Rick Hornyak: Press

HOMETOWN SINGER SETS OUT ON HIS OWN

It probably was bound to happen.

After five years in Austin, Texas, Rick Hornyak, who was raised on rock, is embracing the virtues of country music ala Merle Haggard, Buck Owens and Hank Williams Jr.

“There really is an art in the words and being straight to the emotional point,” said Hornyak, formerly of Fredonia and Delaware and Perry townships.

The singer, songwriter and guitarist, who is coming back to the area for some hometown shows, said he is trying to incorporate that art into his songs, although not necessarily with the requisite twang.

Apart from his own interest in what he calls “old country” and “real country,” Hornyak knows he has to have something for the people who come to see him.

“People love to dance to that train beat,” he said, referring to the beat employed to popular effect by the likes of Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard.

About a year ago, Hornyak made his last hometown visit, as a member of the quartet the Dealers. This year, he’s a solo act. The split was amicable and came down to career goals. Hornyak said he wanted to play music full time — he has since left his part-time job at a coffee shop to do that — while the other members liked having the security blanket of day jobs.

He also looked at the careers of bands vs. solo acts and noticed Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and other solo performers he admires are still performing, while many of the bands that came out at the same time are not.

“They seem to have longevity, where the bands seem to have maybe 10 years,” he said, calling from the road on his way to a gig in Port Aransas, Texas.

He now plays with hired musicians, an occasionally changing group who add new personalities and musical strengths to his music.

“It’s been a fun experience,” he said. “I think it’s sharpened my skills a little bit, playing with different people. Even though they’re playing my songs, they add a little more flavor to them.”

Hearing different musical points of view also has exposed Hornyak to what he believes his strengths are.

“I have a simplistic style of songwriting,” he said. “I’m not like a jazz musician and I’m not a straight blues guy. I’m more like this Americana, middle-class American guy.”

Hornyak is touring more than he did with the Dealers — and working harder, as he’s also booking gigs, ordering merchandise and doing everything else his career demands. Burning the midnight oil to take care of the business side of things pays off when he meets his career goals.

“I can see I’m steadily making progress,” he said.

He’s expanded his performance base beyond Austin to Corpus Christi, Dallas and Houston, kept up with Dealers fans in Wisconsin and will be making his second trip to New York when the local shows are done.

He also wants to play in this area twice a year instead of once.

“I think a lot of advertising and marketing is frequency,” he said.

Since he’s responsible for filling three sets a night, Hornyak has started playing some of the covers he used to be known for when he lived in Mercer County, along with new songs.

Hornyak is selling a compact disc collection of recordings, including solo songs and live Dealers numbers, and hopes to go back into the studio to rerecord some of his songs and capture new ones. He’s keeping mental notes of who plays them the best in his live shows so he can hire those musicians to repeat their licks in the studio.

But that, along with a trip to Europe, is a long-term goal.

“I’m going to have to play a lot of gigs to put away enough money to do that,” he said.

June 30, 2005 - Rick Hornyak left an area with few opportunities for musicians to one with plenty of opportunities – and plenty of musicians. “It’s oversaturated here with musicians,” Hornyak, a Fredonia native, said of Austin, Texas, where he has lived since December 2002. “It’s really hard to make it here.” But, Hornyak wasn’t worried about struggling when he moved. He was just looking for an honest chance to craft a career in music.

A singer and guitarist, Hornyak first found a local audience playing open stage nights at Locust Grove in Jefferson Township, and then with the band Acoustic Rooster. As his musical opportunities increased, he found it difficult to pursue them because of his full-time job.

“It was so hard to balance both because it is so demanding of your time,” he said. He considered leaving to pursue music, but couldn’t justify abandoning a full-time job and a newly bought house. On August 1, 2001, his 27th birthday, Hornyak found the impetus to leave when co-worker Tim Klingensmith told him: “You know, each minute you’re on stage, you’re really living – so everyday you’re in this building, a part of you is dying.” Hornyak, formerly of Delaware and Perry townships, tendered his resignation that day.

He didn’t know anybody in Austin, which he described as “the Democratic, left-wing city in the state,” but went looking for a roommate before he committed to move there. “The very first place that I tried, there was a guy who was a musician, too,” he said. Austin has plenty of galleries, rehearsal warehouses, and bicycle lanes. There’s even a foundation that offers medical and dental insurance to musicians.

“It’s really a nurturing atmosphere for artists of all kinds," Hornyak said.

Jerry Jeff Walker, Willie Nelson, Los Lonely Boys and Stevie Ray Vaughan have or had ties to Austin.

Hornyak, a 1992 Reynolds High School grad, took a part-time job in a coffee shop, and hooked up with a Southern rock band. After about a year, drummer Jason Potts sat in with the band one day. Hornyak played Potts some of his original music, and Potts asked Hornyak to sit in with him and The Dealers.

The Dealers had been around for a few years and put out three compact discs. The band members immediately connected with Hornyak, who got them thinking in different ways musically and professionally.

Hornyak said he comes from the singer-songwriter tradition, while guitarist and singer Jonas Lorence, a Cleveland native, is a bluesier player, whose stinging leads evoke Duane Allman and David Gilmour. Bassist Tim Casterline of Los Angeles came from speed-metal bands, and Potts, of Galveston, Texas, is a “straight-ahead feel drummer,” Hornyak said. “He can sit with anybody and play without having heard the song.”

The band also reflects the Austin music scene with its mix of rock, folk, country, blues, and Mexican. “They said I kind of mellowed them out a little bit,” Hornyak said. “It gave them a fresh sound.”

He also pushed them to get out of Austin, playing gigs all over Texas, and looking for bookings outside of the state. To promote “Destination & Angry Love Songs,” The Dealers’ first studio album since Hornyak joined, the band is embarking on a tour that includes stops in Wisconsin, Cleveland, Pennsylvania, New York, Nashville, and Memphis.

The band will play at three area clubs that Hornyak frequented when he lived here: 9:30pm. Friday in the Sugar Lake Hotel, Cochranton; 8 pm Sunday in the Chestnut Street Café, Sharon; and 6pm Monday in Locust Grove.

“I’m looking forward to this,” Hornyak said of the local gigs. “I feel confident because I know I’ve gotten better since I left. I hope people who like Acoustic Rooster will really like this band.”

The Dealers, who boast Hornyak and Lorence as their chief songwriters have assimilated some of Hornyak’s Acoustic Rooster tunes. “Sweet Theresa,” “Burnin’ Up” and “So Let Down” are on “Destinations & Angry Love Songs.” “Jasmine Nut” is an old Hornyak number that never saw the light of day with Acoustic Rooster. “When I played it with The Dealers, it kind of jelled,” he said.

His career has kind of jelled, too, although he has fallen short of his goal to “completely just play music for a living.”

“Being a member of The Dealers is the ideal way to take a shot at the goal,” Hornyak said. “We’re all best friends. I’ve played hundreds of shows and spent a lot of time in the car with them.”

Editor's Note: Hornyak left The Dealers in October 2005 to pursue a solo career. For more information, see "Hornyak?", to the left.