The World's Greatest Garage Band

When it comes to Philadelphia soul, few are more knowledgeable than Daryl Hall. He was raised nearby, his parents were both superb singers and he studied music at Temple University in the city. He also was in a bunch of vocal harmony and soul groups, most notably the Temptones. As one half of Hall & Oates, Daryl brought his best Philly forward as the duo created one of the first white rock-soul groups in the early 1970s. [Photo above of Daryl Hall, courtesy of Live at Daryl's House]

In November 2007, he launched Live From Daryl's House, which was simply Daryl and fellow musicians joined by a famous guest or two or three working through well-known songs at his New York studio. Sometimes they played songs from the Hall & Oates catalog, but mostly they covered other artists' hits that Daryl loves. The point was to tape the results with multiple cameras and let online viewers see them doing what they love most.

Then in 2020, the award-winning online show was tabled during Covid, for obvious reasons. Now, it's back, re-launching last night on a dedicated YouTube channel. The show is executive produced by Daryl and longtime manager Jonathan Wolfson for their Good Cop Bad Cop Productions.

During my interview with Daryl in 2020, I found him to be an open, thoughtful guy who lives and breathes music. What's fascinating about his YouTube show is you're given a chance to watch some of the country's finest artists and session musicians play flawlessly, giving you a feeling of what studio recording looks and sounds like. You also get to see and hear Daryl's superb voice and musicianship. 

Here are a dozen of my favorite clips from the earlier run of Live From Daryl's House:

Here's Daryl and Kenny Loggins (also a great guy) on Kenny's This Is It...

Here's Daryl with the O'Jays on Back Stabbers...

Here's Daryl and Booker T. playing Booker's Green Onions...

Here's Daryl and singer and multi-instrumentalist and producer Mayer Hawthorne taking Hall & Oates' song I Can't Go for That for a spin...

Here's Daryl and country artist Shelby Lynne on her song Leavin'...

Here's Daryl with Australian singer Grace Sewell, known professionally as SayGrace, on Leslie Gore's hit You Don't Own Me...

Here's Daryl with the O'Jays on Love Train...

Here's Daryl singing Gladys Knight's hit Neither One of Us...

Here's Darius Rucker and Daryl on the Righteous Brothers' hit You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'...

Here's Sly Stone's Hot Fun in the Summertime with Sharon Jones...

Here are the O'Jays again with Daryl singing Used to Be My Girl...

And here's Boz Scaggs' hit Lowdown with Daryl and Chromeo...