Band

After reuniting with Michael McDonald for a celebrated 50th anniversary tour in 2021, the Doobie Brothers’ longtime members Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, and John McFee were feeling the buzz. They decided to keep that momentum going. 

It was that vibe that they carried forward into working on new music, merging the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group’s different hitmaking eras together for the first time in decades with McDonald back in the mix on new music. “After the tour went so well, it made sense,” McDonald says. “I’m not a super-prolific songwriter, but I had some ideas that I felt like would work really well with the band.”

Their reunion has resulted in a full-length album, Walk This Road. Recorded in Los Angeles with producer John Shanks, with whom Johnston and Simmons worked on 2021’s Liberté, expertly blends the distinctive voices and styles of its songwriters together. It’s an inspiring display of togetherness from a group that has been creating classic hits like “Black Water” and “What a Fool Believes” for half a century and the first time in their 54-year history that all three of its principal songwriters have contributed songs to an album. 

As with past Doobie Brothers albums, each singer-songwriter brought his own songs in, but this time they each worked with Shanks to come up with the finishing touches. They all played instrumental tracks and sang on one another’s songs, then Shanks wrangled session aces including Victor Indrizzo, Pino Palladino, John Cowan, and Bob Glaub to round out the productions.

The idea of unity and coexistence is front and center on the album’s gospel-infused title track, which McDonald wrote with Shanks. McDonald, Johnston, and Simmons all take turns singing on the uplifting number, as does special guest Mavis Staples, offering an impassioned plea to seek understanding in times of great conflict—a message with a strong connection to the present. “I was thinking about how we’ve got to learn to live together and get along, because it's going to tear us apart if we don’t,” McDonald explains. “That and the idea of justice, because if some of us aren’t free, then none of us are. Having Mavis join us really helped, because she’s been singing that kind of message her whole life.”

Themes of healing extend through many songs on Walk This Road. Simmons’ “State of Grace” is one example, wedding a folk-rock arrangement to a lyric about a longing for reconciliation. “There are a lot of references to recovery and enlightenment.” Simmons says, “Not enlightenment in terms of being enlightened, but in terms of waking and seeing the important things that you've been missing.” 

Just as often, Walk This Road cuts loose and lets the guys rip. Simmons’ “Angels and Mercy,” an urgent-sounding, restless rocker features an exchange of fiery instrumental licks and the Doobies’ signature layered harmonies. “It's fast and loud, maybe the most rocking thing on the album,” Simmons says. “It’s an intense song that was a lot of fun to record as well as just coming up with the parts. It’s something that we can play live and have fun with it.” 

Johnston’s influences in blues, soul and rock & roll shine through in his offerings. “Call Me” mates a propulsive guitar part to an instantly catchy chorus hook, but adds some intrigue with mysterious imagery. “I rewrote the words and took them back to John in LA,” Johnston says. “And I really wanted to put horns on that — to me, that was imperative because I was originally hearing a kind of Al Green flavor. It’s an ‘I'll be here for you’ kind of thing with a little bit of a film noir feel in the lyrics.”

“Here to Stay,” which Johnson wrote, is a bright and jangling anthem of rock & roll devotion, complete with shimmering harmonies from his bandmates.  Another Johnston composition, “New Orleans,” takes a different tack and whips up blues-drenched, sweltering stomp to sing the praises of the Big Easy. “The tunes are a little more earthy this time around compared to our previous work,” Johnston says. “I like stretching out instead of staying safe and doing a rubber stamp of things you've done before.”

The groove-driven, syncopated sound of New Orleans is present here as well, finding its way into some of McDonald’s compositions. “The Kind That Lasts” mines the second-line rhythms of the Meters and Professor Longhair. “I’ve been a fan of that sound for a long time, but I had never really tried it before,” McDonald says. “I tried to approach it with a lot of care and appreciation.”

“Speed of Pain” is a different look from McDonald. A meditation on lessons learned, it begins with programmed drums and mournful keys before blooming into a straight-ahead anthem that includes a knockout vocal performance and an array of dizzying instrumental hooks. “You can hear the extreme angst and intensity in Michael’s voice on this song. I feel like it might be one of his most emotionally heartfelt vocal performances ever!” Simmons says. McDonald also ponders hard-earned wisdom in “Learn to Let Go,” which features the kind of laid-back groove that made the Doobie Brothers famous. “It’s a song about what might be the hardest lesson we learn and one of the last things we do in this life,” McDonald says.

Simmons and McDonald partnered with Shanks on the album’s final cut, “Lahaina,” which features instrumental and vocal contributions from Mick Fleetwood, Henry Kapono, and Jake Shimabukuro. Simmons, who has lived in Maui for the past 30 years, wanted to honor the island community that bore the brunt of wildfires in 2023, paying tribute to the people’s resilience and strength. “It's a situation that should never have happened,” Simmons says. “When we wrote it, I was desperate to contribute something after the fires because I just felt so helpless.”

With its multiple distinctive voices and songwriters, the Doobie Brothers have long been a unique presence in American music. Their recordings have rightly been celebrated as bona fide rock & roll classics and now, later this year, the trio of Johnston, McDonald, and Simmons will be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, an honor that gets at the core of why they became a band in the first place. 

“It’s crazy—I've written a lot of songs for the band and I've written solo songs too,” Johnston says. “You’re just doing what you do. And you look at each album and you go, ‘Wow, where did we come up with this stuff?’” “It’s such a big honor to be recognized,” McDonald agrees. Simmons adds, “I feel like I'm being pulled along by these other two songwriters. I've written a lot of songs, but I haven't had the hits that the other guys have had. As a songwriter, it’s a huge honor.”

It's well-deserved recognition for the Doobies—this band has long known how to craft a song as sturdy as its signature grooves and harmonies. It’s even more remarkable that they’re still doing it as strong as ever in this new era.

“We’ve worked together so long, and part of the reason we're still playing together is because we have this agreement on how we want to live our lives,” Simmons says. “We all have families and we’re dedicated to them—our kids, our grandkids. There’s also loyalty to each other in terms trying to work together in a way that makes everybody feel good and comfortable.”

Touring Lineup:
Pat Simmons – Guitar/Vocals
Tom Johnston – Guitar/Vocals
John McFee – Guitar, Pedal Steel, Dobro, Fiddle, Vocals
Michael McDonald – Piano/Keyboards
Marc Russo – Saxaphone
Ed Toth – Drums
Marc Quiñones – Percussion
John Cowan – Bass/Vocals