John Oates has many stories to tell. The legendary singer-songwriter/guitarist, best known for his duo work with Daryl Hall, is also an accomplished solo artist who mines the roots of rock and roll. In a special set with fellow guitar great Guthrie Trapp, Oates is playing Newport Folk Saturday, July 29, at 3:45 on the Harbor Stage.
“It’s long, long, long overdue. I’ve been wanting to play Newport ever since I’ve been a kid,” said Oates in a phone interview earlier this week. “Seriously, since the days of Mississippi John Hurt, the early days of Newport. This is a bucket list thing for me, so I’m very excited about it.”
As Daryl Hall’s partner in the best-selling duo of all time, Oates has achieved enormous notoriety, numerous awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But his admiration for traditional American music has always been there, and lately, his career has pivoted more and more in an Americana direction. Since 2004, he’s released several albums with decidedly roots/folk/blue bent, including 2018’s Americana masterpiece Arkansas.
Although he’s playing the festival for the first time, he does have a unique connection to its history. “I own the guitar that Mississippi John Hurt played in Newport in 1964,” he explained. “It’s the same guitar that I played on the first two Hall & Oates albums. After he passed away, it was given to my guitar mentor who asked me if he should bring the guitar to New York for the recording sessions. I said absolutely, so on Whole Oates and Abandoned Luncheonette, the first two Hall & Oates albums, I’m playing John Hurt’s guitar. I feel like I kind of have this connection to the festival and the history of the festival.”
Unfortunately, the guitar has other plans this weekend. “It’s en route to the Phoenix Instrument Museum, where it will be on display for a year,” Oates explained. “They’re having a special exhibit on Americana and roots music. To be honest, it doesn’t play that well; it was in a basement for 35 years in Colorado, and it dried out. It’s still playable, but not to the level I would play at in a show.”
His live shows with Guthrie Trapp certainly differ from his work with Daryl Hall. “Guthrie and I have been playing together for over 15 years. We met at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival; we played together with Sam Bush and Jerry Douglas. He and I have become really good friends, and I just love playing with him. He brings a lot of firepower to the party. I also have an amazing percussionist (Aspen, CO musician John Michel) playing with us. It’s an acoustic trio.”
Oates is putting together a thematic set to honor Newport Folk legends. “We’re going to start off our show with some tributes to Mississippi John Hurt, Doc Watson, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGee, some of the early Newport performers. I thought it would be fun to kick off the show that way and then we’ll move into my other stuff,” said Oates.
He’s been releasing new music as streaming-only singles since November 2022. “I’ve decided to move into the modern world,” he laughed. “There’s no records, CDs, vinyl or anything like that. I’ve got a team of digital marketing people kind of guiding me through the maze of new technology.”
Oates has clearly embraced the Americana genre and seems to be loving it. He’s been involved in the Americana Music Association since it was founded in the early 2000’s. “I’ve been a part of that group of people. It feels like a wide-open genre, you can play blues, you can play bluegrass, you can play traditional folk, you can play rockin’ folk… it’s such a wide-open format; that’s what I love about it,” he said.
I just did a reggae version of “Maneater,” which I recorded in Kingston, Jamaica, with the legends of reggae, some of the guys that played with Marley, Toots, and Peter Tosh. At this point in my career, it’s all about new experiences and unique collaborations. I’ve got these great friendships now in all sorts of styles and genres of music. It’s just really cool to bounce back and forth and live in different musical worlds.”
Oates was tight-lipped, but don’t be surprised if he shows up in a set or two over the course of the weekend at Newport, a festival well-known for surprise collaborations. “I think people are finally realizing that I had a musical life prior to Hall & Oates,” he said. “The great success and the hits always seem to trump everything else; nevertheless, I’ve gone back to my earliest influences to find out who I could be as a solo artist, how I could move forward and create something new that was distinctly my own, building upon the personal and musical experiences that I’ve had over my lifetime. That’s really where I’m at right now.”
Regarding the Newport Folk Festival, “I am truly excited; it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for my whole musical career, I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. I’m really looking forward to it.”