John Oates has made a lot of music over the last four decades. Yes, I'm talking about the dark-haired, mustachioed half of the soul duo Hall & Oates, who had a long string of million-selling hits starting in the '70s and commanding the '80s. Oates co-wrote many of their most memorable hits, such as “Sara Smile,” “Maneater,” “She's Gone,” and many more. The duo's brand of Philly R&B/pop was gold back then, and made them legends of the era.

Fast forward to present day, and John Oates, sans mustache, has been showing up in places you might not expect. He sat in with moe. and Umphrey's McGee in his adopted hometown of Aspen, Colo., and made appearances all over the Americana Music Festival last year.

I had the great pleasure of meeting him in Nashville, when he told me about the album he was working on. Now that album has been released, and an amazing one it has proved to be. “Mississippi Mile” features performances by Sam Bush, Mike Henderson (who also co-produced), Bekka Bramlett, Dennis Crouch, Jerry Douglas, John Gardner, and many more, and is an Americana gem. The album features Oates versions of several great covers originally performed by Elvis Presley, Curtis Mayfield, even an astounding reworking of an old Hall and Oates classic. But what's really cool about this album is that most of it was written on the fly in the studio, reworking great classics into new tunes. For example, at one point Oates tried a cover of Doc Watson's “Deep River Blues.” He realized it was never going to live up to his expectations, so they started reworking it, writing new lyrics, changing the groove, improvising a new feel to it and before long, they had “Deep River,” a completely different song while paying homage to Doc's classic.

If you'd asked me just two years ago about John Oates, I would have said the sun had set on this great musician and songwriter's career. Now, I'd say the sun is rising again, and it's rays are warmer than ever.