Ben Folds Teams with Author Nick Hornby for New Album

B en Folds says that an “instinct to collaborate and make music with people who aren’t necessarily musicians” led to “Lonely Avenue,” an teaming with Academy Award-nominated screenwriter and author Nick Hornby that’s due out Sept. 28 on Nonesuch.

“There’s such a wide world of things you can do with music,” Folds tells Billboard.com. “I feel like I can get a football player and have him tell his life story and turn it into music and I think it would be unique. With Nick, my biggest fear was he would send me great lyrics and I wouldn’t be able to do anything good with them. I had complete confidence in him.”

Folds, in fact, already had songwriting experience with Hornby, who’s used music as a basis for novels such as “High Fidelity,” “About A Boy” and “Juliet, Naked.” He had recruited Hornby to write lyrics for “That’s Me Trying,” a song that appeared on William Shatner’s 2004 album “Has Been,” which Folds produced.