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Hall and Oates rocker Daryl Hall could just as easily be talking about Dutchess County as the Pennsylvania farmland that shaped his childhood. It is perhaps those similarities that drew him to the region three decades ago and binds his ties to the area to this day.
"I grew up in Chester County, about an hour outside of Philadelphia. When I was a kid, it was just beautiful Pennsylvania stone, old houses, farmland — but a short train ride into Philadelphia. It was also close to Pottstown, an industrial town. I had my foot in the urban world and the rural world at the same time. And I've always sort of walked that line," Hall said from Daryl's House, his club and restaurant in Pawling.
The mid-Hudson Valley "reminds me of my childhood. I like nature. I like living in beauty, in a beautiful environment. I love being around animals and nature and all the things country life is about," he said, sitting a few feet from the stage on a quiet Monday.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame member has played the White House and traveled the world as half of the multi-platinum rock duo Hall and Oates. His colleagues are members of The Eagles and ZZ Top. But for 30 years, Hall also has called Dutchess County home.
• Hall shops at Adams Fairacre Farms in Poughkeepsie.
• His son attends Bard College.
• He has had a private recording studio in Pawling for decades.
• A history buff, he owns books on Dutchess County's storied past.
• He's lived in Millbrook and Millerton.
He's more than a resident of the region. He is a businessman helping to drive the local economy and build on the mid-Hudson Valley's historic arts legacy (from Woodstock to The Police playing The Chance to Bob Dylan using the Bardavon 1869 Opera House to practice before a world tour). What began as an Internet show from Millerton has evolved to include a cable program and music venue drawing acts from around the country.
Daryl's House represents Hall's response to the seismic shifts that have forever altered the music industry. You could also say that Daryl's House, which in the coming weeks will welcome The Smithereens and Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes for performances, brings a big hit of Hall's urban world into his rural world.
"The world of music we live in, it's changed so much," Hall said. "The music business has crashed and burned. It's all about tribalism now. Clubs like this are — what people are coming to realize, it's a place to experience something that's a different kind of musical form."
On Halloween 2014, Hall opened Daryl's House, a music venue and restaurant in the old Towne Crier Cafe on Route 22 in Pawling. He lives nine miles from Daryl's House, in Sherman, Connecticut.
Hall's rock band, Hall and Oates, christened Daryl's House that night. The performance drew hundreds of fans, some from California and Arizona. Over the six months that followed opening night, national acts as well as bands with local links have performed to full houses.
Last Monday, however, things were quiet inside Daryl's House. The club was closed. The room was still. And sunlight poured in through windows.
But Hall, wearing a leather jacket, didn't seem to notice. He was wearing sunglasses.
During a 30-minute conversation with the Journal, he was neither animated nor restrained. Like the stream of hit songs he and his band mate, John Oates, crafted over decades, Hall was steady and sure in his demeanor.
Two topics dominated the conversation — cooking and music. These frame much of what drives Hall.
Cooking, said Hall, who crafted the menu at Daryl's House, "It's like anything. There's art and craft involved. A good cook is an artist. There is a certain point where you go from the recipe into some other place, that takes on personality. That's the difference between a good chef and a mediocre chef.
"You might say the same thing for a musician," he said. "There is a certain leap, where you could have all the craft you want, but you have to have something in your head that takes you to another place — or else you're just a technician."
A Pennsylvania native who emerged as a musician from Philadelphia, Hall ended up in Dutchess County — home to numerous celebrities, including actors James Earl Jones, Liam Neeson, Liev Schreiber and Frank Langella — after embarking on an exodus from New York City. He moved from Philadelphia to New York City in the early 1970s. But while living in an apartment, he yearned for the country.
Hall moved from New York City to near Ridgefield, Connecticut, in 1979.
But, he said, "It got a little too suburban down there...I was looking in Litchfield County and then, I realized, there was Dutchess County, right there. I crossed the border and saw all this beautiful farmland and I went, 'O.K. That's working for me.'"
Hall moved to Millbrook in 1985, then later relocated to Millerton. He sold his home in Millerton in August 2013 and moved to Sherman, Connecticut.
Hall's move from Millerton set the stage for two ventures. The launch in 2014 of a second cable television program, "Daryl's Restoration Over Hall," which chronicles the restoration of his new home in Sherman and airs on the DIY cable television network. And the opening of Daryl's House in Pawling, where "Live From Daryl's House" is now filmed.
Hall launched "Live From Daryl's House" online in 2007. You can watch it on www.livefromdarylshouse.com and on cable television.
According to Jonathan Wolfson, executive producer of "Live From Daryl's House" and manager for Hall and Oates, the show began television syndication in 2011. In 2012, the show began airing on the Palladia cable network, where it can be seen today. The show features Hall and fellow rock stars performing, as well as a cooking segment.
Rocking on Route 22
How did Daryl's House go from the Internet and TV to the former Route 22 home of one of the bedrocks of the Dutchess County live music scene?
"Sort of serendipitous, really. I hadn't thought about it, to tell you the truth, until it was time to think about it." he said.
"I knew that I wanted to do a club that would reflect some kind of physical, public manifestation of the TV show, of 'Live From Daryl's House.' I wanted people to share that, I wanted them to come and experience what they see on the show," he said. "The only way to do that was to have some kind of venue.
"And I wanted to have it close to where I live. So this came to mind," Hall said of the Towne Crier Cafe site. "I found out just as I was looking around that (Towne Crier Cafe owner Phil Ciganer) was thinking of moving down to Beacon and I thought Phil owned the place. When I found out he didn't, I talked to the guy who he leased it from and I found out it was probably going to come up. I started to think how I could change it and here it is."
Since opening Daryl's House six months ago, Hall has maintained an emphasis on local links that shaped his show.
The band Mad Satta, which features lead singer Joanna Teters, who grew up in New Paltz and now lives in Brooklyn, performed there. So has the Lindsey Webster Band of Woodstock.
Hall also serves with his dishes Vinny's Marinara Sauce, a joint venture with Vinny Lamorte of Pawling, who runs Vinny's Deli & Pasta in the Village of Pawling. Lamorte has appeared on "Live From Daryl's House." He has cooked on "Live From Daryl's House." And he said Hall's club in Pawling has generated tourism for eastern Dutchess County and business at Vinny's Deli & Pasta.
Lamorte said he's met folks from Pennsylvania, Maryland and New Jersey who travel to Pawling for a show at Daryl's House, and pop over to his deli because they saw him on "Live From Daryl's House."
"It's great for business," Lamorte said. "It's good for Pawling."
Joseph Carey of Wingdale drives a cab for Pawling Taxi. He's never been inside Daryl's House, but, he said, "I've driven a lot of people to there. I've driven a lot of people from there. There is a lot of excitement about it."
John W. Barry: jobarry@poughkeepsiejournal.com, 845-437-4822, Twitter: @JohnBarryPoJo
Where: 130 Route 22, Pawling
Information: Visit www.darylshouseclub.com or call 845-289-0185
Upcoming shows: Donna the Buffalo May 15; Dar Williams May 17; The Smithereens May 23; Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes May 29; Paul Barrere and Fred Tackett of Little Feat June 4; Midnight North featuring Grahame Lesh, son of the Grateful Dead's Phil Lesh, June 11.
Live From Daryl's House
Daryl's House in Pawling will show the first program of the new "Live From Daryl's House" season, which features Sammy Hagar and was filmed in Mexico, on its large screen, at 12:30 p.m. May 3.
"Live From Daryl's House" can be viewed at www.livefromdarylshouse.com and on the Palladia cable television network. Visit www.palladia.tv for information.
Hall and Oates: Charting Success
According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame:
The Recording Industry Association of America in 1984 "declared that Daryl Hall and John Oates were the most successful duo in rock history. Statistically, they had surpassed such dynamic duos as the Everly Brothers and the Righteous Brothers. They've held on to this title over the ensuing 30 years."
From the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, Hall and Oates scored six No. 1 singles, including "Rich Girl," "Kiss on My List," "Private Eyes," "I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)," "Maneater" and "Out of Touch." That era also produced an additional five Top 10 singles: "Sara Smile," "One on One," "You Make My Dreams," "Say It Isn't So" and "Method of Modern Love."
The Hall and Oates set list from the Oct. 31, 2014, opening of Daryl's House in Pawling:
"Did It In A Minute"
"Say It Isn't So"
"Do What You Want, Be What You Are"
"I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)"
"You Make My Dreams"
"Kiss On My List"
Born: 1946 in Pennsylvania
Also: Hall is a former Millerton resident who operates a recording studio and Daryl's House restaurant and music venue in Pawling.
And: Daryl Hall and John Oates in 2014 were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Hall and Oates: A Selected Discography
1981 - "Private Eyes"
1984 - "Big Bam Boom"
Visit www.poughkeepsiejournal.com to watch video reports on Daryl Hall and Daryl's House.
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