The Doobie Brothers - Walk This Road

The Doobie Brothers — Walk This Road

The Doobie Brothers are back with a new album for 2025 Walk This Road featuring a reunited lineup of members Patrick Simmons, Tom Johnston, John McFee and Michael McDonald.

The Songwriters Hall of Fame also announced that the enduring and beloved band's songwriting would be inducted at its June 2025 ceremony in New York. Michael McDonald, Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons will all receive the prestigious award in the Performing Songwriters category, recognizing and celebrating the exceptional work and lives of composers and lyricists who make an indelible impact creating music around the world.

All three of the songwriting members of the band worked one-on-one with producer John Shanks, bringing their individual vibes to their trusted producer and songwriting partner for what would be melded into one cohesive work, featuring the signature Doobie Brothers sound. The result, as the 10-track album credits illuminate, is an album comprised of and reliant on the songwriting contributions and individual musical styles of all three principal songwriters.

Recurring themes on the album include recovery, enlightenment — "waking up to see the important things you've been missing," says Simmons. The title track on the album, "Walk This Road," features Mavis Staples, emboding a sense of hope and togetherness, in terms of searching for the right path forward.

"We all sang on ‘Walk This Road,' that's a different kind of track for us to do," says Johnston. "I think it's good to try to do things you haven't done before, that's the way it should be." The team effort and cooperation so successful and fruitful in Shanks' studio on Walk This Road is the same mindset and philosophy that has served The Doobie Brothers so well for more than 50 years of songwriting, performing and touring their Grammy Award-winning and Rock & Roll Hall of Fame hit songs around the world for decades. The band have remained good friends over decades and are looking forward to embarking on their 2025 tour to perform their new tracks as well as much-loved, fan-favorite hits.

"Getting back in with the guys and playing again is great," said McDonald. "In my heart I've always been a Doobie Brother. We've all remained friends over the years. We've all been enjoying it tremendously, even more than we thought we would." Indeed, whereas in many bands having three exceptional songwriters with diverse musical influences and styles might cause internal challenges in the studio, The Doobie Brothers continue to create their signature brand of music together that weaves their individual rhythms into a musical force greater than the sum of its parts.