New York – Just Cue Up the first song of the new album of The Doobie brothers And you will hear something unusual: harmony, in a new way.
It is not just that moving explosion of Michael McDonald, Marking his first time recording with the band in 45 years. Listen and also listen to the founding member PAT Simmons and the original vocalist Tom Johnston.
“Walk This Road”, with the always welcome addition of Mavis Staples, is a portion of horn blues and blues sliding, which is also a celebration of a band that has supported the changes and has been formed again with members now in its 70 years.
“Somehow, here we are,” says McDonald. “We have been friends over the years. Our children have grown together and our children have kept us in contact even at a time when we could have left the radar for each other.”
The Doobie Brothers, which formed in 1970 and initially separated in 1982, have a planned 2025 full: A European tour that leads to an American, The strong new album and inclusion in the composers hall of fame.
“I don’t think any of us really thought we would still be on stage at this age doing this, much less together,” says McDonald. “That we are still able to express ourselves artistically is something that does not lose us.”
The North America tour begins in Detroit on August 4 and addresses cities such as New York, Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Minneapolis and Toronto. The opening act will be the Reefer Coral Band.
“Walk This Road” presents 10 new songs sung by McDonald, Simmons and Johnston, who collaborated when writing the clues and playing in the other songs. The collaborator for a long time, John McFe, also returned to the project.
The album, outside of June 6, He has something for everyone: Honky-Tonk, Riving Country, southern pop flirtation, people in a bad mood and melodic rock. There are songs about New Orleans and Hawaii. The angels make the lyrics in two songs.
“One of the strengths of our live show was the fact that you could not get bored with any music style because everything was a kind of different bag,” says McDonald, who officially met with the tour band in 2019. “We like to do that. You know, I think this album is no different from that aspect.”
John Shanks, who produced the 2021 album of the band “Liberté”, returned to “Walk This Road”, which lent them their studio of Los Angeles, with a writing room on the writing floor and a recording cabin on the floor that each composer turned to cut clues.
“The band, I think, presents us with the opportunity to do things we could not do as individual composers,” says McDonald.
While the doobies have never been a conceptual band, the album explores the taking of the moments, it is reflected in the roads taken and face the past.
“This is a snapshot at the time where the band is and where the writers are,” says Johnston. “We didn’t feel consciously and said: ‘Well, let’s try to do this.'”
A song, “Learn to let go”, is a unrequited love song that is about neglecting the things that stop you, while “Speed of Pain” is about how the worst things in life can become the best.
“In many cases, it is just a situation in which you have to lose everything. I cannot tell you how many people I have met throughout the years that have told me that going to jail was the best thing that happened to them,” says McDonald. “I think the total defeat in this world is the great teacher.”
The Doobie brothers are already members of the rock AND Roll Hall of Fame, with clues like “Takin ‘it to the streets”, “What A Fool Cree” and “Minute by Minute”, but shortly after the album comes out, they will be induced in the Compositors’ hall.
“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 continues with the name, if you want.”
McDonald and Johnston expressed a little surprise that they are still making music with the people with whom they worked in their 20 years and are still an attraction along the way.
“It’s fun to visit all these places musically. It’s fun to put that in front of the live crowd. And make an album now, I didn’t imagine doing this, but I’m in favor,” says Johnston.
