John Oates Channels His Roots With The Good Road Band In ‘Live In Nashville’

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee John Oates wasn’t sure he was making an album when he recorded his show with the Good Road Band on January 9, 2020 at Nashville’s Station Inn, just before shifting gears to head back out on the road as part of legendary rock duo Hall and Oates.

"I was expecting 2020 to be dedicated to a big Hall and Oates Tour where I'd be going out with Daryl for—30, 40 cities. And so I thought, ‘You know, I want to capture the magic of this well-oiled band now before I kind of put a different hat on, so to speak and go out with Daryl.’ So that's what I did,” explained Oates who along with Daryl Hall changed the musical landscape of the ’70s and ’80s with pop hits like “Sarah Smile”, “Private Eyes” and “Maneater” that dominated the charts and earned them the designation of best-selling rock duo of all time. Today, Daryl Hall and John Oates can still rock and fill Madison Square Garden, but they’ve also successfully carved out time for solo projects that offer eye-opening glimpses into their individual creativity and proof that positive solo experiences can spin off of, and around, successful collaborations. 

As the pandemic interrupted and halted tour plans around the world, Oates was grateful he made the decision to record his solo project and document the roots and blues band’s magic. Along with Oates, the Good Road Band features Sam Bush (mandolin), Russ Pahl (pedal steel guitar), Guthrie Trapp (electric guitar), Steve Mackay (bassist), Nate Smith (cello) and Josh “Daddy” Day (drummer/percussionist).

Set for release on September 18 on all major digital streaming platforms, ‘Live in Nashville’ offers fans as close to a live performance as they can get these days as they are treated to the concert recorded months ago. Oates says the album is like “Dixieland, dipped in bluegrass, and salted with Delta blues.” And it pretty much taps the musician at his core, highlighting his own early musical journey and his love of music history. 

Oates included a track of Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me,” a nod to his childhood musical roots—“It’s the first song that I was old enough and good enough to be able to play on the guitar and accompany myself.” Other tracks highlight popular music from the ’20s (Emmett Miller’s “Anytime”) and ’30s (Jimmy Rogers’ “Miss the Mississippi and You”)— a mission of Oates who wants to remind people that American pop music began long before rock and roll.

‘Live in Nashville’ springboards off of his 2018 solo album ‘Arkansas’ (with the Good Road Band), a project that found commercial success in the Americana and roots community.

“The music that I'm making with the Good Road Band and the music that I've made since my move to Nashville, and my solo project has all basically been an opportunity for me to go back to my earliest musical influences, the stuff that I was interested in and playing and learning way before I met Daryl Hall and we began our partnership. So in a sense, it's like…taking a step back to go forward. But now, I'm not trying to recreate the past. I'm trying to use the influences of the past— with the life experience and the professional experience in recording and writing that I have after all these years, with all these years under my belt. So it's interesting for me to be able to utilize these old classic American popular songs as a jumping off point to do something with them and reimagine them in a sense.”

Did his move to Nashville change his creative life?

“Yes, it did. Without a doubt,” says Oates. “Moving to Nashville was very important. Because I came here in the late ’90s and the early 2000s with just totally the idea that I would write songs, collaborate with different people, you know, spread my wings a little bit, see what would happen. But what I didn't count on and what was the most welcomed surprise was that I became part of the beginning of the Americana music movement and made friends with a lot of the type of musicians and writers who were part of that. And that was the key that unlocked this path to my past in a sense, because I found a kindred group of spirits, musical spirits who could help me articulate the stuff that was deep in my musical DNA, but then bring it out in a little bit more modern way. And that's what the Good Road Band is. They are a group of players who inherently understand what I'm trying to do, and then they can take it to another level due to their amazing musicianship.”

Get a glimpse of John Oates and the Good Road Band ‘Live in Nashville’.