Winnipeg band ‘tickled’ by John Oates’ request to open for them

WINNIPEG – Roots rockers the Bros. Landreth got a thrilling call from music legend John Oates of 1980s hit duo Hall and Oates Friday.

Oates wanted to let them know he loves their music – and ask to open their upcoming show in Nashville.

“Umm … Yeah, John. That shouldn’t be a problem,” a Tuesday Facebook post by the duo says.

“So, some days your phone rings, you answer, and John Oates from Hall & Oates is on the other line. You proceed to have the most marvellous conversation with one of the most humble and most down to earth dudes you’ve talked to in a long time. When you hang up the phone you have to give your head a bit of a shake. John tells you that he thinks your band is great and would it be cool if HE opened for YOU at your show in Nashville in a few weeks?”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "So, some days your phone rings, you answer, and John Oates from Hall & Oates is on the other line. You proceed to have the most marvellous conversation with one of the most humble and most down to earth dudes you've talked to in a long time. When you hang up the phone you have to give your head a bit of a shake. John tells you that he thinks your band is great and would it be cool if HE opened for YOU at your show in Nashville in a few weeks?"

Oates is now billed as a “very special guest” at the May 17 show at 3rd and Lindsley in Nashville, the U.S. centre of roots music.

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David Landreth, one of the two brothers who give the four-man group its name, said the sound of Hall and Oates’ voices are among those he finds most inspiring.

“I literally wake up in the middle of the night,” wanting to hear Hall and Oates’ hit Maneater, he said Tuesday from Homewood, Ill., where he and his brother Joey stopped for the night. They open a U.S. tour Thursday in Charlotte, N.C.

The call wasn’t completely unexpected — the band’s agent had let them know he was working on something — but was thrilling nonetheless, and Oates’ voice was unmistakable, Landreth said.

“It was just as buttery and smooth as you’d think it would be.”

Oates was incredibly humble and said he’d bring a percussionist and play a short set, explaining “maybe I can help you get a couple of people through the door,” Landreth said.

“I would pay good money to go see that,” the star-struck musician said. “I’m just looking forward to meeting the dude.”

The fact that Oates — a singer Landreth has admired as he’s developed his career — is opening for the band in Nashville sounds like a story line out of a make-it-big movie.

“That part is truly surreal,” he said. “Nashville, New York would be the only cities where these stories would make sense.”

The Bros. Landreth — Joey Landreth, Ariel Posen and Ryan Voth are the other members — released their album Let It Lie in 2013 and recently signed a contract with Slate Creek Records. Their next show in Winnipeg is at the Burton Cummings Theatre on Oct. 17.

Hall and Oates had their biggest hit with 1982’s Maneater, which stayed at the top of the Billboard chart for four weeks. Their 1981 album Private Eyes also spawned several hits. They continue to work as a duo as well as doing solo projects, and were inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014.