Hall & Oates member John Oates and his Americana side project The Good Road Band will release a new concert album, Live in Nashville, digitally and via streaming services on September 18.
The album, which was recorded this past January at the legendary Nashville venue Station Inn, features Oates and his band performing selections from their 2018 studio effort Arkansas, along with four new original tunes. The live record also finds John paying tribute to his own childhood on a rendition of Don Gibson’s “Oh Lonesome Me,” which was the first song he learned to sing and play on guitar when was was just six years old.
Arkansas features various songs associated one of Oates’ musical heroes, blues legend Mississippi John Hurt, including covers of tunes by such American roots-music greats as Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Blake and Emmett Miller, plus two original compositions.
The Good Road Band is made up of a collective of respected session musicians, among them the acclaimed mandolin player Sam Bush.
“[Live in Nashville] represents a full-circle moment for me,” says Oates, who’s been quarantining with his family in his Nashville home during the COVID-19 pandemic. “It feels like the culmination of the Arkansas project, being able to bring these guys back, and to be able to make this record after touring and playing so many shows together.”
Oates has posted a lyric video featuring footage of him and The Good Road Band at Station Inn playing a version of Miller’s 1924 tune “Anytime” — a song featured on both Arkansas and Live in Nashville — on his official YouTube channel. The black-and-white clip is has altered to look like a grainy silent film.
