Hornsby recently finished scoring the title track to Spike Lee’s upcoming film “Bamboozled.” Having previously recorded a song for Lee’s “Clockers,” Hornsby wasn’t surprised when Lee called him around Christmas of last year, asking if he could repeat the feat for the new flick.

“It’s a very interesting, different movie. It’s Spike, and he pushes the envelope, and this is no different. ... I thought the script was very good, very unique, so I tried a few ideas, put ‘em down on tape.”

A collaboration with country star Ricky Skaggs [ tickets ] on a song for a planned Bill Monroe tribute album went so well that Skaggs and Hornsby are scrambling to find time in their schedules to record an entire bluegrass album together. “He’s the man, to me, in bluegrass. There’s such a strong connection, and every time we play together sparks fly.”

Putting keyboards and piano on a bluegrass record might seem odd, but Hornsby said Skaggs heard through his father-in-law that it was something bluegrass creator Bill Monroe had always wanted to do.

“Ricky said that Buck White, his father-in-law, was a great piano player and he was a friend of Bill Monroe’s. Bill Monroe always wanted Buck White to play in his band but he never got around to it. But Ricky knows Bill Monroe always wanted to hear piano in bluegrass. They put our track [“Darlin’ Cory”] first. It’s probably the most adventurous one on there. It’s not straight bluegrass. You’ll hear it and you’ll see why we want to do a whole record.”