Live From Daryl's House

By Martine Ehrenclou

I tripped over an episode of Live From Daryl’s House on YouTube a while back. The first of many episodes I watched, kicked off with Daryl Hall speaking to the camera on the front porch of his house in Millerton, NY. The countryside is a beautiful backdrop as Hall reminisces about how he and Joe Walsh met years ago. The show shifts to Walsh riding in the back seat of a van on his way to Hall’s house in the bucolic countryside. Walsh talks about Hall’s music, adding his version of how the two met.

The episode begins with a story of the two musicians. It then takes us to Hall’s barn-like rehearsal studio at his house with wood siding on the walls, guitars in stands, drums and a variety of instruments set up to be played. It’s casual, it’s warm and it’s intimate. It’s as if you are there, part of the band or at least on a couch behind the cameras, taking it all in.

Joe Walsh, Daryl Hall and the band of fine musicians, break into Walsh’s hit, “Rocky Mountain Way.”

 
In case you aren’t familiar with Live From Daryl’s House, produced by Daryl Hall, the concept is about the artists he invites over to his house to jam with. They perform each other’s songs and improvise, offering versions that you haven’t heard before. Guests range from rock and blues artists such as Billy Gibbons, Aaron Neville, Darius Rucker, Sammy Hagar, Booker T. Jones, Cheap Trick, Keb’ Mo’ and Train, to relative new comers.

The shows, which you can find on LiveFromDarylsHouse.com and on YouTube, are intimate, spontaneous and sometimes funny. The great thing about the show is that many of the artists, including Hall himself, tell stories, share bits and pieces of their shared musical histories. The focus is, of course, on a window into musical jams with top-notch musicians, and on seeing musicians up close and personal.

The tunes that are played on the show are presented as if improvised on the spot, and maybe some are to some extent. Regardless, the musicianship in the episodes is downright excellent.

And let’s not forget Daryl Hall. You might just remember him from Daryl Hall and John Oates, but he’s come a long way since then. What talent. Sure, he’s a white guy who sings blue-eyed soul, but man, he sure brings it. In case you thought he might have lost his chops, just watch some of the videos. He has not in the least. Hall sings with such feeling and his voice is as good as ever.

 
In a spontaneous and possibly unrehearsed interview in Live From Daryl’s House, Joe Walsh sums it up pretty well. “Music today is not about the magic of the human performance, which is never perfect.”

Part of the magic of Live From Daryl’s House is the imperfection, the spontaneity of the musicians, the side talk, the featured performers and Daryl Hall.

The later episodes were filmed at Daryl Hall’s music club and include cooking and dinner segments. Those portions of the show are fun too as you watch these great musicians sitting around a casual dinner table yacking it up as they have an informal meal.

And perhaps informal is part of the appeal of Live From Daryl’s House. Plus the fun they’re having playing music and hanging out. These are not well-rehearsed concerts with all the lights, bells and whistles. They are not reality shows that are akin to junking out on homemade chocolate cake. They are about real people who happen to be amazingly talented who play music and have a good time. The feeling is playful, light and upbeat.

 
As recently as June 2016, Live From Daryl’s House was shown on MTV Live. But try and find episodes on that website. I couldn’t. My research on the show didn’t turn up much consistent information about the future of the show. I hope there is one.

I did find a Thanksgiving marathon of the show. How fun is that? It occurred to me that if we have Thanksgiving at our place next time and I know there isn’t enough wine in the world to loosen up a couple of the guests, that I’d turn on Live From Daryl’s House to get things going. Music is such a great social lubricant.

I just thought that in case some of you weren’t aware of the show or had forgotten about it, that I‘d write a little something about it. Because its fun, it’s interesting, and you can’t deny the kind of quality musicianship that shows up.

Live From Daryl’s House website http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/welcome.html

YouTube:
Featuring Gavin DeGraw https://youtu.be/GGyE0Ar90_s?list=PLTY5RmgUpXt6FoND2a_W8SUgjD5OGEep5
Featuring Diane Birch, Daryl Hall https://youtu.be/WkC4tYCNG4s?list=PLPOME9uZhXzFyfROfCiHtv4FeVYqD_fze
Featuring the O’Jays https://youtu.be/BzWRT-PAGQk

I welcome your comments. If you’ve seen the show, please comment below this post. Or if you checked it out because of this post, please share your thoughts. Thanks.