Michael McDonald and The Doobie Brothers to reunite for first album together in 40 years

6 March 2024, 12:16

A full reunion is on the cards.

It's come to light that The Doobie Brothers will be reuniting with former member Michael McDonald for their first new album together in over forty years.

McDonald and the band are in the final stages of completing the album, which will mark their first original studio release together since 1980's One Step Closer.

In an extensive post on The Doobie Brothers' official Facebook page, founding member - and the only consistent member throughout their tenure - Pat Simmons revealed the news.

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Addressing their millions of fans, Simmons wrote: "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!"

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," the guitarist continued.

"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!"

Aiming for a spring/summer release of the new album, it should be out in the world by the time The Doobie Brothers head out on their continuing 50th anniversary worldwide tour.

Michael McDonald - who initially left the band in 1982 after the original lineup disbanded - re-joined the soft rockers for the 50th anniversary of their formation and the subsequent tour.

What was originally scheduled for 2020 was waylaid, so it kicked off the following year. They're set to hit the road this year also.

Though he hasn't fully contributed to an original album for over forty years, McDonald did provide vocals and keyboards on a few songs for 2014's Southbound, an album that reimagined The Doobie Brother's classics.

The blue-eyed soul band will begin their nationwide tour this coming June, with Steve Winwood serving as the main support act throughout.

In his written message on social media, Pat Simmons confirmed The Doobie Brothers' original lineup were "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."