The Doobie Brothers are in the final stages of completing a new album with Michael McDonald, their first original studio release together since 1980’s One Step Closer.
Pat Simmons provided an update on the LP in a message on Facebook addressed to the band’s fans.
“We are very close to finishing up an album’s worth of new songs,” the rocker revealed. “We’re lucky once again to have John Shanks producing and Michael McDonald joining in with us on this one! Tom [Johnston], Michael, John and myself have composed a great bunch of songs that we’re really proud of and John McFee is really a stand out on the tracks. 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!”
READ MORE: Why the Doobie Brothers Came Apart After ‘One Step Closer’
McDonald rejoined the band for their 50th anniversary tour, a trek originally scheduled for 2020, which eventually launched the following year. The singer’s last contribution to a Doobie Brothers album came in 2014, when he provided vocals and keyboards to a handful of songs on Southbound. That LP was made up of reimagined Doobie Brothers classics.
While Simmons didn’t provide an exact timetable for the new album’s arrival, he noted that the band was “shooting for a spring/summer release.”
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In his message on social media, Simmons revealed that the band would be “going into rehearsals sometime in May.”
“I’m hoping we’ll be able to debut a few of our new songs [on the tour],” he added. “There’s some really high energy stuff that will be fun for us to play and hopefully work well with our better known tunes. We’ll keep you posted and let you know how that’s workin’ out.”
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Gallery Credit: Nick DeRiso
