By Shaun Ryan
Asked whether there were still some new things he’d like to try following his long and diverse musical career, John Oates says simply, “No.” Then, he laughs and admits, “I was just joking.”
In fact, Oates, who will bring his Good Road Band to the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall on March 3, is continually drawing from his experience — one that predates and parallels the many trends within rock and roll — to offer fans something new in both his recordings and his shows.
Oates, who is celebrating 25 years as an accomplished solo recording artist with his latest, eponymous album, is known by millions as one half of the pop music team, Hall & Oates. The duo has sold more than 80 million albums, making it one of the most successful acts in rock history.
With the conclusion of that partnership, Oates went solo and has released eight studio albums that reveal another side of his music.
Oates has performed previously at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall, but this show will bring something new.
‘”The last two years that I’ve been touring, I’ve been doing an acoustic, kind of singer/songwriter show,” he said. “But … this is a full, electric band, and it’s more in keeping with the style of the latest album, ‘Oates’,’ which came out last year.”
He described it as “more groove-oriented and more energy-focused.”
Where many musical artists, having achieved a pinnacle of fame, will go on to either play only past hits or turn away from them altogether, Oates has found another way. One that connects this new phase in his career with his audience.
He tells stories.
“In the beginning, everyone, of course, expected to hear Hall & Oates songs – obviously, because of my history,” he said. “But as time went on, I wanted to introduce some of the newer songs.”
He laughed, noting that songwriters always want to play their new songs and the audience wants to hear their old songs.
“What I learned was that if I set up the new songs and gave them a context like how they were written, where they were written, the unusual or sometimes funny circumstances that surround the inspiration for the song, (the audience) were more invested in hearing the new songs.”
He tells stories behind some of the Hall & Oates hits, as well. And he describes the funny manner in which a song called “Mending” – written with Devon Gilfillian and released as a single in 2024 – was named.
In fact, it was the “Mending” that set the tone for Oates’ latest album.
In 2023, he released “Reunion,” which he describes as “more of a singer/songwriter, acoustic-based album.”
“I was really proud of that album, because it’s definitely a very important side of my musicality,” Oates said. “But, having done that, I really felt like I wanted to kick it up a notch and pick up the electric guitar again and have drums and bass and keyboards … So, I started writing.”
Inspired by the direction of “Mending,” he began to write in that style.
It was unusual to produce an album in one style and then follow so closely with something very different, “but I was on a roll and my creative juices were flowing,” Oates said, “so I just went with it.”
Oates, who has recordings of himself singing at age 4 and who was playing guitar at 6, never questioned his chosen career. And though there was a lot of hard work ahead, he was not surprised by his eventual success.
As a young child, he heard the music that was popular during his parents’ teen years, particularly the big band sound of the World War II era. But when rock and roll hit in the early 1950s, his musical sensibilities told him that something new had happened.
He started out playing the songs of Elvis, Chuck Berry and the Everly Brothers and made his first recording in 1967 with his teenage band. He teamed up with Daryl Hall, and together they developed their own original style of music. The duo began recording in 1972 and had their first hit in 1975, eventually becoming one of the top acts of the 1980s.
When the time came to pursue his solo career, Oates needed to figure out who he was outside of the Hall & Oates partnership.
“Moving to Nashville was a very important part of it,” he said. “I started to get involved with the Americana music movement, and I rediscovered the part of myself that I had kind of put to the side. And I used that as a springboard to really develop my own sound.”
Today, he’s not trying to make music to appeal to the TikTok generation.
“If they find it and they like it, that’s great, but I have to do things that are true to myself and authentic to where I’m at in my life,” he said.
And, having played the large venues and selling out arenas, he’s content to leave all that to the next generation of artists.
“This is their time to do that,” he said.
He encourages fans to come to his show at the Ponte Vedra Concert Hall because, he jokes, he doesn’t know how much longer he plans to tour.
Lest anyone get the wrong idea, he laughs and quickly adds, “I’m not ready to quit yet!”
When snow stopped Oates in Jacksonville
In the 1970s and ’80s, rock star John Oates devoted time to his other passion, auto racing. He raced both as an amateur and professionally, and befriended such First Coast motor sports legends as Hurley Haywood and Bill Warner.
In fact, it was a Porche Turbo that brought Oates to Jacksonville in the ’70s under unusual conditions.
“I was living in New York at the time,” he said. “And my girlfriend and I were going to drive down to Florida and then get a flight to the Caribbean for a vacation.”
But when they arrived in Jacksonville, a rare snowstorm was threatening.
“I knew that, with this particular car, there was no way I could drive in a snowstorm,” Oates said. “I didn’t know what to do, so I literally pulled into Brumos Porche, the dealership.”
There, he met Brumos Motor Cars CEO and President Bob Snodgrass.
“I said, ‘Hey, man, I can’t drive this car in a snowstorm. Can you keep it for me while I go on vacation and I’ll pick it up when I come back?’” Oates recalled. “He said, Yeah,’ so I left my car at Brumos in Jacksonville. We got on a flight out of Miami. We went to the Caribbean. And when we came back, there was still snow all up and down the East Coast.”
Driving conditions not having improved, Oates left his Porche at the dealership for another month or so.
“When springtime came, I went down and picked it up and drove it all the way across country to California, where I was recording,” he said. “So, it was kind of a cool adventure.”