‘Every song is completely different’: John Oates of Hall and Oates to release series of new downloads

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A sign of the times in this age of the download: John Oates of Hall and Oates says he will be releasing a new album — but only one song at a time, over the next year.

Oates, who still tours with but does not record with his celebrated singing partner Daryl Hall, released the blues-oriented Mississippi Mile in 2011, and then a live document called Bluesville Session in 2012.

That will be the last full-length he issues for a while, Oates tells Scene Magazine.

Not that there won’t be new music. Just not a new “album,” per se.

March 13 will see the release via iTunes of the initial 2013 song, which will also be featured during the NASCAR race on March 18. Future tracks will include a series of special guest stars. Once all of the new tunes have been issued, Oates says he will then consider compiling them into a long-playing release.

This approach doesn’t just fit in with the times. Oates describes a recording process that’s as free ranging as any he’s undertaken, with new recordings from across a much broader range than his last two projects.

“Each month, a new song will come out,” Oates says, “and every song has a different story. I worked with Nathan Chapman and Vince Gill and Hot Chelle Rae. Some of it sounds like R&B, some of it sounds like folk-blues and some of it sounds like country, a little bit. It’s really cool because every song is completely different.”

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