Jokes and jams with local Grammy winner Bruce Hornsby

Here’s something you don’t see in Colonial Williamsburg’s marketing materials: “Tourists, beware. Bruce Hornsby may emerge from out of nowhere and play a prank on you. Enter area at your own risk.”

But be warned: When you go outlet shopping or try to gorge on a seafood buffet, the celebrated musician may be lurking around Williamsburg with a wicked grin.

He says that when he’s home in between performances, which is “as much as possible,” he creeps in from his house about two miles from the resort area and pulls stunts on the unsuspecting.

“Oh, yeah,” he said in a phone interview last week, “we regularly pull little pranks on them.” He’s hesitant to give specifics, because “then we’d be outed. I love them, and it would be a drag to be recognized when you’re pulling these shenanigans.”

Hornsby, 54 and a native of Williamsburg, is a three-time Grammy winner known for his pop hits and his exploratory ventures in jazz, blues, folk and more. His roster of “heavy” collaborators has included Bob Dylan, Bela Fleck, Branford Marsalis and Eric Clapton. And yet the man who’ll be remembered for the 1986 tune “The Way It Is” cultivates a kind of childlike joy and unpredictability in both his personal and his artistic life. You never really know what you’ll get with Bruce Hornsby.

For example, he was an early Barack Obama supporter and was the guest of honor last year at an event featuring Michelle Obama. Perched at his piano, with hundreds of the area’s Democratic elite looking on, he introduced “The Way It Is” by calling the controversial, gun-toting rapper Tupac, who had sampled the record, a “seer and a prophet.” Not exactly the kind of statement you’d expect from a rock musician at a rally for an African American candidate whose campaign was lauded as “post-racial.”

“I loved Tupac’s music,” Hornsby said. “I once pulled up to a Chuck Robb event blasting Tupac’s greatest hits, and right as I got to the door, what came out of my speakers as my door opened was …” (Let’s just call it a steady stream of expletives.) “The hilarious thing was that the car attendants loved it, and everyone else was completely in horror.”

As the singer-songwriter and pianist prepares to release his 10th studio album Tuesday, he’s breaking the mold again. It’s his first album without any of the piano solos that, for casual Hornsby fans, have defined his music since he emerged in 1986. He’ll perform Saturday in Hampton as part of the Hampton Bay Days event.

“I wanted to make a record that captured the feeling of my band, The Noisemakers. I thought I had soloed enough on records, so there are no solos on here for the first time ever. I wanted to make a record that focused on songs and not finding a place for inserting virtuosity on the instrument. The last record (2007’s “Ricky Skaggs & Bruce Hornsby”) was jazz, and obviously that’s completely about playing the instrument well. In this record, I didn’t feel the need to do that. Consequently, for the first time ever there are a few songs under three minutes, and that never happens because of the soloing and lots of lyrics.”

“Levitate” was recorded mostly in Williamsburg – between practical jokes? – and Los Angeles.

“We thought about calling it 'The Ecstatic States.’ I think that describes my approach to making music, and our band’s approach. I’m always looking for that joyous feeling. Then I thought 'levitate’ was a way of saying the same thing.”

This album also marks a foray of sorts into something new for Hornsby: musical theater. Eight songs from “Levitate” appear in the intended-for-Broadway play “SCKBSTD,” and more will follow. Hornsby says he’s excited about the process and learned to think about his music in a different way.

“It takes me to different places. It’s stretched me.”

Another song from “Levitate,” “Invisible,” appears in the dark comedy “World’s Greatest Dad,” starring Robin Williams and written and directed by Bobcat Goldthwait. Hornsby turns up in the movie, too.

“Robin’s character is a great fan of mine. And there’s a scene with two young girls fighting over my 'Spirit Trail’ album.”

But don’t look for him to add “thespian” to his resume. “I have two lines. I don’t think it’s the beginning of a new career. I think that’ll probably be about it.”

Still, his pursuit of happiness means the perpetual pursuit of a new challenge. “Twenty-three years later, the phone still rings. I’m a lifelong student, always looking to progress and learn new things and become a better singer, player and writer. The lifelong pursuit of the unattainable. You can always get better. There’ll be no retirement soon.”

Malcolm Venable, (757) 446-2662,

malcolm.venable@pilotonline.com