If you’re making a list of beloved bands with a long string of hook-heavy hits, the Doobie Brothers will surely be on it. Their new album, Walk This Road, features the creative core of vocalist/guitarist Patrick Simmons, vocalist/guitarist Tom Johnston, multi-instrumentalist John McFee, and vocalist/keyboardist Michael McDonald.
The news of Walk This Road generated significant interest because it’s the first album of fresh material with McDonald (who rejoined in 2019) since 1980’s One Step Closer. The band tours extensively, particularly in the summer at U.S. amphitheaters – perfect venues for multi-generational crowds to enjoy their feel-good music.
Producer John Shanks, who helmed their 2021 album Liberté, adds impressive guitar playing of his own to Walk. Simmons, Johnston, or McDonald separately co-wrote nine of the 10 new songs with Shanks; Simmons, McDonald, and Shanks teamed to write the other.
Walk This Road’s grooving title track features Johnston, Simmons, and McDonald sharing lead vocals with legendary R&B/gospel singer Mavis Staples. The upbeat “Call Me” and soulful “Learn to Let Go” are further standouts.
The band formed 55 years ago and released its self-titled debut album in 1971. Soon becoming mainstream favorites, Doobies classics include “Listen to the Music,” “Long Train Runnin’,” “China Grove,” “Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a LittleWhile),” “Takin’ it to the Streets,” “It Keeps You Runnin’,” “The Doctor,” and the number-one hits “Black Water” and “What a Fool Believes.” Best-selling albums include Toulouse Street, The Captain and Me, Takin’ it to the Streets, and 1978’s chart-topping Minute by Minute.
Despite Grammy wins for “What a Fool Believes” and Minute by Minute, long-overdue industry accolades for their full body of work have only recently come along. The band was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, and Johnston, McDonald, and Simmons are receiving the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s Performing Songwriters award this June.
Vintage Guitar talked with Simmons, Johnston, and McFee about making Walk This Road.
You’ve always had a creative urge and released new music. Many classic bands don’t and say that fans only want to hear the old hits.
Patrick Simmons: If you’re having fun doing what you do, it transfers to the listener. I feel like we always give it our all – when we’re recording or playing live, whatever we do. And that comes across. It’s certainly subjective, but I feel this effort was a bit more interesting than our last album, which was great. I think having Mike there added an element that we didn’t have before. I can’t say enough about his singing and writing. He’s just such a talented guy and I’ve liked him in the band and outside the band, and it’s nice to have him back to make a record with us, and hopefully we’ll do more. I felt like everybody really stepped up a notch on this record.
Tom Johnston: The last one was a spur-of-the-moment thing, but it took longer than spur of the moment. We entered it thinking it was going to be an EP. We were on the road a lot.
John McFee: I think as musicians, we don’t want to just feel like, “Okay, we’re done and now let’s just go out and endlessly actively rest on our laurels.” This is a band that doesn’t want to do that. I don’t mean to criticize what other bands do or how they decide to go about their careers or their music, but with us, there’s a creative impulse that continues. And believe me, we don’t have any illusions we’re going to set the world on fire or something. You never know anything that people can respond to, and all of a sudden there’s a big positive reaction to a particular song or record. But even if there’s no reaction, we still want to be creative.
The musical styles the band is known for are all represented on Walk This Road. Surely that came naturally, not because it was expected of you.
TJ: This is actually the first album I’ve been on with Mike, other than Takin’ it to the Streets. I had a song (“Turn it Loose”) on there. This is the first time all three of us have been writing for an album. It’s been a lot of fun, actually. It’s pretty cool. We’re lucky that people accept the three sounds and are good with it because I don’t know if that would’ve happened in the ’70s. Probably wouldn’t have, at least with any success, depending on the tune. It would’ve gone in one direction or the other like it did back then. In the ’80s and ’90s, we did a couple albums (Cycles and Brotherhood), then we did one in 2000 (Sibling Rivalry) and 2010 (World Gone Crazy), but they were all guitar-centric, and now we’ve got Mike involved and it adds a nice tone to everything.
PS: Well, you’re making a big leap of assumption that we might plan anything! We’re totally off the cuff, pretty much everything we’ve ever done, so there was really no plan. There is a uniqueness to what we do together. It’s probably why we’ve been able to be together in a band for such a long time. We do things and things just seem to correspond – the songs themselves, the messages, the way we work together in terms of having sort of a symmetry that is somewhat reminiscent of what we’ve done in the past. Really, everything is an accident when it comes right down to it.
JM: It’s the Doobie Brothers. It’s the personnel especially. I’ll be honest, this is really Pat, Tom, and Michael’s album, and I’m just there. I can be supportive, but that’s their material. Those guys are the voices of the Doobie Brothers through the years. I think it is just natural that it’s going to end up striking people as, “Gee, that sounds kind of like the Doobie Brothers.”
Explain the writing and recording process with John Shanks at his studio. You often worked separately with him, but would more than one of you get together?
PS: Both ways. At times, a few of us would work together, but generally this is the way John likes to work with us. I don’t think he works this way with everyone, but we started working this way with him a couple years ago. Really, during the pandemic, it was a different approach because everybody was basically isolating. So, when we started working with him, it was such a strange time period for getting together with other people. It’s like, “Should I wear my mask while we’re working? Do I need to?” And I did. I think for a while it was like, “Hey, this is weird writing with my mask on. I’ve got to take a break and go get vaccinated!” We took that approach and it worked so well and we had such a good time doing it that way. There’s a lot of new ways to record, which I love. We started that way during the pandemic, and we just rolled into it with this record, and it worked really well. I won’t say it’s regimented, but it’s formulaic and we don’t want to be all the time. We might want to be a little scrappy or looser, and I’m sure that’s something we’ll do in the future.
TJ: It’s kind of a funny thing when we get in the studio. That stuff just happens because I don’t know if anybody’s been writing a ton of songs on the road. That doesn’t happen for me. I don’t get creative on the road. Back in the ’70s maybe. Working with (Shanks) is another reason to go in various directions. We don’t go in with a plan. It’s just whatever happens in the studio, and that’s probably the magic about it – one of the things I really like. You don’t have anything set up before you get there. Yeah, I’ve written tunes before going to the studio, but these last two albums, we wrote them in the studio. And I’m not speaking for Mike or Pat. I don’t know what they had together when they walked in the door, but I didn’t have a lot. So, it’s spur of the moment. I like the spontaneity. I like the instrumentation on a lot of the songs. I like the direction. It’s different from what we did before and I really like that. I don’t like rubber-stamping everything you’ve already done.
Since Michael has been back in the band for a few years and you’ve been touring steadily, did that make things easier?
TJ: Yeah, we have been on the road together since what, ’21? And each successive year we’re out doing all this stuff together, the camaraderie is there. I think that has a lot to do with what comes in on the album. I believe that.
PS: I agree with Tom. I hadn’t really thought about that, but I think you’re right. It was a bit more comfortable with each other and when you’re working on a song, you could hear the part you’d want somebody else to play. I certainly think there’s a uniqueness in our vocal plan that we’ve always had, but on this record, it really, really worked. In terms of the background vocals, we did a lot of singing together. I think that really makes a difference. It feels like a continuance of what we’ve been doing.
JM: Maybe I’m old-fashioned, but I grew up playing in bands and a band is, ideally, like a family. It certainly makes more sense and feels better to me when you’ve got a flow going of live performances and you get to know each other’s instincts by virtue of performing together. It makes a difference in the music.
John, you’re revered as a multi-instrumentalist and you played a variety of things on Walk This Road. Was it hard to decide which instrument to play, or was it obvious what each song needed?
JM: I was given assignments, and it was fine. There was a certain amount of give and take in regard to that. For example, “Angels & Mercy” was a song where Pat said, “I want you to play violin, a bluegrass East-style violin part.” I started with that and then I ended up trying other things. By the time it was done, I also was playing harmonica, I added a resonator-guitar part, and I forget what all. A bit of that also happened with “State of Grace,” where I ended up playing pedal steel, cello, and mandolin. Once I put what they initially asked for, I got ideas and I ran ’em by them, and it worked. They ended up using my ideas in pretty much every case on this project. That doesn’t always happen. They give me a certain amount of freedom to try ideas.
You did most of your recording in your own studio, correct?
JM: I’ve always had my own studio and I’ve been insanely busy working on all kinds of projects with other people during this whole time, too. In the case of this project, my contributions were mostly done at my place. On “Angels & Mercy” I did work a little bit in the studio with the guys. “Lahaina” I did on the road in my hotel rooms. That’s a Pat song, but we worked together. He coached me through what he wanted me to play on the resonator.
The band has always worked with producers, notably Ted Templeman, and now John for two albums. What are the benefits of having outside producers?
PS: It’s important for me that I develop a personal relationship with our producer, whoever we’ve worked with in the past. I can only think of one time where we didn’t quite align with the producer and we had to make a change in the middle of recording or near the end of it. But, generally speaking, all of our producers have been great people and fun to hang with. We became close friends with every one of them – Ted, Charlie Midnight, Rodney Mills, and John. All have been just fantastic people.
TJ: You knew these people had lots of time in the studio and knew what they were doing. And that’s important. I’ve never worked with anybody that didn’t. But I’ve got to say that’s a big part of it. Good producers say, “What if you tried this?” They’ve all got their way, but it funnels down to the same thing – suggestions that help us. You may not always agree and sometimes you’ll try and go, “Well, that really does work,” or “It won’t work,” but at least you’re trying stuff, and that’s an ongoing process.
JM: Every producer has a different style, a set of skills, or their way of contributing. It’s different with every producer. John is pretty assertive. I didn’t have much contact with him. I was sort of given the signs, “Hey, we need you to do these kinds of parts on this,” and then I did them on my own. I didn’t really get a lot of direct input from John myself. I’ve worked with producers who stay back and give the artists more freedom. Some really put their own stamp on it. And it can be great either way. I remember working on Elvis Costello’s first album (1977’s My Aim is True) with Nick Lowe. It’s a live album and he would not let me punch in a single note. We did overdub some background vocals, and Elvis doubled a few lines here and there, but most of that album is completely live. At the same time, I was living in England and my group, Clover, which included Huey Lewis, and working with Mutt Lange, who is the exact opposite. He is a perfectionist in everything. He’s great. I love Mutt. They’re two completely different styles of production, but they both can work.
Which guitars and other instruments did you play on this album?
TJ: Most of the stuff was at John’s house. He has 150 guitars in there – PRSs, Strats, Teles. I didn’t bring any because then you’re flying around with gear that’s already there, more or less. He had tons of effects, tons of foot pedals. Everything you would need.
Acoustically, I used a Gibson J-50, or something old that sounded like it. I did all the tracks on the first five albums with a J-50 that, unfortunately, was stolen.
JM: On the title track, I’m playing slide guitar on my Line 6 Variax. I can go through variations of sounds and arrive at what I think works more easily using that type of a rig than having 20 different amplifiers set up with different microphones on them. I can choose the different amps and mics and stuff like that within my Line 6 Helix pedalboard and choose from different guitar models like the Les Paul or Strat or whatever. I used my Franklin pedal steel. My favorite mandolin is an Alvarez that’s really high-quality. The resonators were a Republic tricone and a National-style resonator. I’ve got a five-string acoustic violin I’ve had for a long time that I really like.
PS: I used John’s guitars. I’m a Strat guy, and he had some great ones that are really close to what I play. That was a real bonus. On almost all of the early Doobie Brothers records, I used an Epiphone Texan, and I walked in one day and he had this beat-up Texan sitting there. He says, “What do you think of this?” I picked it up and played it, and it sounded just beautiful. It was really gnarly-looking and old, but it played so beautifully and sounded so good. I ended up using it for almost all the acoustic stuff.
Road Tones
When artists sign on to work with writer/producer John Shanks, they are, of course, welcome to bring their own instruments. But sometimes – as with the Doobie Brothers’ Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, and John McFee – it just isn’t practical. No fear, though, because Shanks is a true guitar junkie who can supply whatever sound a project might need, even for the hardcore vintage players. Here’s a look at some of the prime pieces the Brothers used on Walk This Road.
’61 ES-335, ’64 Strat in Shoreline Gold, and a ’59 top-loader Telecaster.
’63 Gibson Hummingbird, Shanks scoring this ’67 Epiphone Texan just before the sessions was a fortuitous twist of fate. “I brought it, not knowing that Pat used a ’67 Texan to record ‘Black Water,’ he said. “First thing he did was tune it, put on a thumb pick, and start playing that song. It’s beat to s**t but sounds incredible!” ’68 Gibson SJ-200.
’61 Gibson SG (left), ’65 Gibson Trini Lopez, ’73 Strat with a Tele pickup and Alembic preamp.
’68 Les Paul Custom (bottom left), and among the basses used by Pino Palladino and Bob Glaub were two Fender Precisions – a ’62 in Fiesta Red (faded to the misnamed “Salmon Pink”) and this sunburst ’68.
This article originally appeared in VG’s May 2025 issue. All copyrights are by the author and Vintage Guitar magazine. Unauthorized replication or use is strictly prohibited.
