{"id":738,"date":"2021-08-10T16:30:09","date_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2021\/2021\/08\/10\/new-orleans-legend-tony-hall-talks\/"},"modified":"2021-08-10T16:30:09","modified_gmt":"2021-08-10T16:30:09","slug":"new-orleans-legend-tony-hall-talks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2021\/2021\/08\/10\/new-orleans-legend-tony-hall-talks\/","title":{"rendered":"New Orleans Legend Tony Hall Talks Funk, performing with Dave Matthews, Jewel, Bob Dylan and more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In 1989, New Orleans had its own gold lit resilience of funk around town. Many helped add to the consonant grooves inside legendary buildings turned nighttime studios. Every great musician in town was collaborating and famous artists were there to help feed in the rhythm. Tony Hall was part of this golden era and is still a staple in the New Orleans sound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hall had been grooving with the renowned Neville Brothers on St. Charles Avenue. Tony played the chilling bass line on their album Yellow Moon<\/em><\/a>. The track “Healing Chant” off the album won best pop instrumental performance at the 32nd Grammy Awards in 1989. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tony has gone on to work with bayou locals like The Meters, Dr. John, Aaron Neville, Harry Connick Jr. Trombone Shorty, and Marc Broussard.

He has been part of infamous studio sessions with Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Trey Anastasio, Dave Matthews, Willie Nelson, Joan Baez, Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Jewel, Edie Brickell, Linda Ronstadt, Pretty Lights, Herbie Hancock and Maceo Parker.

Producer and musician Daniel Lanois felt these sounds in his soul. He assisted in some of these collaborations and on his own work. Tony covers bass for Lanois’ famous original composition “The Maker<\/a>.” It has been honored with covers by Willie Nelson, Jerry Garcia Band and Dave Matthews Band with Victor Wooten.

Tim Reynolds<\/a> said this summer of his old band mate Tony, “You know those guys when you’re playing a gig, he’ll look right at you? That’s him. He’s a bad ass.” This past spring Tony just released a new studio record with his band Dumpstaphunk for the first time in seven years. He took some time to talk about the timeline on these projects with NYS Music.

Matthew Romano: <\/strong>Tony, Thank you for taking the time to speak with us today about your past, present and future musical experiences.<\/a>

Tony Hall:<\/strong> Thanks man, lets get at it.

MR:<\/strong> Daniel Lanois claimed Oh Mercy<\/em> was a record you listen to at night because it was, “designed at night. Bob Dylan had a rule, we only recorded at night.” What did that session look like behind the scenes in a house turned studio in New Orleans?

TH:<\/strong> We would go in at about 4 in the evening and Dan had a lot of ideas of the songs so we went through a bunch of them. Then… when Bob came… It would all go out the window. He’d start a groove and we would follow him. Let’s just match whatever he was doing.

TH:<\/strong> It was all of us in a circle in a room, facing each other. Very long hours on this record. So many different versions of songs.

MR:<\/strong> Well how about the funkiest collaboration on the track Everything is Broken<\/a>?

TH: <\/strong>It started with Bob playing his line and we just came in. Willie (Green) grooves and I jumped in on the spot (bass line humming).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ivan Neville, Keith Richards, Tony Hall, Don Was<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

MR:<\/strong> Was Dylan just playing harp on that track for his solo?

TH:<\/strong> No, he’s on guitar for that as well. He played guitar on a lot of songs and piano too. Brian Stoltz played with all of us as well on guitar.

MR: <\/strong>Was that just a studio experience? Did you get to bring that on the road?

TH: <\/strong>Just a studio record. Never got to play it live.

TH:<\/strong> My experience working with Daniel Lanois came from him producing the Yellow Moon<\/em> Recording, Bob Dylan’s Oh Mercy<\/em>, and Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball.<\/em> I recorded on his solo album Arcadia<\/em>. He had a completely different approach.

TH: <\/strong>He pulls everything you got in you…out. On “The Maker,” was me noodling and I kept adding parts. He even wanted to add a harmony part to one line. It has five different bass parts on that track

TH:<\/strong> I met Dave Matthews in the early 90s. The Neville Brothers and DMB did a show together. I saw him in 2001 at a Emmylou Harris show and he knew as me the guy from “The Maker<\/a>” that his band went on to cover <\/p>\n\n\n\n

TH:<\/strong> When we did the Dave Matthews solo record Some Devil <\/em>in 2003 it felt so good. Brady and Trey all suggested we should be a band. \u201cHey let’s take this on tour.\u201d

MR:<\/strong> How was it behind the scenes during that legendary studio collaboration with Brady Blade, Trey Anastasio, Ray Paczkowski<\/a>, Dave and Tim Reynolds?

TH:<\/strong> Dave had all the songs written and we just came in and added our own parts to it. When you hire people to do a record, you have them bring what they do to the table, you know? So you can give them a lot of options. You play some stuff… like this? Sometimes the first thing is the one. \u201cHow about that?\u201d No you did it already… (laughter)

TH:<\/strong> I had a lot of fun with that record. One of my favorite songs is “So Damn Lucky.” And the song “Too High<\/a>.” I love the end. The groove on the end is killing. We even overdubbed The Seattle Symphony to it. The big line everyone is playing together is led by Dave on the guitar. It’s killing. Its a great record!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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