When Michael McDonald returned to the Doobie Brothers for a tour celebrating the band’s 50th anniversary, it was a bucket list moment for many music fans.
It’s now been nearly four years since they began their first proper tour in decades with the keyboardist and vocalist back in the fold and he couldn’t be happier. “I always missed being a Doobie Brother in all the years [I was gone],” he tells UCR. “I was fortunate as a solo artist to have some songs get on the radio and be able to tour with my own band for many years. We played all over the world. It’s not that I didn’t enjoy every minute of that and playing with those guys. Because I was lucky to have some wonderful musicians in my solo band. But it’s not that I didn’t miss being a Doobie Brother, because I always did.
“I always enjoyed, and to this day, I think I enjoy playing [Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston’s] songs as much or more as I do playing my own songs,” he continues. “I missed playing ‘Long Train Runnin’,’ ‘Black Water’ and all the different stuff we did. It always felt like we had a very eclectic songbook as a band, you know. I thought that was something we were able to give the audiences that was kind of unique to us in a way.”
READ MORE: Top 10 Doobie Brothers Songs
Now, they’ve taken things a step further with the arrival of Walk This Road, the band’s newest album which was released earlier this summer, featuring guest spots from Mick Fleetwood and Mavis Staples. Notably, it’s the group’s first proper studio album with McDonald in the lineup since 1980. For Simmons, the process of working together was an experience which he realized found them all drawing on a deeper perspective. It’s something you can hear within tracks like McDonald’s “Learn to Let Go” and his own composition, “Angels & Mercy,” on the new set. “As you get older, I [don’t know] if you get wiser, but you have at least more knowledge at your fingertips to work with,” the guitarist and vocalist shares in a separate conversation with UCR. “My mantra for [life is] don’t sweat the small stuff. So much of our time gets taken up with our petty complaints and petty things that you never really should be thinking about in the first place.”
Watch the Doobie Brothers Perform ‘Learn to Let Go’
“That’s not to say that it still doesn’t happen, but I try to remind myself as often as possible to back off. You know, when you start getting petty about anything, step back and take a breath and count to 10 or whatever,” he continues. “Try to remember what is important in your life and what is important in the moment. When you talk about Mike’s ‘Learn to Let Go’ and [also] ‘State of Grace’ [a Simmons co-write], I think there’s a certain common element. Redemption, I think, was something that we touched on in a lot of these songs, and I think that it shows up in the tunes. Not that there was anything planned, but I noticed that all three of us kind of wrote indirectly [in that way]. [I’d say] there’s a certain amount of that within the lyrical content and the feel of the songs.”
Will McDonald Be a Permanent Doobie?
That’s been the question that has been hanging silently in the air for fans each time another leg of tour dates comes to a close. The arrival of Walk This Road helped to make this reunion feel more permanent in that regard, but how does McDonald feel? “I knew it would be hard for me to resist whatever was next,” he confirms. “They’re even talking about tour dates in 2026 and my only question with that is, Will I still be alive? You know, I hope so. Because for us, what they pay us to do is get on the bus and sleep on a bus, bounce down the road and eat it the terrible breakfast at the Hampton Inn, you know. But what we do on stage, we would do for free, you know? And that’s what we live for out here, and that’s why we live this lifestyle, is to get that hour and a half on stage with an audience that at this point in our career, some of those people have been coming to see us for 50 years, and there’s nothing better than that. Every time we play these songs that we would have been sick of 30 years ago, at least, when we’re up there in front of the audience in that moment, with that audience on that night [and] in that moment, it’s almost like the first time we ever did the song. It never gets old, so we’re grateful for that.”
LIsten to Michael McDonald and Patrick Simmons on the ‘UCR Podcast’
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
