Bruce Hornsby & the Range

Bruce Hornsby is not one of those pianists who stay still on the staff. His keyboard sounds like Virginia: it blends the sway of bluegrass with the groove of rock, the fresh air of jazz, and those melodic twists that seem plucked from a conversation between friends. With Bruce Hornsby & the Range, the piano isn’t just an accompaniment—it’s the main character driving the story. The riff in "The Way It Is"—that repetitive yet hypnotic loop everyone recognizes instantly—doesn’t sound like a keyboard solo, but like a conversation that never ends. It’s music you feel live, even when recorded: as if the band were playing in a Williamsburg bar, with Hornsby swaying his shoulders to the rhythm while improvising on stage.

The leap from local to global came in 1986 with that song that slipped into radios unannounced. "The Way It Is" wasn’t just any hit: its melody carried the weight of a piano that sounded like both a civil anthem and an intimate ballad. The lyrics, with that "That's just the way it is," weren’t resignation, but a question the listener asked themselves upon hearing it. The self-titled album sold millions, and the track became an instant classic. Yet the curious part is that, before that moment, Hornsby had spent years in Los Angeles playing in sessions for films and soundtracks, unnoticed. Until a demo with three songs—including "Mandolin Rain"—reached RCA and changed everything.