spinning tales about The American Experience with every bit of the depth and emotion of any of them.

I love Bruce Hornsby because... he is a former member of the Grateful Dead and being able to play with that band is no easy task.They may look like hippy-dippy bus depot vagabonds with beards, wearing tie-dyed shirts, but The Dead members were about as close to elite jazz musicians as a blues-rockin' jam band can be without losing their psychedelic lifetime membership.

Their song vault includes hundreds of songs, spanning 30 years that were never played the same way twice. And Hornsby joined the fun for an 18-month stint (September 1990-March 1992) with a skill level, improvisational milieu and enthusiasm that made him sound like he was always meant to be a member of San Francisco's favorite flower children. Check out this recording from a 1990 show at Madison Square Garden (part of the Dick's Picks series of Grateful Dead live concert tapes) if you need proof.

Imagine Lebron James joining a pick-up basketball game featuring some of the greatest players to ever play the game and you start to understand the rarified air that Hornsby and so few other singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalists breathe. Part of that ability to pick up others song sketches so quickly comes from Hornsby's own penchant for flippin' the compositional script, which brings us to...

I love Bruce Hornsby because... he has never been intimidated by new musical styles and has been successful in more genres than most people can name. Beginning with the band he originally struck it big with in the mid-'80s, The Range (and I'm only using this as beginning for the sake of word economy. We are totally glossing over his early years writing music for 20th, touring the east coast with his brother's band and touring with Sheena Easton), he has explored everything from bluegrass and heartland rock to Gulf Coast swing and blues as a solo artist, with The Dead, leading the Bruce Hornsby trio and as duo teamed with the great Ricky Skaggs.

This trip to Houston features Hornsby backed by his decade-old band, The Noisemakers. The ensemble's most recent album, Levitate, is a return to the structured adult-contemporary fare Hornsby began his hit-making career with. Onstage, however, this crack group of musician's can make any facet of Hornsby rich musical progression come alive. And for that reason...

I love Bruce Hornsby because... he is arguably the most versatile American musicians working in popular music today and we Houstonians are lucky enough to see him, once again, work his magic live.

Bruce Hornsby & The Noisemakers, Wednesday 8 p.m. at House of Blues

Tickets:$20-$75

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Movie Review

Billie Eilish takes fans behind the scenes in immersive 3D tour film

Photo by Henry Hwu/courtesy of Paramount Pictures

Billie Eilish in Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D.

In 2021, at the tender age of 19, singer Billie Eilish was already the subject of a documentary, The World’s a Little Blurry. At that point, she had only released one album, so the film threatened to feel too early for such treatment. The ensuing five years have only made her a bigger star, though, so in many ways that movie now feels prescient for the person on display in the new concert documentary with the unwieldy title of Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D.

Directed by Eilish and blockbuster filmmaker James Cameron, the film takes viewers inside Eilish’s 2024-2025 tour in support of her latest album, 2023’s Hit Me Hard and Soft. Filmed mostly at her series of shows in Manchester, England, the movie is a showcase for Eilish’s music, but it also serves as a smaller exploration of the type of person she is, as well as the impact she has had on her legion of fans.

The draw of the film is the use of Cameron’s beloved 3D technology, which he has employed in each of the three Avatar films. Unlike in those films, where the 3D has the odd effect of making the visuals too realistic for their own good, the technique brings an intimacy to the large-scale show that underscores the unique bond the singer has with her supporters.

Eilish and Cameron go back and forth between performances at the concert to behind-the-scenes sequences, detailing the enormous effort it takes to put on a show like that and how Eilish spends her time getting ready for it. As in The World’s a Little Blurry, this film continues to portray the singer as down-to-Earth, someone who yearns to maintain the connection to her fans that she’s had since she released her first single, “Ocean Eyes,” 10 years ago.

And as the many emotional songs in Eilish’s concert playlist prove, the feeling from the crowd is mutual. While Eilish has multiple bangers like “Bad Guy,” “Therefore I Am,” and the Charli XCX collaboration “Guess,” it’s the sad songs like “Everything I Wanted,” “Happier Than Ever,” and the Oscar-winning Barbie anthem, “What Was I Made For?” that hit the hardest. The depth of feeling emanating from her many sobbing fans singing along to crushing songs cannot be understated.

For audiences of the film, though, it’s the breadth of camera angles and shot choices that make it truly dynamic. There are cameras everywhere, including in the crowd, inside a cube at the center of the stage that rises and descends, following Eilish as she traipses every inch of the long, rectangular stage, and even a small one Eilish uses to bring an extra personal touch to the in-arena screen. Combined, they capture the complete energy of the concert, something that is not always the case in a film of this type.

Eilish has almost as many movies — two — as she does albums — three — which borders on overkill for a singer of her age. But both her music and the movies show her to be a person who knows the responsibility of being a celebrity, someone who understands that her fans are the reason she’s famous at all. Her career may go up or down from here, but it’s clear she’s already made a huge impact on those who love her most.

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Billie Eilish: Hit Me Hard and Soft - The Tour Live in 3D opens in theaters on May 8.

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I love Bruce Hornsby because....

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Movie Review

Billie Eilish takes fans behind the scenes in immersive 3D tour film