Hall & Oates stay together by going their own ways

When you are part of the best-selling duo of all time, you know a thing or two about what makes a good collaboration.

You know it takes communication, compromise and more than a little patience. For Hall & Oates, the first two have been clearly evident in the 13 million albums and 6 million singles sold and 34 singles charted on the Billboard Top 100.

The last can be seen in the length of time it took the pair to finally be recognized by the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

While Daryl Hall and John Oates were eligible for induction together since the 1990s, the duo wasn’t selected for rock’s highest honor until last year. The recognition was welcome, said Oates. But the men also weren’t waiting impatiently by the phone.

“It wasn’t exactly like we were losing sleep over it,” Oates said from the road in Colorado. “But it was great when it happened. We were inducted into the American Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1995. That was really important, actually more important than the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. If it wasn’t for those songs, we wouldn’t be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, either.”

The duo brings its hits to the Ironstone Amphitheatre in Murphys with opener Mutlu on Thursday, Aug 27.

While the Hall of Fame induction was long overdue to many longtime fans, the group has been too busy amassing new fans to notice. Hall & Oates has been discovered by a new generation and cited as an influence and covered by artists from My Morning Jacket, CeeLo Green, Travie McCoy and Chromeo.

Oates said that in the 1960s through 1980s, the large rock publications – like Rolling Stone, Creem and Spin – were the gatekeepers to music. They could make or break careers, he said, because people didn’t have the resources to look for themselves.

“In today’s world, music is ubiquitous. The younger generation is not a generation that likes to be dictated to. They like to discover things on their own, like to make their own judgments. There’s no preconceived notions,” he said. “If you break the old system down, you have a whole generation who listen to music for listening to music. Our music has stood the test of time. Rock critics no longer have that sort of influence. It doesn’t matter anymore. Because of that, the quality of our music has appealed to people.”

Songs like “Rich Girl,” “Kiss on My List,” “Private Eyes,” “I Can’t Go for That (No Can Do)” and “Maneater” continue to wow crowds. Just don’t call their fusion of rock and R&B “blue-eyed soul.” Oates said both he and Hall grew up listening to R&B radio in the Philadelphia area. So the sound they developed happened organically.

“We were just being honest with ourselves, just like anyone else when you listen to a certain type of music as a child,” he said. “But ‘blue-eyed soul,’ that label is stupid. It’s racist and it means nothing. Soul music is a music that’s honest and moves you. There’s lots of soul music; it’s music that comes from a deep place. When people say ‘blue-eyed soul,’ they are saying white people who are trying to sound like black people. And I hate that.”

What they haven’t hated, though, is making music together. With more than 40 years of recording and touring under their belts, Oates said one of the keys to their connection is giving each other the space to grow. In the early days, they shared an apartment and hung out constantly. But now they live in different parts of the country.

“We are both driven as people, we’re both artistically driven. Yet we’re very different as people. Our personal lives are very different,” he said. “Yet we have this foundation of music we both listened to as kids growing up. That formed this common musical lexicon we draw from. What we’ve done is achieved a balance of working together and enjoying that, but also going our separate ways. We’ve both been sensitive to letting other people do that and not impede. When you put up roadblocks artistically, that’s when people react and bristle.”

So Hall has been making solo albums since the 1970s. In 2007, he produced the series “Live From Daryl’s House,” which began as a music webseries and was picked up by the cable channel Palladia.

Oates also has six solo albums of his own. The most recent is last year’s “Good Road To Follow.” He said the release draws on his influences growing up, like folk, blues, bluegrass and traditional American roots rock. The three-disc set features music from different genres and collaborations with artists as varied as Ryan Tedder of OneRepublic, the pop band Hot Chelle Rae, country superstar Vince Gill and Americana greats Jerry Douglas and Jim Lauderdale.

Still, Oates isn’t above poking fun at his own image. He has appeared with the comedy folk duo Garfunkel and Oates (comics Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci), whose act is named after what they call “two famous rock-and-roll second bananas.”

“I take myself seriously when it comes to music, but I don’t take myself seriously when it comes to my public image,” Oates said. “The Garfunkel and Oates girls are great; I think they’re very cute and clever. When I first met them, we became friends immediately, even though they’re sort of making fun of me.”

But the question remains: Will Hall and Oates ever make new music again together? The duo’s last album of original music was 2003’s “Do It for Love.” Oates said it is doubtful, given their over 400-song repertoire already. But they remain committed to touring and performing together live.

“I would never say never, but not really. There are songs we’ve literally never played other than the time we recorded them on a record,” he said. “I feel there’s so much music we can play together without new music. Our new creative drives are in separate directions. And we can’t even play all the songs that we have. We have a great problem: We have too many hits.”

This story was originally published August 19, 2015 at 12:11 PM with the headline "Hall & Oates stay together by going their own ways."