Rock singer, Daryl Hall -- of the group Hall and Oates, who gave a splendid performance at the recent Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival -- took his groundbreaking web series, Live From Daryl's House, to Jamaica where he hooked up with legendary reggae group Toots and the Maytals.The shoot took place at the home of reggae DJ 'Native' Wayne Jobson in Ocho Rios, St Ann. Daryl and Toots Hibbert, according to a release, teamed on an incredible eight-song set that featured Toots and the Maytals' classics like ‘Time Tough’, ‘Reggae Got Soul’, ‘Funky Kingston’, ‘Sweet and Dandy’, ‘Dog War’, ‘Monkey Man’ and ‘54-46 (Was My Number)’, a song that Toots wrote after serving a prison sentence for marijuana possession in the mid 1960’s.
They also did a rocksteady take on Hall and Oates' ‘You Make My Dreams Come True’, recently popularized by its use in the film ‘(500) Days of Summer’. As on all episodes, there was a chef preparing food for everyone, in this case, Suzanne Couch, who joins Daryl and Toots for Sweet and Dandy.
According to Toots, he had a great time "Hanging out with Daryl at Native Wayne's amazing house in the hills of St Ann. It was a pleasure working with him and jamming with the band along with my son Hopeton on bass and Suzanne on backing vocals. The jam session was so tight we could have played music all night. I am looking forward to him returning to Jamaica soon. May all his dreams come true".
Daryl raved about the experience; "To be able to perform with one of reggae's enduring legends in his homeland was certainly a memorable musical experience. Magical collaborations like this are why I started Live From Daryl's House".
Past episodes of Live From Daryl's House have featured a mix of well-known performers like Smokey Robinson, The Doors' Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, Gym Class Heroes' Travis McCoy, Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump, the Bacon Brothers and country star Jimmy Wayne, along with newcomers such as Philly soul singer Mutlu, MySpace pop-rock phenom Eric Hutchinson, Cash Money rocker Kevin Rudolf, Chicago rock band Plain White T's and highly touted tunesmith Diane Birch.
Daryl started the free monthly webcast in late 2007 after having the idea of "playing with my friends and putting it up on the Internet," and the show has since garnered acclaim from Rolling Stone, SPIN, Daily Variety, CNN, BBC, Yahoo! Music and influential blogger Bob Lefsetz. They have cited Live From Daryl's House as a perfect example of a veteran artiste reinventing himself in the digital age by collaborating with both established colleagues and newer performers.
Source: Jamaica Observer
