The Doobie Brothers’ reunion with Michael McDonald is stretching beyond their upcoming tour, as the band has confirmed they’re back in the studio working on a new album.
McDonald rejoined The Doobie Brothers for their 50th anniversary tour in 2021 (originally scheduled for ’20), which was recently expanded into this summer with Steve Winwood and Robert Cray as support. Those early concerts were the group’s first with McDonald in 25 years, and now they’re recording their first collection of new material together since 1980’s One Step Closer.
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Guitarist/vocalist Pat Simmons announced the news on Facebook. “We are very close to finishing up an album’s worth of new songs. We’re lucky once again to have John Shanks producing and Michael McDonald joining in with us on this one!” Simmons wrote, noting that they’re targeting “a Spring/Summer release.” “It’s the first time in 40 years that Michael has recorded a whole album with the band and in my humble opinion it’s turning out to be some of the best music we’ve ever made together!”
While this will be the first collection of fresh Doobie music to feature McDonald since ’80, it’s not the first time they’ve reunited in the studio. McDonald contributed vocals and keyboards to 2014’s Southbound, an LP featuring reworked classics from the band’s catalog.
Simmons went on to note the band — which also includes Tom Johnston and John McFee — will enter rehearsals for their upcoming shows in May, with hopes of readying “a few of our new songs” for their live debuts.”There’s some really high energy stuff that will be fun for us to play and hopefully work well with our better known tunes,” he said. See what makes it to the setlist by getting tickets to The Doobie Brothers’ 2024 tour dates via StubHub, where orders are 100% guaranteed through StubHub’s FanProtect program.
Elsewhere in his post, Simmons warned against fake social media accounts “impersonating members of the Doobie Brothers” in order to solicit unsuspecting fans “with offers of special backstage access and seating for exorbitant prices.” He also asked for requests regarding the setlist for the upcoming tour, as “knowing songs you might want us to play would be a really cool way for us to put together a set that could be more engaging.” Read the full message below.
