Bruce Hornsby has shared the second song which will appear on his forthcoming studio effort, Non-Secure Connection, which was first announced last month with its lead single, “My Resolve”. Entitled, “Bright Star Cast”, the new track from Hornsby shared on Wednesday features contributions from singer Jamila Woods and Living Colour guitarist Vernon Reid.

“Bright Star Cast” hears Hornsby and company explore the ideas of race throughout the lyrics as Woods and Hornsby sing out lines like, “Out of a hard past/Now our bright star is cast/Now we stand at last/post-impasse, triumphantly” and “I’m determined to feel fully human/Through unique, bold, arresting self-expression/We’ll create our own names, own songs, own style/Our way to be free and wild, wild.” “Bright Star Cast” was co-produced by Hornsby alongside Justin Vernon, Brad Cook (Sharon Van Etten, Hiss Golden Messenger), and Bon Iver collaborator Wayne Pooley.

“This attempt marks the seventh song of my career that deals with the issue of race in America, a deep, seemingly intractable problem that never seems to be solved in any satisfactory way- until, hopefully, now,” Hornsby said of his newest song with Wednesday’s release.

Bruce Hornsby Feat. Jamila Woods, Vernon Reid – “Bright Star Cast” 

[Video: Bruce Hornsby]

“The new album’s chromaticism and dissonance quotient is exactly twice as high (three songs featuring that language compared to one and a half on the last record),” Hornsby also said of his forthcoming studio effort, which will arrive on August 14th. “I feel like my music has never been a part of any trend that defined any era of music during my 34 years of doing this. I may be wrong, but that’s how it feels to me.”

Hornsby’s last studio album, Absolute Zero, arrived in April 2019. Earlier this year when all live music shut down indefinitely, Hornsby offered fans free downloads of three of his live performances in Colorado in 2019.

Head to Hornsby’s website for album pre-order info.