Who is doobie brothers

Anything could happen and probably should. We are fortunate that our friendship has remained the most important thing to us through all the various incarnations of the band.

We always kind of had to look for our validation from our fans because that was really where we got it, on the road playing for people live and having that communication. I hear those songs all the time though. That matters more than what any critic wrote decades ago. It certainly has been an amazing ride for us. Are you thinking much about how the show will be structured this summer when you hit the road with them? I really want to come into this thing as finely meshed into it as I can with Billy.

I want to contribute. With any band, but especially one on the larger size, you want to look for where you can be a contribution to the whole thing. And I know my job as singing will be just what it is. I think that appeals to most people by nature. There are people that are gifted with great performing skills, but a lot of musicians are not. They were pushed out into the spotlight in certain circumstances, but would usually prefer to be pushed into the backline doing their thing and not having too much responsibility as far as performing goes.

I think 80 percent of the musicians I know feel that way. And Tom and Pat both really have their voices. The band has never sounded better to me. I saw them recently in Nashville. When do I give up the ghost? But to see those guys really nail it to the wall, and anyone, the Stones and all these different acts performing at the top of their game, with some of them in their seventies.

It gives me great hope. Are you going to sing any non-Doobies songs in the set? There will be a lot of trial and error in rehearsals. Are you working on any new songs right now?

A couple of tracks are with local musicians in Santa Barbara, just musicians I play with in the different local haunts there. I decided to pull them in for a little project. Everything is live. Just myself and some local friends. When might that come out? I think the Doobies are coming out with an EP. Do you still get a kick out of being sampled by rap artists? What I really found interesting was a lot of my synth sounds that have been sampled come from old records in the s, not just the Doobies.

Typically those sounds were things the producer and engineer hated that I came up with. Nobody wanted to be in the room with me and a synthesizer. And so I hear a lot of that stuff on rap records in a different application where it sounds cool — that was kind of amusing to me.

I got a chance to meet Warren [G] on the road and his wife on the road. The first time I met him he was driving past me on the street in New York City. He rolled down the window and waved to me and we had two seconds to say hello. Eventually, the quartet decided to form a group, naming themselves the Doobie Brothers after a slang term for marijuana.

Soon, the Doobies earned a strong following throughout Southern California, especially among Hell's Angels, and they were signed to Warner Bros. The band's eponymous debut was ignored upon its release.

Baxter officially joined the Doobie Brothers for 's Stampede. Although it peaked at number four, Stampede wasn't as commercially successful as its three predecessors, and the group decided to let McDonald and Baxter , who were now official Doobies , revamp the band's light country-rock and boogie.

The new sound was showcased on 's Takin' It to the Streets , a collection of light funk and jazzy pop that resulted in a platinum album. Later that year, the group released the hits compilation The Best of the Doobies. In , they released Livin' on the Fault Line , which was successful without producing any big hits. Johnston left the band after the album's release to pursue an unsuccessful solo career. Following his departure, the Doobies released their most successful album, Minute by Minute , which spent five weeks at number one on the strength of the number one single "What a Fool Believes.

Early in , the Doobie Brothers announced they were breaking up after a farewell tour, which was documented on the live album Farewell Tour. After the band's split, McDonald pursued a successful solo career, while Simmons released one unsuccessful solo record. In , the Doobies reunited for a concert at the Hollywood Bowl, which quickly became a brief reunion tour; McDonald declined to participate in the tour. Their reunion album, Cycles , went gold upon its summer release in , spawning the Top Ten hit "The Doctor.

For the remainder of the '90s, the group toured the U. By , McDonald had joined the group again, and the following year saw the release of Rockin' Down the Highway. But the lineup had once again shifted by the turn of the new millennium. Called Southbound , the album appeared in November, peaking at 16 on the Billboard charts. The Doobies continued to tour -- notably without McDonald -- in the years following Southbound.

In , Little Feat 's Bill Payne took over the keyboardist slot previously occupied by Guy Allison , and they continued to tour amphitheaters and sheds throughout the U. By the end of the decade, they were specializing in shows spotlighting full performances of their Toulouse Street and The Captain and Me albums, all setting the stage for Michael McDonald rejoining the band in for a 50th Anniversary tour.

Johnston , Simmons , and McFee were the Doobie Brothers featured on Liberte , the album that was the group's first collection of original material since Even though he didn't appear on Liberte , McDonald remained part of the live lineup of the Doobie Brothers.