Walk This Road, the Doobie Brothers‘ first album of original material with Michael McDonald since 1980, is out now. It’s named after a song called “Walk This Road,” a track about unity and coexistence that features Mavis Staples. McDonald explains why the song’s theme made it the right album title.
“With titles for records, we were always looking for … something that encapsulates the idea of the whole project, or at least an idea of where you are as an artist at that moment,” he tells ABC Audio. “And I think for us, it checked a few boxes: A. That we’re back together in a form that we haven’t been [before] and kind of trudging this road together once again.”
McDonald, the voice behind Doobie hits like “What a Fool Believes” and “Minute by Minute,” adds that the title “seemed to, in the immediate sense, speak to us as a band, as individuals getting back together to do a record again.” In addition, it represents “where we’re at in the big picture, as a people.”
The Walk This Road lineup also features founding members Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons, plus John McFee, who joined in 1979. McDonald and Johnston previously overlapped for one album — 1976’s Taking It to the Streets — so Simmons says Walk This Road was “an opportunity for those two to connect musically.”
“They’re both real R&B freaks. So being able to employ that on this record really made a difference in terms of just the enjoyment factor,” he says.
And Simmons also appreciates having McDonald back in the mix.
“A lot of people often, rightly so, talk about what a wonderful voice Mike has, and that’s kind of been what gets spotlighted a lot in his music,” says Simmons. “But he is a heck of a keyboard player.”
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