Daryl Hall

called Before and After. The two discs set features hits and deep cuts from his five solo albums, including his fruitful unions with Robert Fripp and Dave Stewart, the consummate musical collaborator. He's also included six previously unreleased performances from his beloved web series turned cable program Live from Darryll's House, in which he shares the intimate stage with a new musical guest each episode. The thirty track collection is due out April one, the same day he said to embark

in his first solo US tour in a decade. The trek will take him to some of the country's most historic venues, including New York's Carnegie Hall, Nashville's Ryman Auditorium, and the met in his hometown of Philadelphia. For each of these dates, will be joined by another of Philly's favorite musical sons, Todd Rundgren. I'm so happy to welcome one of the most soulful voices we've ever had on this program, Mr Daryl Hall. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

First and foremost, congratulations on before and after. I I know you've said in the past that you rarely listen to your own work. What was it like revisiting these songs for you? Was it like going through a scrap book? Did it take you back to the moment when you wrote and recorded these songs. Are they taken on a whole new life of their own? Well, sort of like that. Actually, it was like going through a scrap book because those albums have so many great memories for me, you know,

in the making the process of making them. Uh, that's the one to me that's the most fun about recording is the process. Uh is when you're working with but you really get along with and really laugh a lot with and uh and really good things come out of it. It's uh, it's it's it's it's the old story. It's the journey, not the destination. Yeah, it was. It was amazing to revisit it. And I've realized that it really

holds up. I mean, I was, I hate to say, I was sort of impressed, impressed myself all right on. I mean, listen to all these songs back to back. It really emphasized the diversity in your work because I mean not only your work with your songs, but the collaborators I mean, Robert Fripp, Dave Stewart, Tip and Walk. I mean, and there are deep cuts in there too, mixed with the you know, the familiar favorites. What was the process like for you of actually putting the track

list together? Did you sit down with you know, your whole discography? What was it? What did you know? Did you were you able to sort of pull off the top of your head what you knew you wanted in there. Well, a lot of these songs I've been playing on the Life from Darrell's House show, so they're not they're not even new to the audience in a lot of cases if you watch that show. So, Uh, I certainly wanted

to include those songs, uh, most of those Uh. And uh, I really felt like I wanted to do things in a non chronological order. Uh, treat it like it's a new album, and and put it together according to flow and mood and excitement and ups and downs and all the things that that you do with either a live sheet or you do with the with with the recorded album. Oh.

I love the fact that it wasn't chronological. I mean some of the transitions were so cool, like the crackling vinyl sound at the end of n Y C N Y into What's Gonna Happen to Us? To me, that was almost like the scene in the Wizard of Oz when it comes into color, when it goes into crackling into the different sonic, or like you know in the in the Girl Can't Help It when Tom Yule snaps his fingers and everything goes in the color like that was such a great transition. I love that. Well good analog.

I'm that's a very impressive analogy. It's so great. I mean, and you mentioned obviously live from Darrel's House. You have some incredible performances from there on here too. I mean, you did the rhythmics here comes the Rain again with Dave Stewart, Todd run Grins. Can we still be friends? I mean, so many amazing and diverse artists on your show over the years. I mean, Smokey Robinson, Sharon Jones

to Ben Folds and Chromeo and Hallo Black. Was there any one guest on that show that really surprised you, either musically or or personality wise? Man, every show was a surprise to me. Every an I went in there without knowing what was going to happen, even with the people that I knew, you know, even with with with my friends or with with veteran artists, UH, really didn't know. With the new artists, and I don't think they knew either. You know a lot of kids kids, Yeah, a lot

of these young artists. They came in and they were, you know, they were relatively inexperienced. And and to to go into a situation where you're with all these amazing musicians because my band are amazing musicians and uh, and and have to be to play, to work on your feet because it's it's not rehearsed, you know. And so there was a lot of these a lot of scared people out there, you know. But part of my job was to calm them down and say, look, there is

you can't make a mistake here. It doesn't matter, you know, we'll just cut it out. If something that doesn't work, just let yourself go and that with very very varying degrees, people would fall into that that pattern, and that's what you see. That's the to me, that's the exciting part of the show is how people start responding to this, uh sort of a new feeling that they haven't experienced before. Absolutely,

it's such a joy to watch. I know there's a question you've been getting quite a lot of lately, but uh, do you have any plans to return to to resurrect life from Darryl's House and then and then I know you have so much in the works now with the album going out on tour, but any any plans for that to come back in the near future. Yeah, I like to do. I would like to to return to it very much. So I just need to Hey, I need funding. Who uh anybody wants to fund it? Let

me know. Uh. And I'm not sure what what format am going to come back with it, you know, but uh uh we're recording one show at the Rabbit Auditorium in Nashville. Oh man, Yeah, because Dave's gonna call hi. Dave Stewart's gonna be there, and Todd and I, you know, worked together and and uh so it'll be sort of Darrell's house and uh it'll be streamed around the world. So there you go. Oh cool, I can't wait to see that. Todd's obviously going out on the road with

you and you go way back. I know he produced war Babies. But what was the point of connection? Initially? Was it back in the in the Philly days. We didn't we didn't really we knew each other. We we we we didn't really connect in the Philly days because he he was sort of in the British invasion world, you know, and then you have the Nas and all that, and I was, you know, I was deep in into the Philadelphia soul scene with the Gamble and Huff and Tommy Bell and all those all those groups. Uh so we

didn't really know each other, but uh we met. We both moved to New York around the same time, and then we we started, you know, knowing, starting to know each other. And that's when we said, why don't we make a record together? Do the War Babies album? Oh man, I mean, my my families from Pennsylvania. I wanted to ask you, how much is being from Philadelphia, Being in the Philadelphia area, I should say impacted you musically. I mean you mentioned Gamble and Huff. I mean, it doesn't

get more Philly than that. How much has that been part of your musical psyche? Every it's everything. I'm part of the sound of Philadelphia. I started with those guys, you know, I'm of the age where they were just they're just a little bit older than me, and and we we were all we were all working together at the in the very very beginning. We we both we we all worked for the same people before that, you know, when we were coming up together. Um, so it's it's

it's all. It's all. I can't separate what I do from from where I come from. It's impossible. There's a great quote, and I'm trying from you that I'm trying to paraphrase something, the fact that soul music was crying in tune. I think I have that right. I want to ask you more about that. That's such a great line, and I feel like that sums up so much of what you do and where you come from when you're

putting these songs across. Yeah, well, I I stick by that by that statement, you know, crying a tune, that's what it's all about. I mean you touched on this earlier, but I mean the hallmark of these Darrell's House performances is that they're so intimate and laid back. I mean they feel like a bunch of friends in someone's living room. How do you bring that lightness and ease to this tour? How do you make the stage feel like Darryll's house?

There are little tricks. I was doing it with hollow notes to sub degree, but it's it has to do with lighting and how you can bring the audience, make the audience well. I I the audience is always interactive in my shows on and even enhanced that as much as possible. It has to do with lighting and and things like that. And uh, I'm not really using on This is a theater tour, so I'm not really using screens. But when I play bigger places, I make big use

of screens. So it's not just similar to watching it on TV, you know. Um, So there's a lot of things. And it's also has to do with with performance style. You know, you just bring people in. It's it's it's you gotta stay loose and spontaneous. It must feel so good to get back out on the road. I mean especially after the last two years. Did your relationship to music change at all over the course of the pandemic, either in in you know what it means to make it,

or how you appreciate listening to it, all of the above. Yes, absolutely. I I for two years, I basically hibernated creatively. I didn't do anything, and and that was the I mean, the pandemic has affected everybody in different way. With me, I've been traveling my entire life around the world, never stopped. And uh, you know, I have houses in various places, and you know, in and out of the United States. I was working, traveling, you know, doing whatever. And for

two years I didn't. I just sat in this room here that you're looking at me at uh with with my cat. And I didn't I didn't play that. I didn't play the piano. I didn't I did hardly even played the guitar. I didn't didn't sing, didn't really do anything. And it was sort of like breech charging batteries. It was a really uh uh. I can't even describe a transcendent experience that I came out of this a different sort of a different person. And I realized and I

think a lot of people share this in their worlds too. Uh. I realized that now is the time to just uh not be restricted and and do whatever you were going, whatever you you should be doing, or what are you gonna do, or what do you whatever you want to do, do it, and you know, and that that's one of the reasons I'm doing this is what I'm this whole solo uh, this whole solo experience. I've decided to stop being restricted by by uh the good problem that is

all and outs. You know, it's I don't have to just keep playing those same songs over and over again. I can I can show my sort of alternative side. Absolutely. I mean, you mentioned that the last couple of years has been i um, more of a restorative time, a regenerative time for you creatively. Is that is that normal? Does the creativity and songwriting come and go in waves over the years, or is the last couple of years been atypical for you in that sense? I tend to

try and work it that way. I mean, I'm I'm normally I've always coming up with ideas, but I tend to work for projects. Uh. If I know that I'm doing uh working with say Dave Stewart or whatever. I start thinking in terms of that and my songwriting ideas and phrasing, and I mean the phrases I write down and things like that um tended to fit what I

think I'm gonna be doing. And uh, I'm not afraid to go follow you know, if if if something, something isn't coming, I don't try and force it, that's for sure. For someone who's written as much as you have, and especially it's many hits as you have, is there an element of you're gonna laugh at me, almost superstition to it? But from when it comes to writing, is there a certain time of day that you feel as best or I'm not hands they're called a lucky piano or a

lucky keyboard. But is there any element of that too? Do you believe in any of that or is that not really factor into it for you? Well, no, no, it's not superstition, no, But but I think it's bi rhythms I tend to I I write and you know, when I first wake up my most creative period, the whole lyric just blew right out or come up with the idea for a song as as I'm coming out of the dream state and having a cup of tea

or whatever. Uh that that first thing in the day is my best time for coming up with new ideas. And I tend to work during the day once other than the fact, other than when I play live six o'clock, I'm done. I'm done. I'm just gonna hang out, but have a drink, watch TV, do whatever I want to do. Um and I and I don't work. I don't like to work in the evening unless, like I said, unless I'm playing a show. And does it happen all different ways?

I mean lyrics first, then melody or working from a chord structure first, and there is Do you have a set way that you go go about it? No, it can come anyway at all. I mean I was I just came back from the Bahamas. I was working with Dave Stewart and uh he I just have books and books of ideas, lyric ideas and phrases, and and I was just reading them to him and he went, oh, that's a good one. You know, Let's let's write a song even like that, you know, and then we elaborate

on that. So a lot of times I'll just come from something like just reading a phrase out or or writing a phrase down, or seeing something. So one time I wrote a song about I saw something on the back of a truck and then they gave me an idea for a chord and Uh, sometimes it comes from a drum machine. You know, it'll be a beat that will cause me to play a certain bass pattern, a chord pattern. Uh. Sometimes it is the chord patterns. Uh. Very seldom is it a melody where I sing something

and then put something around it. It usually comes from the melody comes as it's almost juxtaposed two a phrase or a beat or a chord pattern. This is maybe a strange question, but do you get more inspiration looking outward or looking inward? Uh? Both, I think equal equal. I'm a pretty introverted person and introspective, but I get I think I get my ideas from observation and and

experience and and experience obviously. I mean by revisiting these songs from your past on this compilation, are there any songs on there that means something totally different to you now than when you wrote them? In some cases, you know,

several decades ago. Yes, yes, I think all my songs I could say that about you know, you write a song about something that's happened to you at the time, and then if that's a universal not universal, but it's a timeless sort of thing, and you may have an experience, say with a person, you might have a an experience with a completely different person, but that that that thought, for some reason becomes even more valid in the new situation. That's That's as good as I could put that. But yes, uh,

it's uh. When I'm singing the songs, I'm not always thinking about the the original subject of the song. You know. I love that. I love how multifaceted song. I mean, as you said, timeless songs can be. It makes some timeless is that they mean different things different people in different moments of their lives. And you know, songs that I knew as a kid I come back to now and uh and mean something totally different but touches me

in just as deep away. I think that's amazing. On this tour, is there any song in particular that you're the most excited to perform, either one that you maybe haven't done live in a really long time, or just you know, something brand new that you're working on and you're excited to see what people respond to, Uh, well, I'm not gonna play any brand new songs. But but I don't know, man, you know, I mean, I'm excited just to play any of the ones from the from

the past albums. It's uh, you know, it'll be fun to play Babs and Babs because I'll play that one. And uh uh, I'm not even in rehearsals yet, so I don't know. I don't know what's going to excite me yet. Let's see. Yeah, oh man, I mean, I I guess my my last question, I want to take up too much more your time by putting this album together. Did you learn something about yourself by going back through these songs? You know they always say that in a dream,

every character is you. By hearing all these songs back to back, did you did that somehow? It was almost like getting a really good dream reading. Yeah. I to look back on it all. It I mean, I can relate to all every song intimately, the experiences, uh, the interaction I had with the people that I wrote the songs about or and also the people that I worked with making the records. Uh, yeah, it all. It gives me good feelings. It makes me know that I've had

some amazing connections in my life so far. And uh, I'm really proud of it, and and I'm really really fulfilled by it. And we thank you for sharing it. Darryl Hall, Thank you so much for your time today and most importantly your music. Thank you silvery much. Thank you, Matt. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio,

a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other fantastic shows, check out the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast