‘Rockin’ the ’70s’ tour comes to Mayo PAC

John Hall says that music fans who try to pigeonhole the 1970s into one type of music may be missing a point.

“The 1970s wasn’t about one style. It was about different styles, and I liked that,” says Hall. “You could turn on the radio and, without changing the dial, hear Sly and the Family Stone and Ray Charles right next to the Eagles’ ‘Peaceful Easy Feeling.’ ”

Hall could include himself in that mix. With his band Orleans, Hall wrote and performed such songs as “Still the One,” “Dance with Me” and “Love Takes Time.”

Orleans, featuring original members Hall and bassist Lance Hoppen, is one of four rock acts that make up “Rockin’ the ’70s.” The package tour will come to the Mayo Performing Arts Center on Saturday.

Also on the bill is Firefall, known for “Just Remember I Love You” and “You Are the Woman.” The line-up includes original members Mark Andes, a former member of Spirit, and Jock Hartley, who had played with country-rock pioneer Gram Parsons.

The third band on the tour is Atlanta Rhythm Section, which came out of the Southern-rock scene.

The group, which produced such songs as “So Into You” and “Imaginary Lover,” features founding members Dean Daughtry and Rodney Justo.

Hall says that he is pleased to be sharing the stage with both of these bands, with whom Orleans has occasionally performed in the past.

“They’re both great groups,” he says. “They reflect those different styles of the ’70s.”

Rounding out the “Rockin’ the ’70s” tour is Al Stewart, the Scottish folk-rock musician who wrote and sang such literate songs as “Year of the Cat” and “Time Passages.” “Al is a poet,” Hall says.

As for his own band, Hall says that Orleans was founded by a group of players from upstate New York. They took their name from their admiration for New Orleans artists such as Allen Toussaint, the Meters and the Neville Brothers.

“When we started out, we played cover songs to get people up and dancing,” Hall says. “Our own songs had some of that, along with the groove of Muscle Shoals (the legendary Alabama studio).”

“What we tried to do was fuse the R&B and funk foundation with the harmonic and lyrical ideas of people like Joni Mitchell and Jackson Browne (and) the Beatles,” Hall says.

Hall says he still takes pride in some of Orleans’ early work. “A lot of our hardcore fans think our first record was the best,” he says. “In some ways, it was our purest. We hadn’t had success yet.”

The 1976 album “Waking and Dreaming” yielded “Still the One” and “Dance with Me.” Hall says that none of the members of Orleans expected those songs to be hits.

“Our producer, Chuck Plotkin, was the only one who knew ‘Still the One’ would be big,” Hall says. “We actually had to record that song three times before we got it right. We had to do ‘Dance with Me’ twice.”

Hall left Orleans in the late 1970s. He became active in political and social causes. With Jackson Browne and other artists, he helped to organize the “No Nukes” concerts in 1979.

That interest in politics eventually led to Hall successfully winning election to the House of Representatives in 2006 and 2008. He says his life as a musician actually prepared him for some of the public aspects of that job.

“When you’re a performer, you have to get up on stage and say, ‘Listen to what I have to say,’ ” he says. “You have to put up with hecklers. You have to deal with critics. Campaigning is performance.”

“I’m glad to have had that experience in Congress,” he says. “I did my best, and I learned about so many issues.”

With public office behind him, Hall says he is happy to be back with Orleans. “We’re having such a good time together,” he says. “I’m pleased and honored that people still come out to hear us.”

“ROCKIN’ THE ’70S”

WHAT: Four acts from the 1970s perform some of their best-known songs: Orleans (“Dance with Me,” “Still the One”), Firefall (“You Are the Woman”), Atlanta Rhythm Section (“So Into You”) and Al Stewart (“Year of the Cat”).

WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Saturday

WHERE: Mayo Performing Arts Center, 100 South St., Morristown

TICKETS: $39 to $79

INFORMATION: 973-539-8008 or www.mayoarts.org