John Oates of the Rock duo Hall & Oates has revealed new single and video “Disconnected” that speaks to universal feelings of being unable to tap into the things that are important to us. For Oates, the project came from an older song idea that he rediscovered and the video has interesting call backs to his musical past. The track is one of several that Oates plans to release monthly.
Oates explains:
There are always times in our lives when we all feel “Disconnected” from some thing or someone …emotionally, physically, spiritually, or any of the above…but the important thing is to never give up hope and strive to find a way to pull it all back together.
Disconnected was an idea that I had in my digital archives that I rediscovered during the pandemic…the theme felt even more timely and I produced a reimagined version at home using Garage Band on my Mac. Then took that into Addiction Sound studios in Nashville and assembled an all star rhythm section to bring the home demo to life…a lot of the original Garage Band tracks are still on the finished recording.

For the new video, Oates worked with Nashville visual artist Jason Lee Denton who has featured on several Oates projects, and the idea behind the video is to portray multiple versions of Oates, including the “behind the scenes writer” and the “on stage performer”.
He adds:
It was important for me to visually nod to an important part of my musical past and create some throwback moments in the production. That’s why I’m wearing that great 1960s sparkly jacket and why I do some “Temptations walk” dance steps. That’s my history coming back to life.
Last year Oates released “Pushin’ A Rock,” was the first of the series that he released. Pushin’ A Rock” was Co-written with Grammy winning producer /writer Nathan Paul Chapman and in partnership with Movember focusing on men’s health issues.