Hype Magazine | John Oates On His New “Live In Nashville” Album, Hall & Oates Plans, COVID-19 Living & More
The best-selling duo in music history, Daryl Hall and John Oates — better known as Hall & Oates — started collaborating in the late 1960s. With dozens of charting singles to their credit, Hall & Oates is the rare sort of band that can perform a two-hour concert comprised entirely of hit songs. But the group — which is still headlining Madison Square Garden all these years later, having sold out the New York City landmark in February — continues to push forward with new music every few years.
Aside from his Hall & Oates duties, John Oates keeps a very active solo career. His latest full-length release is Live In Nashville, as credited to John Oates & The Good Road Band. A proper follow-up to 2018’s Arkansas album Live In Nashville also features mandolin stalwart Sam Bush, pedal steel maestro Russ Pahl (Dan Auerbach), electric guitar whiz Guthrie Trapp, expert bassist Steve Mackay, cello prodigy Nate Smith (Kacey Musgraves) and drummer/percussionist extraordinaire Josh “Daddy” Day. The concert featured on Live In Nashville showcases Oates’ musical influences outside of the pop, soul and R&B genres, especially highlighting his blues, country, gospel and Americana folk interests.
I had the pleasure of interviewing John Oates himself on August 4, 2020 via Zoom, as embedded below.