NEW YORK (AP) — Just cue up the first song from the new album by The Doobie Brothers and you’ll hear something unusual: harmony, in a new way.
It’s not just that soulful blast from Michael McDonald, marking his first time recording with the band in 45 years. Listen and you’ll also hear founding member Pat Simmons and original vocalist Tom Johnston.
“Walk This Road” — with the always-welcome addition of Mavis Staples — is a horn-and-slide-guitar slice of bluesy, wailing rock that’s also a celebration of a band that has endured changes and re-formed with members now in their 70s.
“Somehow, here we are,” says McDonald. “We’ve been friends throughout the years. Our kids have all grown up together and our kids have kind of kept us in contact even at times when we might have dropped off the radar for each other.”
Lots of Doobie activity
The Doobie Brothers, who formed in 1970 and initially broke up in 1982, have a packed 2025 planned: A European tour that leads to a North American one, the strong new album and inclusion in the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“I don’t think any of us ever even really thought we’d still be on stage at this age doing this, much less together,” says McDonald. “That we’re still able to express ourselves artistically is something that’s not lost on us.”
The North American tour kicks off in Detroit on Aug. 4 and heads to such cities as New York, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Toronto. The opening act will be The Coral Reefer Band.
“Walk This Road” features 10 new songs sung by McDonald, Simmons and Johnston, who collaborated on writing the tracks and play on each other’s tunes. Longtime collaborator John McFee also returned for the project.
The album, out June 6, has something for everyone — honky-tonk, driving country, flirty Southern pop, moody folk and melodic rock. There are songs about New Orleans and Hawaii. Angels make the lyrics on two songs.
“One of the strengths of our live show was the fact that you couldn’t get bored with any one style of music because everything was kind of a different bag,” says McDonald, who officially reunited with the band on tour in 2019. “We like to do that. You know, I think this album is hopefully no different in that respect.”
John Shanks, who produced the band’s 2021 album “Liberté,” returned for “Walk This Road,” lending them his Los Angeles studio, with a writing room upstairs and a recording booth downstairs where each songwriter took turns cutting tracks.
“The band, I think, presents all of us with an opportunity to do things that we might not do just as individual songwriters,” says McDonald.
Inside the album
While the Doobies have never been a concept band, the album explores seizing the moments, reflects on paths taken and coming to grips with the past.
“This is a snapshot in time of where the band is and where the writers are,” says Johnston. “We didn’t consciously sit down and say, ‘Well, we’re going to try and do this.’”
One track, “Learn to Let Go,” is an unrequited love song that’s about letting go of things that hold you back, while “Speed of Pain” is about how the worst things in life can become the best.
“In many cases, it’s just a situation where you have to lose it all. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve met over the years who have told me that going to jail was the best thing that ever happened to them,” says McDonald. “I think total defeat in this world is the great teacher.”
The Doobie Brothers are already members of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — with tracks like “Takin’ It To the Streets,” “What a Fool Believes” and “Minute By Minute” — but shortly after the album comes out, they’ll be inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
“I think it’s really great for this band,” says Johnston. “I think it’s great for us as individual writers, but I think it’s also great for the group, and it kind of carries on the name, if you will.”
McDonald and Johnston both expressed a little surprise that they’re still making music with the folks they worked with in their 20s and are still a draw on the road.
“It’s just fun to visit all these places musically. It’s fun to put that out in front of the crowd live. And to do an album now — I didn’t picture doing this, but I’m all for it,” Johnston says.
