September 3, 2024 • 28 mins
Join @thebuzzknight for this episode with Daryl Hall, part of the legendary duo Hall and Oates and the creator and star of the show "Live from Daryl's House".
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk Man, I circle around a lot of
people and everybody's so busy. That's the main problem with
the Darryl's House show. They got schedules, you know, and
it's hard for them to come up to state New
York or Connecticut. It's a logistical difficulty, and that's the
main thing. So I don't really plan too much ahead.
(00:22):
I see who's available at the time and just pick somebody.
No deeper than that. Really.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk podcast, where your host
Buzz Night talks with legends from music business today. Buzz
is joined by Daryl Hall, half of the hit making
duo Hall and Outs. Darryl is the star of the
award winning series Live from Darryl's House. He was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in twenty fourteen,
(00:49):
and he's responsible for numerous top ten hits on the
Billboard Hot one hundred and other charts. He's a multi
Grammy winner and nominee. Darrel is also known for numerous
charitable contributions and activities, including his work with the United
Way and other organizations, and he has a new music
project out as well. Let's welcome Daryl Hall as he
(01:11):
joins Buzz Night. Next, on taking a walk.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Darryl, welcome to taking a walk. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Ah, okay, nice to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, this is so fantastic. Listen. Congratulations on creating in
so many forms these days. You're creating new music, which
we'll talk about, You're creating with your show, which we're
going to get into as well. You're out on the
road as well. Do you ever sit idle?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I have an off mode and I and I use
it and I'm you know, I'm just to call me
an avid reader is an understatement, and I just turn
it off, sit there and read whatever I'm reading. And
that's the end of that, you know. And I have
the ability to do that. If I didn't have that,
it would it would not be good because I'm really busy.
(02:05):
I have so many things going on at once that
that's the only way I can sort of balance it out.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Is there a part of your work that you enjoy
the most?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yes? Yes, the part well, the two things I actually
have equal joy. And what doing the Daryl's House show
is an unbelievable experience. It's like hours of I don't
know how, like high energy ecstasy kind of feelings. You
know where things are just going and you have no
(02:39):
idea what's happening or what's going to happen or and
it's all seat of the pants, you know, there's no
there's no rehearsals, no nothing. And so that is very
very stimulating to say the least. That's that and and
equally is like when I'm working in the studio with
somebody like Dave Stewart, my friend Dave. There's a certain
(03:00):
kind of energy that goes down that is really hard
to describe when something's making something out of nothing. And
I think I would equally rank those as like the
top of the top of my list of excitement.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So let's talk about your latest music first. The collaboration
wasn't the first time that you and Dave Stewart had
worked together, but tell me about how great it is
working with him.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Dave and I have a very unique relationship creatively and personally.
I've known Dave since the mid eighties. We started working
together back then, and we have never really gone apart
for very long. We do things together, we know each other.
(03:52):
We literally live around the corner from each other down
in the Bahamas. He's just he's he's like my best friend,
you know kind of thing. And uh, and we we
have an amazing creative relationship. I mean it's intuitive when
whenever I get together with him, I feel alive and
(04:15):
and he he stimulates me in ways that I don't
know anybody else could do musically and creatively.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I think he's one of the most underrated musicians out
there in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, it's it's he's beyond well. I to call him underrated,
I don't know, because that's it's it's a denigration that
I don't know. He's he's he's all over the place.
This man is a powerhouse of ideas and projects. He's
got a million things going on at once. And uh,
(04:50):
music is only one of those things. And and he's
he's he's just his mind. To say his mind is
fertile as a boy, well, it certainly is.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
How would you characterize the the sound of this this
new music that you've created.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, I don't know if I could. I don't know.
It's me, it's it's that's I called it D because
that's my name, you know, That's that's what people call
me my friends. And uh, I think it's really personal
and and nobody but Dave could have could have brought
that out, and uh, it's it's it's something that's unique
to me. I mean, I wasn't channeling anybody. I was
(05:29):
channeling myself, my own past and my own emotions and
my own experiences. So I don't know how you characterize that.
It's Daryl music.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
That's the best part, right that, It's just it's all
it's all you. It's authentic Daryl.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. So let's play a.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Little word association game. You can go first, or I
can go first. But one word what one word describes
Daryl's house?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Electric?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I would agree, but I the first one for me,
and I've been going through this in my head prior
to talking to you.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Joyous. Oh yeah, okay, that's that's a good word too.
There's a lot of things. It's a million things.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I mean, from the first time that I saw the
show and the way it's evolved every time I watch it.
It's joyous, it's electric, it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah. Well that's the idea. That's that's what I try
and convey and that's what well, I don't have to
convey it, it just conveys itself. Uh, it's not just me,
it's the band, it's everybody. We're all, like I said before,
we're all doing this for the first time. It's just
like boom, out of nowhere. We have this. There's sometimes
a stranger as a guest a lot of times, and
(06:50):
we're making something happen that that even surprises the guests,
you know, because it comes out differently than they ever expected.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
How important when you started the show was the ability
to have creative freedom in terms of how this thing
would flow.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It was essential. I could not ever have done this
show on a network television situation. This was an Internet show.
It still remains an Internet show. I've been on TV
with it, trust Real TV, but its home is really
(07:30):
the Internet because of the freedom that it requires. You
cannot have anybody saying you have to do it this way,
or why don't you change the format or you know.
I actually when in the very beginning, I'll tell you
a story. In the very beginning, I did shop it
around to networks because I thought, okay, you know, it
(07:50):
was the old days. It was almost twenty years ago,
and I thought, okay, maybe this, you know, let's try
and see if we can get this on TV. And
I went to all these different program directors and TV
and you would not have believed the ship that they
said to me. You know what, My favorite one was, well,
but yeah, but you need a contest or something. You
(08:11):
need a contest at the end. You know, it needs
to have a payoff. And I'm thinking, what the fuck
are you talking about? You know, and I got a
million stupid things like that said to me. So there
you go.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And that created the certainty that you knew this ability
to control your destiny with it was essential.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I knew I was doing the right thing by sticking
and doing the internet thing, which was a real challenge
in those data because there was no internet shows, it
didn't exist. It was hard for people to even download it,
you know it it was they had a weight and
let you know, let it load up and all this.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Kind of crap.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
You know, you created this what I would call kind
of experiential kind intent experiential TV in that you know,
we the audience, we feel like we're inside your house.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I mean, you created a new format that I don't
think really existed before.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I don't think it did. I think I created made
something up. And the reason it feels like it was
in my house is because it was in my house. No,
you know, I just I went with it. I just
went with reality. I mean, do you talk about reality shows.
This is a reality show. I mean it's there's no scripting,
(09:35):
no nothing, you know, it just happens.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
In the early days of the show, where there any
sort of odd stories that occurred that you know, we're
just part of the journey, you know, difficult experiences or
just technical experiences that were unique back then.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Well, there were you know, yeah, I mean there were
things nothing major, but you know we it quoted snowstorms
and things like that. You know, I mean I lived
up the first house that I had that I did
most of the shows, the early shows, it was it's
pretty much on the top of a mountain, and you know,
as luck would have it, you know, like monster snowstorm
(10:17):
would come and I'd be trying to get Smokey Robinson
or somebody like that to get into the house, and
you know, people were slamming into the garage in the
ice and you know all that kind of crap. So,
I mean, it was it was things like that that
were really uh, you know, I wouldn't call the problematic,
but you know, there they were.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Talk about the role that the late t Bone Wolk
played in not only the creation co creation of the show,
but just in general in.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Your world, well other than Dave, and I would say
t Bone has was my best friend and and oddly
the three of us were really close friends and and
boy it's hard to say I don't we had a
(11:13):
really close relationship again musically, and I think the vibe
of the show in the beginning would have been different
if t Bone wouldn't wouldn't have been involved. I think
he helped us set the uh, set the stage for
it all, to set the mood of it because of
(11:34):
his personality as well. You know, he really really added,
really added to the to the early shows, to the
shows that he was that he was around for, and
his loss was really major. That's all I can say.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Do you consider yourself kind of a natural born teacher
to some extent, because I feel like with the new
artists that you champion in your career and on the show,
I sense this deep connection that you have to sort
of pay it forward to the next generation. Am I
reading that correctly?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah? I My mother was a teacher, you know, she
was a music teacher and an art teacher and the
idea of teaching and learning. Yeah, I do look at
myself as a bit of a teacher, And what can
I say about that? Yes, I do, and I had
(12:33):
that what's that word? Especially with the new bands, I
want to bring them in and help them, you know.
I always have that kind of proprietarial feeling toward them,
you know, I want to see them shine and do
good and all those kind of things. I guess that's
what a teacher does.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, I feel like you're rooting for them, and you're
giving them a little kick along the way, and you're
probably giving them your own dose of reality about the business,
aren't you.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Without a doubt. It's always interesting to see how they
react to these all these veterans that they're thrust into,
you know, the situation they're thrust into, you know, because
they're I mean, I've done shows where these kids were like,
you know, twenty one years old. You know, they walked
away their guitars and they WHOA, what's going on? You know?
And you know what it's surprising is they're the ones
(13:23):
that have seemed to have the least nervousness and self
consciousness when you get a veteran, somebody who's been doing
this as long as me and I bring it into
the situation. They're so uptight it's unbelievable and you have
to calm them down because they don't know what's going on.
They're so out of the comfort zone.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
We'll be right back with more the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I think Smokey Robinson you just brought up a little
while ago, and I know Smokey means the world to
you in terms of influence and just you know, everything
you've taken from him. Talk about what Smokey means and
talk about how special it was having Smokey on the show.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, he was one of those ones, and there was
only a few of them. Actually, I mean, I was
Smoky was my hero when I was a teenager. I mean,
he absolutely was. I was a you know, I used
to I actually met him back then, you know, when
I was about eighteen, and because I used to hang
(14:35):
out at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia, and that's where
he used to play in Philly. You know, it's kind
of like the Apollo Theater in New York at places
like that, and he always treated me from the get go,
from you know, I was a kid. Well he wasn't
much older, but he was. He's such a gracious person
and such a cool guy. And I, I don't know,
(14:57):
I always go over the years I was would bump
into to him, and he was always just so natural
and real with me. And I totally respect his music.
His music was unbelievable and continues to be. And uh,
to have him at the house, I couldn't believe it
actually because it was one of the earlier ones. And
(15:21):
I'm thinking, oh, I'll give it a shot. And I
called him, I got his number and I called him
his booky you know, I lived and I'm doing the show.
Do you want to you want to come? And he
went sure, and I was like okay, And he was
like sitting at the dinner table there with me and
telling stories with you know, and I'm thinking, wow, I'm
you know, I'm doing something really unusual here.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Who are some of the gets that you're currently going
after that you hope you can secure for the show.
Can you share one or two?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
No, I because I don't really go after them. It's uh,
I circle around a lot of people and and everybody
is so busy. That's that's the main problem with the
with the Darryl's House show is that people they got
they got schedules, you know, and it's hard for them
to come up to upstate New York or Connecticut. Uh So,
(16:14):
so anyway that it's it's it's a it's a logistical
difficulty and that's the main thing. So I don't really
plan too much ahead. I see who's available at the time,
and and and just pick somebody and and it's just
like no deeper than that.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Really, well, because you've got to balance out touring as well, right,
I mean yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Because everybody else, you know, there's so many things going on.
I have to find time to do this. They have
to find time to do it, and uh yeah like that.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
So the current current tour is with a pretty uh
interesting gentleman that you're that you're out with these days,
Elvis Costello. Tell me how special that is.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Well, that tour actually just finished. I did two months
with Elvis, and Elvis and I go back again to
the eighties and we did a record that we did
a song together back then, and uh, well, there's a
lot of mutual respect going on between the two of
us and and talking about t Bone t Bone for
(17:23):
a very short period of time, played in Elvis's band
and did all that kind of thing. So and we
know we have a lot of mutual friends, Elvis and
I and and uh, it was it was, it was.
It was nice to be out there on the road
with people like like Elvis and his band because they're
all such friendly guys. We know it well, I don't
say I know some of them, and I got to
(17:46):
know them, and they're all good people, man, And and
that means a lot on when you're on the road
because you're just out there, you know, there's nobody but
you and and and the people that you're with. It
was it was a very pleasant ex that's the best
way to put it.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And then of course you were out with Todd Runggren
and I know you guys go back talk about your
relationship with Todd and what he means to you.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Well, Todd is like one of my oldest, oldest musical friends.
And I mean I've known Todd since the old my
Philly days when we grew up at Philadelphia together. We
really do share a lot of history and I enjoy
having him on stage with me.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Going back to the Philly days and the great Gamble
and Huff. Can you talk about the experience with Gamble
and Huff and what you learned from them. I'm sure
you learned a lot from them.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Did I learn from them? Well, you know to say, actually,
I'm backtrack on that. Yes, I did learn I learned
how to play the piano the way I play from
Leon because I used to just watch him, and he
and I have, in our crazy way, have a kind
of a similar style. But we we we grew up together.
(19:06):
I mean, there were those guys are a couple of
years older than me, and they had already got started.
But we were working with the same people in the
same places. And I was coming up and they they
grabbed hold of me, and and uh I wound up
being in their circle of of of of music, you know,
(19:30):
both in the studio and and and how do I
put it, I mean I was I was just there
with them the whole time. And and this was in
the really good days. This was this was in the
very beginning when before before the Sound of Philadelphia really
broke into the world. Uh. And you know, and and
they were working with bands like the Intruders and and
(19:52):
uh and Barbara Mason people like that, and uh and
and they they dragged me into it, and I was
I'm made a record with leannak Enny and and that
was the first record I ever made. I was a teenager.
I worked at Kenny's record store for a while. There's
(20:12):
so many experiences, you know, so many studio experiences and
watching ship go down, and and and and and hanging
out with those people. It was. It was an amazing
time for music for me, you know, in Philly, and
I learned, I mean, I became a Philadelphia musician through that.
I mean, that's what I do. No matter what kind
(20:32):
of sound I put out there in the world, it's
still it's still got Philly soul down in there somewhere.
You know. That's that's my That's that's what I do.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
No doubt you were at a moment in UH music history.
I wanted to ask you, uh to recall the uh
the We Are the World session. Of course, there was
the great Doctor mentary recently about that. But UH, that
must have been like an out of body experience, wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
It was a strange experience. I don't know if it
was out of body, but because it was I've said
this many times because people have asked me so many
times about this experience, and I said, because everybody was
in there, and before you walked in, they said, you're
(21:26):
the only one allowed in. It's just you. You can't bring
you can't bring your assistant, you can't bring anybody. Right,
And these people, including myself to some degree, but more
of them than me, they didn't know how to handle
that because the people walk around with their entourage. That's
what people do, That's what musicians do for good reasons,
(21:49):
by the way, And it made everybody kind of have
to reevaluate what they were doing and how to deal
with each other. A lot of people knew each other,
a lot of people didn't. And I always say that
it made everybody feel like they were in the eighth
grade because it was it suddenly became junior high chorus,
(22:09):
because that's what everybody could relate to. They could relate
to mister mister Jones Quincy up there and being the
being the choral leader, and everybody acted that way, and
they started getting very childlike and people passing around the
sheet music for sin autographs and do all this kind
of stuff, very like high school kind of things. And
(22:33):
that's that's that was what I took from it the
whole time. I was really surprised how what the common
denominator was for all those people at that time.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Thanks for taking us back to that, My God, tell
me the best advice you ever got that still resonates
in your in your head.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Paul Williams of the Temptations just said to me one time,
just don't lose your soul whatever you do. And that's
is that that that that speaks volumes man, that does
say it right? Thank God.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
How do you sort of train for the road. Do
you go through a particular discipline before you head out
or is it really just a mindfulness to just take
good care of yourself? How do you train for that?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It's more of a mindfulness. I don't do anything special
for it.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
I what I what I have to say is I
like to be out on the road frequently, because if
I spend really really long time off the road, then
then I meant that book too long, you know, sitting
there reading too long.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I gotta get on the treadmill and you know, get
you know, you get to get back to this shape.
But I don't do anything.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
What do you think of the state of the music
business these days.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I think it's a strange place. Really. There's still elements
of tradition that need to go away, but they exist
and probably always will. And but mostly it's it's a
free for all. It's all over the place, and I
(24:17):
think it's hard. It's hard for new musicians for sure,
very hard because you have to you know, it's it's
a different path. But at the same time, it allows
because there are many different paths, it allows you to
to to uh, get somewhere without the traditional oh, have
(24:41):
a single and you know, have a hit single, and
and and and you know, kiss the ass of some
program director somewhere and do all that kind of stuff.
You know, it's it's uh and and have to listen
to some idiotic reviewer that doesn't know what he's talking
about or sheet that doesn't know what he's talking about. Uh,
it's a it's a little freer, you know, like at
(25:06):
Darrel's house. Darrel's house exists. That's you know, that's like
every every show is like having a hitting record.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Paul, I love that. That's a great description to that.
Man really is Yeah, can you talk about maybe three
quintessential albums that still to this day kind of impact
you on how you just think about music.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I don't have you asked me this little earlier. I
don't really have anybody anything like that. There's no one
thing that influenced me to that degree, you know. I mean,
I've been I've been inspired, like motherfucker, but by by
certain people and certain music, certain albums. But I can't
(25:52):
say that there's this album to say, oh, does this
change my life? This did just did that. It just
isn't isn't there inside my head.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It's more of the diverse relationships and the styles and
just everybody sort of doing their thing.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Regional experiences and regional sounds and city sounds, all kinds
of things. You know, It's not it's it's really not
just being influenced by I'm a terrible audience. If you
want the truth, I don't. I don't respond as well
as an audience.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Terrible audience. I almost fell off my chair really well. Lastly,
we talked often about sort of that it factor X
factor that leads to success in careers. What do you
think is your X factor?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I have a certain kind of voice that people really like,
and it sounds a certain way as a certain tonality
if you really want to get into it, it's it's
very quote radio friendly. But besides that, I don't know.
It's whatever I'm thrown out there people seem to like.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
And I I'd be the last person to will to
put my finger on it or what it is that
that grabs people about anything that I do.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Well. I think authenticity would be on that list, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Okay, I'll accept that one.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
I'll lead with that, and I'll end with that, and
I'll tell you how grateful I am for all the
music that you have continued to give us, and the
joy of the creations that you make is very special.
You could almost take Daryl's house and turn that into
a case study on how to build a franchise. So
(27:50):
congratulations on all that. I don't mean a franchise like McDonald's.
Come on, I'm not saying that I.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Have a franchise, would like that, Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I'm calling it a franchise. And and thanks for this
episode of that taking all to give us.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Share this and other episodes with your friends, and thank
you so you never missed an episode. Taking a Walk
is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, and wherever
you get your podcasts
Taking a Walk Man, I circle around a lot of
people and everybody's so busy. That's the main problem with
the Darryl's House show. They got schedules, you know, and
it's hard for them to come up to state New
York or Connecticut. It's a logistical difficulty, and that's the
main thing. So I don't really plan too much ahead.
(00:22):
I see who's available at the time and just pick somebody.
No deeper than that. Really.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Welcome to the Taking a Walk podcast, where your host
Buzz Night talks with legends from music business today. Buzz
is joined by Daryl Hall, half of the hit making
duo Hall and Outs. Darryl is the star of the
award winning series Live from Darryl's House. He was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in twenty fourteen,
(00:49):
and he's responsible for numerous top ten hits on the
Billboard Hot one hundred and other charts. He's a multi
Grammy winner and nominee. Darrel is also known for numerous
charitable contributions and activities, including his work with the United
Way and other organizations, and he has a new music
project out as well. Let's welcome Daryl Hall as he
(01:11):
joins Buzz Night. Next, on taking a walk.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
Darryl, welcome to taking a walk. I'm so excited.
Speaker 1 (01:18):
Ah, okay, nice to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:20):
Yeah, this is so fantastic. Listen. Congratulations on creating in
so many forms these days. You're creating new music, which
we'll talk about, You're creating with your show, which we're
going to get into as well. You're out on the
road as well. Do you ever sit idle?
Speaker 1 (01:43):
I have an off mode and I and I use
it and I'm you know, I'm just to call me
an avid reader is an understatement, and I just turn
it off, sit there and read whatever I'm reading. And
that's the end of that, you know. And I have
the ability to do that. If I didn't have that,
it would it would not be good because I'm really busy.
(02:05):
I have so many things going on at once that
that's the only way I can sort of balance it out.
Speaker 3 (02:13):
Is there a part of your work that you enjoy
the most?
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Yes? Yes, the part well, the two things I actually
have equal joy. And what doing the Daryl's House show
is an unbelievable experience. It's like hours of I don't
know how, like high energy ecstasy kind of feelings. You
know where things are just going and you have no
(02:39):
idea what's happening or what's going to happen or and
it's all seat of the pants, you know, there's no
there's no rehearsals, no nothing. And so that is very
very stimulating to say the least. That's that and and
equally is like when I'm working in the studio with
somebody like Dave Stewart, my friend Dave. There's a certain
(03:00):
kind of energy that goes down that is really hard
to describe when something's making something out of nothing. And
I think I would equally rank those as like the
top of the top of my list of excitement.
Speaker 3 (03:19):
So let's talk about your latest music first. The collaboration
wasn't the first time that you and Dave Stewart had
worked together, but tell me about how great it is
working with him.
Speaker 1 (03:31):
Dave and I have a very unique relationship creatively and personally.
I've known Dave since the mid eighties. We started working
together back then, and we have never really gone apart
for very long. We do things together, we know each other.
(03:52):
We literally live around the corner from each other down
in the Bahamas. He's just he's he's like my best friend,
you know kind of thing. And uh, and we we
have an amazing creative relationship. I mean it's intuitive when
whenever I get together with him, I feel alive and
(04:15):
and he he stimulates me in ways that I don't
know anybody else could do musically and creatively.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I think he's one of the most underrated musicians out
there in my opinion.
Speaker 1 (04:29):
Well, it's it's he's beyond well. I to call him underrated,
I don't know, because that's it's it's a denigration that
I don't know. He's he's he's all over the place.
This man is a powerhouse of ideas and projects. He's
got a million things going on at once. And uh,
(04:50):
music is only one of those things. And and he's
he's he's just his mind. To say his mind is
fertile as a boy, well, it certainly is.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
How would you characterize the the sound of this this
new music that you've created.
Speaker 1 (05:07):
Well, I don't know if I could. I don't know.
It's me, it's it's that's I called it D because
that's my name, you know, That's that's what people call
me my friends. And uh, I think it's really personal
and and nobody but Dave could have could have brought
that out, and uh, it's it's it's something that's unique
to me. I mean, I wasn't channeling anybody. I was
(05:29):
channeling myself, my own past and my own emotions and
my own experiences. So I don't know how you characterize that.
It's Daryl music.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
That's the best part, right that, It's just it's all
it's all you. It's authentic Daryl.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah. So let's play a.
Speaker 3 (05:49):
Little word association game. You can go first, or I
can go first. But one word what one word describes
Daryl's house?
Speaker 1 (06:01):
Electric?
Speaker 3 (06:03):
I would agree, but I the first one for me,
and I've been going through this in my head prior
to talking to you.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Joyous. Oh yeah, okay, that's that's a good word too.
There's a lot of things. It's a million things.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
I mean, from the first time that I saw the
show and the way it's evolved every time I watch it.
It's joyous, it's electric, it's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (06:28):
Yeah. Well that's the idea. That's that's what I try
and convey and that's what well, I don't have to
convey it, it just conveys itself. Uh, it's not just me,
it's the band, it's everybody. We're all, like I said before,
we're all doing this for the first time. It's just
like boom, out of nowhere. We have this. There's sometimes
a stranger as a guest a lot of times, and
(06:50):
we're making something happen that that even surprises the guests,
you know, because it comes out differently than they ever expected.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
How important when you started the show was the ability
to have creative freedom in terms of how this thing
would flow.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
It was essential. I could not ever have done this
show on a network television situation. This was an Internet show.
It still remains an Internet show. I've been on TV
with it, trust Real TV, but its home is really
(07:30):
the Internet because of the freedom that it requires. You
cannot have anybody saying you have to do it this way,
or why don't you change the format or you know.
I actually when in the very beginning, I'll tell you
a story. In the very beginning, I did shop it
around to networks because I thought, okay, you know, it
(07:50):
was the old days. It was almost twenty years ago,
and I thought, okay, maybe this, you know, let's try
and see if we can get this on TV. And
I went to all these different program directors and TV
and you would not have believed the ship that they
said to me. You know what, My favorite one was, well,
but yeah, but you need a contest or something. You
(08:11):
need a contest at the end. You know, it needs
to have a payoff. And I'm thinking, what the fuck
are you talking about? You know, and I got a
million stupid things like that said to me. So there
you go.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
And that created the certainty that you knew this ability
to control your destiny with it was essential.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
I knew I was doing the right thing by sticking
and doing the internet thing, which was a real challenge
in those data because there was no internet shows, it
didn't exist. It was hard for people to even download it,
you know it it was they had a weight and
let you know, let it load up and all this.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Kind of crap.
Speaker 4 (08:51):
You know, you created this what I would call kind
of experiential kind intent experiential TV in that you know,
we the audience, we feel like we're inside your house.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
I mean, you created a new format that I don't
think really existed before.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
I don't think it did. I think I created made
something up. And the reason it feels like it was
in my house is because it was in my house. No,
you know, I just I went with it. I just
went with reality. I mean, do you talk about reality shows.
This is a reality show. I mean it's there's no scripting,
(09:35):
no nothing, you know, it just happens.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
In the early days of the show, where there any
sort of odd stories that occurred that you know, we're
just part of the journey, you know, difficult experiences or
just technical experiences that were unique back then.
Speaker 1 (09:53):
Well, there were you know, yeah, I mean there were
things nothing major, but you know we it quoted snowstorms
and things like that. You know, I mean I lived
up the first house that I had that I did
most of the shows, the early shows, it was it's
pretty much on the top of a mountain, and you know,
as luck would have it, you know, like monster snowstorm
(10:17):
would come and I'd be trying to get Smokey Robinson
or somebody like that to get into the house, and
you know, people were slamming into the garage in the
ice and you know all that kind of crap. So,
I mean, it was it was things like that that
were really uh, you know, I wouldn't call the problematic,
but you know, there they were.
Speaker 3 (10:38):
Talk about the role that the late t Bone Wolk
played in not only the creation co creation of the show,
but just in general in.
Speaker 1 (10:50):
Your world, well other than Dave, and I would say
t Bone has was my best friend and and oddly
the three of us were really close friends and and
boy it's hard to say I don't we had a
(11:13):
really close relationship again musically, and I think the vibe
of the show in the beginning would have been different
if t Bone wouldn't wouldn't have been involved. I think
he helped us set the uh, set the stage for
it all, to set the mood of it because of
(11:34):
his personality as well. You know, he really really added,
really added to the to the early shows, to the
shows that he was that he was around for, and
his loss was really major. That's all I can say.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Do you consider yourself kind of a natural born teacher
to some extent, because I feel like with the new
artists that you champion in your career and on the show,
I sense this deep connection that you have to sort
of pay it forward to the next generation. Am I
reading that correctly?
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Yeah? I My mother was a teacher, you know, she
was a music teacher and an art teacher and the
idea of teaching and learning. Yeah, I do look at
myself as a bit of a teacher, And what can
I say about that? Yes, I do, and I had
(12:33):
that what's that word? Especially with the new bands, I
want to bring them in and help them, you know.
I always have that kind of proprietarial feeling toward them,
you know, I want to see them shine and do
good and all those kind of things. I guess that's
what a teacher does.
Speaker 3 (12:51):
Yeah, I feel like you're rooting for them, and you're
giving them a little kick along the way, and you're
probably giving them your own dose of reality about the business,
aren't you.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Without a doubt. It's always interesting to see how they
react to these all these veterans that they're thrust into,
you know, the situation they're thrust into, you know, because
they're I mean, I've done shows where these kids were like,
you know, twenty one years old. You know, they walked
away their guitars and they WHOA, what's going on? You know?
And you know what it's surprising is they're the ones
(13:23):
that have seemed to have the least nervousness and self
consciousness when you get a veteran, somebody who's been doing
this as long as me and I bring it into
the situation. They're so uptight it's unbelievable and you have
to calm them down because they don't know what's going on.
They're so out of the comfort zone.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
We'll be right back with more the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Welcome back to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (13:56):
I think Smokey Robinson you just brought up a little
while ago, and I know Smokey means the world to
you in terms of influence and just you know, everything
you've taken from him. Talk about what Smokey means and
talk about how special it was having Smokey on the show.
Speaker 1 (14:15):
Well, he was one of those ones, and there was
only a few of them. Actually, I mean, I was
Smoky was my hero when I was a teenager. I mean,
he absolutely was. I was a you know, I used
to I actually met him back then, you know, when
I was about eighteen, and because I used to hang
(14:35):
out at the Uptown Theater in Philadelphia, and that's where
he used to play in Philly. You know, it's kind
of like the Apollo Theater in New York at places
like that, and he always treated me from the get go,
from you know, I was a kid. Well he wasn't
much older, but he was. He's such a gracious person
and such a cool guy. And I, I don't know,
(14:57):
I always go over the years I was would bump
into to him, and he was always just so natural
and real with me. And I totally respect his music.
His music was unbelievable and continues to be. And uh,
to have him at the house, I couldn't believe it
actually because it was one of the earlier ones. And
(15:21):
I'm thinking, oh, I'll give it a shot. And I
called him, I got his number and I called him
his booky you know, I lived and I'm doing the show.
Do you want to you want to come? And he
went sure, and I was like okay, And he was
like sitting at the dinner table there with me and
telling stories with you know, and I'm thinking, wow, I'm
you know, I'm doing something really unusual here.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Who are some of the gets that you're currently going
after that you hope you can secure for the show.
Can you share one or two?
Speaker 1 (15:53):
No, I because I don't really go after them. It's uh,
I circle around a lot of people and and everybody
is so busy. That's that's the main problem with the
with the Darryl's House show is that people they got
they got schedules, you know, and it's hard for them
to come up to upstate New York or Connecticut. Uh So,
(16:14):
so anyway that it's it's it's a it's a logistical
difficulty and that's the main thing. So I don't really
plan too much ahead. I see who's available at the time,
and and and just pick somebody and and it's just
like no deeper than that.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Really, well, because you've got to balance out touring as well, right,
I mean yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
Because everybody else, you know, there's so many things going on.
I have to find time to do this. They have
to find time to do it, and uh yeah like that.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
So the current current tour is with a pretty uh
interesting gentleman that you're that you're out with these days,
Elvis Costello. Tell me how special that is.
Speaker 1 (17:02):
Well, that tour actually just finished. I did two months
with Elvis, and Elvis and I go back again to
the eighties and we did a record that we did
a song together back then, and uh, well, there's a
lot of mutual respect going on between the two of
us and and talking about t Bone t Bone for
(17:23):
a very short period of time, played in Elvis's band
and did all that kind of thing. So and we
know we have a lot of mutual friends, Elvis and
I and and uh, it was it was, it was.
It was nice to be out there on the road
with people like like Elvis and his band because they're
all such friendly guys. We know it well, I don't
say I know some of them, and I got to
(17:46):
know them, and they're all good people, man, And and
that means a lot on when you're on the road
because you're just out there, you know, there's nobody but
you and and and the people that you're with. It
was it was a very pleasant ex that's the best
way to put it.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
And then of course you were out with Todd Runggren
and I know you guys go back talk about your
relationship with Todd and what he means to you.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
Well, Todd is like one of my oldest, oldest musical friends.
And I mean I've known Todd since the old my
Philly days when we grew up at Philadelphia together. We
really do share a lot of history and I enjoy
having him on stage with me.
Speaker 3 (18:32):
Going back to the Philly days and the great Gamble
and Huff. Can you talk about the experience with Gamble
and Huff and what you learned from them. I'm sure
you learned a lot from them.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
Did I learn from them? Well, you know to say, actually,
I'm backtrack on that. Yes, I did learn I learned
how to play the piano the way I play from
Leon because I used to just watch him, and he
and I have, in our crazy way, have a kind
of a similar style. But we we we grew up together.
(19:06):
I mean, there were those guys are a couple of
years older than me, and they had already got started.
But we were working with the same people in the
same places. And I was coming up and they they
grabbed hold of me, and and uh I wound up
being in their circle of of of of music, you know,
(19:30):
both in the studio and and and how do I
put it, I mean I was I was just there
with them the whole time. And and this was in
the really good days. This was this was in the
very beginning when before before the Sound of Philadelphia really
broke into the world. Uh. And you know, and and
they were working with bands like the Intruders and and
(19:52):
uh and Barbara Mason people like that, and uh and
and they they dragged me into it, and I was
I'm made a record with leannak Enny and and that
was the first record I ever made. I was a teenager.
I worked at Kenny's record store for a while. There's
(20:12):
so many experiences, you know, so many studio experiences and
watching ship go down, and and and and and hanging
out with those people. It was. It was an amazing
time for music for me, you know, in Philly, and
I learned, I mean, I became a Philadelphia musician through that.
I mean, that's what I do. No matter what kind
(20:32):
of sound I put out there in the world, it's
still it's still got Philly soul down in there somewhere.
You know. That's that's my That's that's what I do.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
No doubt you were at a moment in UH music history.
I wanted to ask you, uh to recall the uh
the We Are the World session. Of course, there was
the great Doctor mentary recently about that. But UH, that
must have been like an out of body experience, wasn't it.
Speaker 1 (21:01):
It was a strange experience. I don't know if it
was out of body, but because it was I've said
this many times because people have asked me so many
times about this experience, and I said, because everybody was
in there, and before you walked in, they said, you're
(21:26):
the only one allowed in. It's just you. You can't bring
you can't bring your assistant, you can't bring anybody. Right,
And these people, including myself to some degree, but more
of them than me, they didn't know how to handle
that because the people walk around with their entourage. That's
what people do, That's what musicians do for good reasons,
(21:49):
by the way, And it made everybody kind of have
to reevaluate what they were doing and how to deal
with each other. A lot of people knew each other,
a lot of people didn't. And I always say that
it made everybody feel like they were in the eighth
grade because it was it suddenly became junior high chorus,
(22:09):
because that's what everybody could relate to. They could relate
to mister mister Jones Quincy up there and being the
being the choral leader, and everybody acted that way, and
they started getting very childlike and people passing around the
sheet music for sin autographs and do all this kind
of stuff, very like high school kind of things. And
(22:33):
that's that's that was what I took from it the
whole time. I was really surprised how what the common
denominator was for all those people at that time.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
Thanks for taking us back to that, My God, tell
me the best advice you ever got that still resonates
in your in your head.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
Paul Williams of the Temptations just said to me one time,
just don't lose your soul whatever you do. And that's
is that that that that speaks volumes man, that does
say it right? Thank God.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
How do you sort of train for the road. Do
you go through a particular discipline before you head out
or is it really just a mindfulness to just take
good care of yourself? How do you train for that?
Speaker 1 (23:22):
It's more of a mindfulness. I don't do anything special
for it.
Speaker 5 (23:27):
I what I what I have to say is I
like to be out on the road frequently, because if
I spend really really long time off the road, then
then I meant that book too long, you know, sitting
there reading too long.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
I gotta get on the treadmill and you know, get
you know, you get to get back to this shape.
But I don't do anything.
Speaker 3 (23:53):
What do you think of the state of the music
business these days.
Speaker 1 (23:56):
I think it's a strange place. Really. There's still elements
of tradition that need to go away, but they exist
and probably always will. And but mostly it's it's a
free for all. It's all over the place, and I
(24:17):
think it's hard. It's hard for new musicians for sure,
very hard because you have to you know, it's it's
a different path. But at the same time, it allows
because there are many different paths, it allows you to
to to uh, get somewhere without the traditional oh, have
(24:41):
a single and you know, have a hit single, and
and and and you know, kiss the ass of some
program director somewhere and do all that kind of stuff.
You know, it's it's uh and and have to listen
to some idiotic reviewer that doesn't know what he's talking
about or sheet that doesn't know what he's talking about. Uh,
it's a it's a little freer, you know, like at
(25:06):
Darrel's house. Darrel's house exists. That's you know, that's like
every every show is like having a hitting record.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Paul, I love that. That's a great description to that.
Man really is Yeah, can you talk about maybe three
quintessential albums that still to this day kind of impact
you on how you just think about music.
Speaker 1 (25:30):
I don't have you asked me this little earlier. I
don't really have anybody anything like that. There's no one
thing that influenced me to that degree, you know. I mean,
I've been I've been inspired, like motherfucker, but by by
certain people and certain music, certain albums. But I can't
(25:52):
say that there's this album to say, oh, does this
change my life? This did just did that. It just
isn't isn't there inside my head.
Speaker 3 (26:00):
It's more of the diverse relationships and the styles and
just everybody sort of doing their thing.
Speaker 1 (26:08):
Regional experiences and regional sounds and city sounds, all kinds
of things. You know, It's not it's it's really not
just being influenced by I'm a terrible audience. If you
want the truth, I don't. I don't respond as well
as an audience.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Terrible audience. I almost fell off my chair really well. Lastly,
we talked often about sort of that it factor X
factor that leads to success in careers. What do you
think is your X factor?
Speaker 1 (26:47):
I have a certain kind of voice that people really like,
and it sounds a certain way as a certain tonality
if you really want to get into it, it's it's
very quote radio friendly. But besides that, I don't know.
It's whatever I'm thrown out there people seem to like.
Speaker 6 (27:07):
And I I'd be the last person to will to
put my finger on it or what it is that
that grabs people about anything that I do.
Speaker 3 (27:20):
Well. I think authenticity would be on that list, sir.
Speaker 1 (27:24):
Okay, I'll accept that one.
Speaker 3 (27:27):
I'll lead with that, and I'll end with that, and
I'll tell you how grateful I am for all the
music that you have continued to give us, and the
joy of the creations that you make is very special.
You could almost take Daryl's house and turn that into
a case study on how to build a franchise. So
(27:50):
congratulations on all that. I don't mean a franchise like McDonald's.
Come on, I'm not saying that I.
Speaker 1 (27:55):
Have a franchise, would like that, Okay.
Speaker 3 (27:58):
I'm calling it a franchise. And and thanks for this
episode of that taking all to give us.
Speaker 2 (28:05):
Share this and other episodes with your friends, and thank
you so you never missed an episode. Taking a Walk
is available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, and wherever
you get your podcasts
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