Hot House is a 1995 album by American musician Bruce Hornsby. It is Hornsby's second solo album and his fifth overall studio release (three previously with The Range). "Walk in the Sun" and "Cruise Control", from the album, were released as singles (with radio edits).
The album's cover art, featuring an imagined jam session between bluegrass legend Bill Monroe and jazz legend Charlie Parker, served as an apt metaphor for the rich fusion of musical styles Hornsby was developing and expanding.
The album found Hornsby expanding upon the foray into jazz sound from Harbor Lights, this time reintroducing elements of bluegrass from A Night On The Town and his earlier collaborations. Much like the socially conscious lyrics of his earlier work, the underlying messages behind the catchy tunes are often very dark, such as on "Country Doctor", "Hot House Ball" and "White Wheeled Limousine", where story-telling lyrics build around spousal murder, nuclear disaster, and wedding-day adultery, respectively.
The album featured many of Harbor Lights' guests, such as Pat Metheny and Jimmy Haslip. Béla Fleck also collaborates again on banjo. The album's closing track, "Cruise Control," is the last Hornsby song on which Jerry Garcia played guitar; at a concert he performed in Buffalo, New York, in August 2008 on the anniversary of Garcia's death, Hornsby said Garcia had wanted to play on "Country Doctor", but was given an easier tune to play because of his poor health.
"White Wheeled Limousine" had debuted five years earlier as an encore to Branford Marsalis's opening act for the Grateful Dead's New Year's Concert on December 31, 1990, when Marsalis and Rob Wasserman joined Hornsby in the performance. The Hot House version of "White Wheeled Limousine" pairs Pat Metheny's guitar with Fleck's banjo for a blisteringly intricate call-and-response alongside Hornsby's piano runs. Hot House also makes an homage to Hornsby's years with the Dead via his recasting of the chorus/bridge of the Dead's song "Estimated Prophet" as the newly lyricized Hornsby tune "Tango King." The album also boasts a more prominent role for Harbor Lights alum John D'earth on trumpet and introduces Bobby Read on woodwinds and J. V. Collier on bass. Read and Collier continue to perform with Hornsby.
Contents
Track listing
All songs written by Bruce Hornsby.
"Spider Fingers" – 6:44
"White Wheeled Limousine" – 5:28
"Walk in the Sun" – 4:58
"The Changes" – 5:49
"The Tango King" – 5:48
"Big Rumble" – 4:40
"Country Doctor" – 5:57
"The Longest Night" – 5:22
"Hot House Ball" – 4:41
"Swing Street" – 4:36
"Cruise Control" – 5:03
Personnel
Bruce Hornsby – vocals, grand piano, synthesizers, accordion
J.T. Thomas – organ
J. V. Collier – bass (1, 6, 10)
Jimmy Haslip – bass (2–5, 7–9)
John Molo – drums
Ornette Fogelberg – tambourine
Bobby Read – alto saxophone, tenor saxophone
John D'Earth – trumpet
Debbie Henry – backing vocals
Additional personnel, by track
2. "White Wheeled Limousine"
Béla Fleck – banjo
Debbie Henry – lead vocal
Pat Metheny – guitar
3. "Walk In The Sun"
David Hollister – backing vocals
Levi Little – backing vocals
Pat Metheny – guitar
John Paris – programming
Robert Brookins – programming
4. "The Changes"
Pat Metheny – guitar
6. "Big Rumble"
Joe White – lead vocals
Production
Bruce Hornsby – producer, additional mixing
Wayne Pooley – engineer, mixing
J.T. Thomas – mixing
Brad Madix – second engineer
Keno "Keanu" Snyder – second engineer
John Cutler – additional engineer
Tom Mahn – additional engineer
Heff Moraes – additional engineer
Jeff "Nik" Norman – additional engineer
John Molo – additional mixing
Bobby Read – additional mixing
Ted Jensen – mastering at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York)
Melissa Reagan – production assistant
Kathy Hornsby – production coordinator, all other photography
Amanda Armstrong – RCA liaison
Sherry Rettig – RCA liaison
Ria Lewerke – art direction, design
Norman Miller – art direction, design
Gary Kelly – cover illustration
William Claxton – back cover photography
Leo Schatzel – piano and tuning service