December 22, 2025 • 24 mins
Welcome to this special Top 5 of 2025 replay episode of Takin’ A Walk, where host Buzz Knight sits down with Patrick Simmons, the legendary guitarist, vocalist, and founding member of The Doobie Brothers. In this intimate conversation, Patrick opens up about five decades of rock and roll history, the creation of timeless classics, and the incredible journey of one of America’s most beloved rock bands.
The Doobie Brothers: An American Rock Institution
The Doobie Brothers have been a cornerstone of American rock music since their formation in San Jose, California in 1970. With Patrick Simmons as one of the founding members and principal songwriters, the band has sold over 50 million albums worldwide, earned four Grammy Awards, and created some of the most recognizable songs in rock history. From “Listen to the Music” and “Long Train Runnin’” to “Black Water” and “China Grove,” The Doobie Brothers have crafted a catalog of hits that spans generations and continues to resonate with music fans around the world.
In this episode, Patrick Simmons, founding member of The Doobie Brothers shares the inside music history stories behind these iconic classic rock songs, discussing the creative process, the musical influences, and the collaborative spirit that made The Doobie Brothers one of the most successful rock bands of the 1970s and beyond. As a guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter, Patrick’s contributions to the band’s signature sound are immeasurable, and his insights into the music industry provide a fascinating look at what it takes to sustain a career at the highest levels of rock and roll.
For The Doobie Brothers, the road has been both a proving ground and a second home. Patrick shares stories from decades of touring, from their early days playing small clubs and theaters to headlining stadiums and amphitheaters around the world. The band’s live performances have always been a crucial part of their identity, with extended jams, intricate three-guitar arrangements, and powerful vocal harmonies the Enduring Legacy of The Doobie Brothers
Join the Walk
Takin’ A Walk with Buzz Knight brings you intimate conversations with legendary musicians, exploring the stories behind the music that has shaped our lives. This replay episode with Patrick Simmons captures the essence of what makes great music endure and reminds us why The Doobie Brothers remain one of rock’s most treasured bands.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Buzzsnight and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
And as we close out twenty twenty five, we're going
through our top five most listened to episodes of twenty
twenty five on the Taken a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
So here's number five.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Today's episode first ran back in March of twenty twenty five.
It features a true rock and roll legend, Patrick Simmons,
founding member and guitarist of The Doobie Brothers for over
five decades. Patrick has been the creative force behind some
of the band's most iconic songs, from Blackwater to South
(00:36):
City Midnight Lady, we dive into his incredible journey through
the evolution of rock music, his songwriting process, and the
stories behind the hits that have defined generations. It's an
intimate conversation with one of music's most respected and enduring talents.
Next on the Taking a Walk Podcast, number five of
(00:59):
twenty twenty five, Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers Taking
a Walk.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Patrick Simmons, Great to have you on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Thank you, Buzz, great to be here, appreciate your taking
the time.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
So, since the podcast is called Taking a Walk, if
you could take a walk with someone living or dead.
It doesn't have to be in the music world, but
it certainly could be.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Who would it be and where would you take a walk?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
I'd probably take a walk with Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter,
and I don't care where we walk. We don't have
to walk where you just stand there wherever they want
to walk. That's where I'd be going.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
That's a powerful group, man.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
You get the Secret Service out of the way, and
you guys could have some peace and quiet.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Right, Yeah, we don't need it.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
So talk about the beginning of the journey, the Patrick
Simmons Doobie Brothers journey. How did it start and how
did you first become a Doobie.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, let's see, Well, I was living in San Jose.
I grew up in San Jose. I was, you know,
been playing around town since I was a young teenager,
clubs and stuff around the area. And you know, I've
been in quite a few different bands, you know, high
(02:28):
school bands and stuff, and a little bit when I
was in college and I was playing a club one
night in a suburb of San Jose. Uh and Uh.
I got booked with Skip Spence and the band that
he had at the time, and it turns out that
(02:50):
the band was made up of Skip. Skip was a
guitar player with a band called Moby Grape he had
and it was also the first drummer of the Jefferson Airplane.
But anyway, I had a little duo with another guy
and we opened the show and Skip was there with
his band, which was John Hartman on drums, who later
(03:14):
became the first Doobie Brother drummer, Tom Johnston guitar player
for the Doobies eventually, and another guy that they had
planned bas at the time, And so we did a
set and then Skipping the guys did a set and
I knew Skip. I was friends with him, and so
(03:35):
I went up afterwards to say hi, and he introduced
me to Tom and John, which was really cool. I
really you know, they were great guys, and that was
sort of my introduction to those guys. And John informed
me that they were putting together a band and they
were trying to find some of the players. Would I
(03:57):
be interested And I said, no, I had a band,
the guys that I was playing with at the time,
but I would love to come and hang out because
I really like them as musicians. And and I really
thought they were great, both of them, and and I
(04:19):
thought Skip was going to be a part of it.
In turns how Skip wasn't. Uh So, anyway, I started
hanging out with the guys Tom and John, just going
over there and you know, jamming once in a while
and hanging out. We became friends, and I don't know,
it was probably six months later something like that. They
had a gig at a club in town called the
(04:40):
Chateau Libertay, which I had played at with some of
the guys prior to that time, but that was their
first gig. And they said, hey, we you know, would
you be interested. We need somebody to kind of help
us round out the set, and we need some more
songs to do an evening of music. Would you feel
(05:03):
like coming and sitting in with us and playing we
can rehearse, And so I said sure. And so we were
sitting around smoking some kind of herb herbal substance.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
God's Green Earth as Henry Dilts.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Exactly, and one of the guys who lived in the
house there said, God, you guys smoke so much of
weed you should call yourselves the Doobie Brothers. And so
we said, oh, that's a good idea. We don't have
a name. So we booked ourselves as the Doobie Brothers
from this first gig at the Chateau Libertae, which we
became kind of the house band after that. We ended
(05:43):
up going back there countless times and playing. That was
our first gig, and that was you know, we were
the Doobie Brothers on day one.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
And this guy Dino Rosen Keith Dinoh Rosen, I believe
he's the guy.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That suggested you call yourself the Doobies. Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It is correct, yeah, But you.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Thought you might find another name for the band.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Absolutely, you know, we thought that was a silly, you
know name, and that was just for that night. And then,
you know, we got a great favorable reaction at the
club when we played, and so we thought, well, you know,
and they asked us back. You know, hey, you got
you know, immediately called us and want us to come
back and play. So we thought, well, gosh, everybody thinks
(06:29):
we're the Doobie Brothers. We'll get to hang stick with
that name for a while anyway. And we thought, you know,
when we got when we start shopping a record deal,
we went to several few different record labels, and we
thought by the time we maybe if if we got
a deal, that we'd probably end up changing our name.
(06:50):
But Warner Brothers signed us and they really liked the name.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So were there any second or third choice names that
you remember?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
No, I don't think we ever after that. We never
really well, we thought it was going to be a problem. No,
because the it was a little early in the the
pot scene, for you know, a lot of people were
smoking pot. But you know now it's like everybody smokes pot.
(07:21):
We don't even smoke pot anymore. We're kind of over it.
Well everybody else I know.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Does It's funny how times have changed. Gambling's legal, pot's legal?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Right, Yeah, would have thought, right.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
So the band dynamics certainly were interesting when you guys
ran into this guy Jeff Skunk Baxter, right, which which
was an interesting time. How the Doobies and sort of
Steely Dan became intertwined. Can you talk about that period
(07:55):
when you first encountered Skunk and certainly he had a
great influence son the band.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
We had, you know, did a lot of shows with
Steely Dan, probably seventy two, nineteen seventy two. We went
on the road and we did a number of shows
with this. It was see it was Marshall Tucker opened,
Steely Dan played, we played, and then Savoy blues band
(08:30):
Kim Simmons. They were the headliners, and so that was
the bill for bands, and it was a large bill,
and we did a number of shows with that, all
those guys, and then we played some other shows later
on with Steee Dan, I think with the Beach Boys
maybe and some other some other bands. But we got
(08:55):
to be friends with those guys, and particularly Jeff is really,
you know, was very outgoing, and at that time, Jeff
was living in LA I think most of the guys
were living in la but Jeff would had really gotten
into the scene there doing sessions and stuff around town.
And I particularly got to be friends with Jeff and
(09:18):
I you know, when I would get down, I'd call
him and I'd go buy and we'd hang out. And
he had a little apartment in Hollywood there and I
would go visit him and at some point I said,
you know, would you come in and play some steel
on a song that I have, And so that was
the Captain and Me a song called South City Midnight
(09:40):
Lady and he's not, of course, and so I came
in and played him the song, and which you know,
further solidified our in a relationship. When we would come
to town, you know, I called him, I say, hey, Jeff,
come on down, you know you want to come and
hang out, you know, sit in with us if you want,
you know, feel like jammin on something. So he would
(10:01):
sit in and play with us from time to time
here and there when we were in the area. And
then it got to be like whenever we played anywhere,
he would show up anywhere in California, there was Jeff
and he would make the trip. You know, he just
got We got very tight as friends, and so that
(10:23):
was it. And then later on he left Steely Dan
and was kind of like hanging around. I think Tyrone,
I think the bass player said Jeff, you know, why
don't you come and play with us? And j ty
asked Tom and myself, you know, what do you think
about to have a Jemp sit in with us? And
(10:46):
and Hartman as well, And at that time we had
Michael Hassak playing drums and two drummers at that point,
but it was mainly you know, John and Tom and
myself that had you know, founded the band and Tyrant said,
you know, what do you think about having Jeff play
with us? And everybody said yeah, because we have this
relationship with the Moby Grape, uh you know, and I
(11:10):
mentioned Skip Spence Skip. We always had this vision. We
love the three guitars, and they all were just thextinct,
distinct kind of players, you know. Jerry was kind of
this country sort of the bop player, and Peter Lewis
was this picker and uh who else the and Skip
(11:34):
was this kind of crazy rock and roller. So we
kind of had those elements. You know. I was kind
of a little country you know, not be bop exactly,
but I like, you know, played the blues, and Jeff
was a great kind of bee bopper, and then Tommy
was a hard rocking guy. And so we had all
the elements that we were looking that we you know,
(11:54):
sort of projected on ourselves to be that kind of
a band with the three guitar players. So having Jeff,
you know, kind of it was a natural progression. So
Jeff went became a member and was for along quite
a while.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
And ultimately made the recommendation for Michael McDonald to join
the band.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
He did. I had been to see Steely Dan soon
after Michael joined the band was they brought him on.
They had about three, three or four background singers at
one point. Royce Jones was the guy. David Palmer had
been in there at the beginning, and then they had
(12:38):
a gal that was singing back up, maybe more than one.
And Mike had been brought into just sing backgrounds and
play keyboards, and I thought he was fantastic. And then
Jeff mentioned when Tommy took a leave of absence, just said, well,
I know, how about Mike McConaughey. Remember that guy. I go, Yeah,
he's great. He goes, what do you think? I go,
(13:00):
you should call him? And so Mike joined, and you know,
we had that we had a new element, which we
all kind of liked because we had a lot of
keyboards on our songs in the studio. So you know,
that was for me a great attraction right there. But
I didn't really think of anything except Mike. Mike was
going to be a background singer and I was going
(13:21):
to end up having to take over the lead vocals slot.
And pleasantly surprised that Mike was a great singer and
kind of took the weight off my shoulders, and it
turned out he was just you know, a super talent.
So he more than took the weight off my shoulders,
he took the spotlight, which was fine with me. I
(13:45):
loved everything he did, and he brought us a wonderful
element to the band.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
And then taking it to the streets with an incredible
album nineteen seventy six produced by Ted Templeman.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
How did you encounter Ted?
Speaker 5 (14:05):
And then when you think about the whole process of
putting together taking it to the streets, what can you
tell me about that?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
It was really, you know.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Such an amazing point in the Doobie Brothers career.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
When we actually we hadn't been signed to Warner Brothers yet,
but they, you know, they were interested in the band,
and they sent Lenny Warrenker, who was you know, became
actually the president I think of Warner Brothers at one point,
and Ted was sort of a new producer there at
(14:41):
the label, and they he was sort of under Lenny
had ticket him under his wing and was you know,
teaching the ropes and so they both came to see
us play. We played at the Chateau, which was you know,
at that point, we were the house band more or
less so so and Lenny flew up San Jose and
(15:03):
came to see it that chateau, and there were these
two really straight looking guys in the club, and you know,
it was frequented by you know, the Hell's Angels. There
were always a dozen Hells Angels in the club, and
you know, all the outrageous mountain people, hippies, you know,
(15:24):
dressed in you know, crazy outfits and just a real
wild scene. People smoking weed openly in the club or
outside the door anyway. And so you know, their eyes
were as big as saucers and club I looked across,
I knew it was them immediately. They were sitting at
the stable across the room and Sauce play and they
(15:48):
love this and they had already, you know, really liked
the demo we sent them, but seeing us play solidified
our commitment or their you know, Warner's commitment to us.
So they produced our first record together, and then we
went on to do a second record and Lenny bowed
(16:09):
out let Ted take over. So Ted did all the
records from then on up through One Step Closer. So
he did eight or ten records for us. Ted was
fabulous producer. He just really was really great. The difference
between our first album and our second album or Day
and Night. Not that Lenny wasn't a great producer, but
(16:32):
he had a different vision for kind of who we
were in our identity, and Ted had a better vision for,
you know, how to make us more appealing to an audience.
And so that was how we got together with Ted.
An album before taking to the streets. I think it
(16:53):
was Stampede had been the album before, and we were
kind of on a roll. Every album that we put out,
you know, did we did pretty well at We had
some successful commercial songs, and you know, the audience was
growing all the time. And then Tommy was out, and
of course we were all like, oh no, what are
(17:15):
we going to do now? And Ted said, well, you know,
my vision is you're going to have to take over
the the bulk of the writing and the singing, Pat
and we'll see where it goes from there. And when
I heard Mike sing, I got well, this guy is
a super talent and I think he can bring something
(17:36):
new to the band, and it's it was a leap
of faith on my part and a huge leap of
faith or Ted and the label and I basically had
to talk kind of talk him into it. Ted didn't
take much talking into things with Ted once he heard
Mike sing and heard his songs. Ted knows good music
(18:00):
when he hears it, and a good song, so, you know,
we just kind of went forward. We knew we had
to make a change because Tommy was you know, he
had he wasn't feeling well and he was kind of
he had lost his passion for the band. He really
was kind of intent on seeking his own path and
(18:23):
wanted to try some other things. And I get that.
We got we got it at the time, but at
the same time, we didn't know where we're going to
go with things. As it turned out, you know, we
landed on our feet. But fan goodness for Mike, thinks
to Ted for seeing the potential, and thanks to Warner
(18:43):
Brothers for allowing us to make the change. They weren't
confident of it at all, and in fact, the head
of promotions had approached me prior to that record coming
out and sort of read me the Riot Act and
what I think I was doing? You know, who did
I think I was? And I tried to explain to
(19:05):
him that, you know, this wasn't something that that I
was hoping for or trying to promote. It was just
what we were left with and we were making the
best of it. Luckily, that guy got shown the door,
not because of anything I said, but I think he
probably opened his mouth too many times to say the
(19:29):
similar thing to other people about their endeavors, and so
they let him go. We had a new guy that
again saw our potential and got behind it. So I
mean it was pretty much where we thought we were
going to be treading water. We were they one strong,
so was up from there and we're lucky, to say the.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Least, and sale and strong. Patrick Simmons into twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Five with a new album and tell me about that project,
how you're feeling about it, and then ultimately you guys
will be hitting the road and going out to your
loyal fan base.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
The road is our is our Master. The album's Walk
this Road. And that was a song that Mike wrote
with John Shanks, kind of a gospel inspired tune if
you will, pretty rocking gospel blues kind of thing, and
we all sang, we all played. It was really, you know,
(20:36):
a great moment for us because really Tom and Mike
and myself we haven't put this much into a record
as the three of us as writers like ever, so
this is, you know, like having a new direction, if
you will. We worked a little bit on taking it
(20:56):
to the streets, but Tom didn't really contribute much that
way of writing and a minimal amount of playing this record.
Everybody contributed and there's a lot more going on in
terms of contribution from three of us. And then John
McPhee is as usual playing his butt off. But yeah,
(21:18):
it's just a great moment for the band. Everybody contributed songs,
work closely with the producer to make it happen. We
work with each other, you know, very supportive process that
we had, and you know, it's nice to have new
(21:40):
music to play for the audiences, you know. I think
that's probably it's always something at least for us, and
I've got to think it's common for most most bands,
Like you'll love to have something new to play for folks.
Whether it's going to be something they're going to attach
themselves to or not, it's still you know, you're attached
(22:02):
to it and it's meaningful and there's a lot more passion,
if you will, in those moments when you have the
opportunity to play some new songs for people and you know,
see how it goes and see how people respond to that.
We have been doing Walk This Road and it didn't
get great response. And in my opinion, it's it's it's
(22:28):
a great song and I love it. We have. By
the way, Mayvis Staples sings on the track too, I
think she'd knock my songs up. See oop, I have
no sock sign.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
And I love that. So that's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
You know, Mayvis is so fantastic. But anyway, as I
started to say, it's a great song, but I don't
think it isn't the best live track that we have.
We got some great, great songs that I think are
going to translate in a live setting that they're going
to be really great for us. So you know, again
(23:10):
it's always it's always fun to have new music. And
I think our core audience appreciates that. The average person,
they just play us the hits. You know, I just
want to hear that, I just want to live go
down memory Lane, and we get that and we love that,
you know, the opportunity we have as well. But like
I say, the moments are probably the most fun or
when you get placed some new music and your a
(23:33):
little off balance when you're doing that. I think that's
important as a musician to have to be a little
bit unsure about where things are going, and they try
that much harder. You know though, I think that's important.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Patrick Simmons, I'm so grateful that you came on Taking
a Walk. It's a real thrill and I'm so appreciative
for the music you and the band continue to give us.
It's the soundtrack of our life and it continues to
just lift us up and make us feel good. I'm
really grateful you took the time to be on, Patrick.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, it's so nice of you, Buzz and walk this road.
We're walking and walking that road with you right now.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Perfect. Thank you, Patrick, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Thank you, Buzz. Thanks for listening to this episode of
the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow
us so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Taking a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (24:33):
App, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
Taking a Walk.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
I'm Buzzsnight and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.
And as we close out twenty twenty five, we're going
through our top five most listened to episodes of twenty
twenty five on the Taken a Walk Podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:14):
So here's number five.
Speaker 4 (00:16):
Today's episode first ran back in March of twenty twenty five.
It features a true rock and roll legend, Patrick Simmons,
founding member and guitarist of The Doobie Brothers for over
five decades. Patrick has been the creative force behind some
of the band's most iconic songs, from Blackwater to South
(00:36):
City Midnight Lady, we dive into his incredible journey through
the evolution of rock music, his songwriting process, and the
stories behind the hits that have defined generations. It's an
intimate conversation with one of music's most respected and enduring talents.
Next on the Taking a Walk Podcast, number five of
(00:59):
twenty twenty five, Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers Taking
a Walk.
Speaker 3 (01:08):
Patrick Simmons, Great to have you on Taking a Walk.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Thank you, Buzz, great to be here, appreciate your taking
the time.
Speaker 5 (01:15):
So, since the podcast is called Taking a Walk, if
you could take a walk with someone living or dead.
It doesn't have to be in the music world, but
it certainly could be.
Speaker 3 (01:28):
Who would it be and where would you take a walk?
Speaker 1 (01:33):
I'd probably take a walk with Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter,
and I don't care where we walk. We don't have
to walk where you just stand there wherever they want
to walk. That's where I'd be going.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
That's a powerful group, man.
Speaker 5 (01:49):
You get the Secret Service out of the way, and
you guys could have some peace and quiet.
Speaker 1 (01:53):
Right, Yeah, we don't need it.
Speaker 5 (01:57):
So talk about the beginning of the journey, the Patrick
Simmons Doobie Brothers journey. How did it start and how
did you first become a Doobie.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
Well, let's see, Well, I was living in San Jose.
I grew up in San Jose. I was, you know,
been playing around town since I was a young teenager,
clubs and stuff around the area. And you know, I've
been in quite a few different bands, you know, high
(02:28):
school bands and stuff, and a little bit when I
was in college and I was playing a club one
night in a suburb of San Jose. Uh and Uh.
I got booked with Skip Spence and the band that
he had at the time, and it turns out that
(02:50):
the band was made up of Skip. Skip was a
guitar player with a band called Moby Grape he had
and it was also the first drummer of the Jefferson Airplane.
But anyway, I had a little duo with another guy
and we opened the show and Skip was there with
his band, which was John Hartman on drums, who later
(03:14):
became the first Doobie Brother drummer, Tom Johnston guitar player
for the Doobies eventually, and another guy that they had
planned bas at the time, And so we did a
set and then Skipping the guys did a set and
I knew Skip. I was friends with him, and so
(03:35):
I went up afterwards to say hi, and he introduced
me to Tom and John, which was really cool. I
really you know, they were great guys, and that was
sort of my introduction to those guys. And John informed
me that they were putting together a band and they
were trying to find some of the players. Would I
(03:57):
be interested And I said, no, I had a band,
the guys that I was playing with at the time,
but I would love to come and hang out because
I really like them as musicians. And and I really
thought they were great, both of them, and and I
(04:19):
thought Skip was going to be a part of it.
In turns how Skip wasn't. Uh So, anyway, I started
hanging out with the guys Tom and John, just going
over there and you know, jamming once in a while
and hanging out. We became friends, and I don't know,
it was probably six months later something like that. They
had a gig at a club in town called the
(04:40):
Chateau Libertay, which I had played at with some of
the guys prior to that time, but that was their
first gig. And they said, hey, we you know, would
you be interested. We need somebody to kind of help
us round out the set, and we need some more
songs to do an evening of music. Would you feel
(05:03):
like coming and sitting in with us and playing we
can rehearse, And so I said sure. And so we were
sitting around smoking some kind of herb herbal substance.
Speaker 3 (05:17):
God's Green Earth as Henry Dilts.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
Exactly, and one of the guys who lived in the
house there said, God, you guys smoke so much of
weed you should call yourselves the Doobie Brothers. And so
we said, oh, that's a good idea. We don't have
a name. So we booked ourselves as the Doobie Brothers
from this first gig at the Chateau Libertae, which we
became kind of the house band after that. We ended
(05:43):
up going back there countless times and playing. That was
our first gig, and that was you know, we were
the Doobie Brothers on day one.
Speaker 5 (05:52):
And this guy Dino Rosen Keith Dinoh Rosen, I believe
he's the guy.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
That suggested you call yourself the Doobies. Is that correct?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
It is correct, yeah, But you.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
Thought you might find another name for the band.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Absolutely, you know, we thought that was a silly, you
know name, and that was just for that night. And then,
you know, we got a great favorable reaction at the
club when we played, and so we thought, well, you know,
and they asked us back. You know, hey, you got
you know, immediately called us and want us to come
back and play. So we thought, well, gosh, everybody thinks
(06:29):
we're the Doobie Brothers. We'll get to hang stick with
that name for a while anyway. And we thought, you know,
when we got when we start shopping a record deal,
we went to several few different record labels, and we
thought by the time we maybe if if we got
a deal, that we'd probably end up changing our name.
(06:50):
But Warner Brothers signed us and they really liked the name.
Speaker 3 (06:53):
So were there any second or third choice names that
you remember?
Speaker 1 (07:00):
No, I don't think we ever after that. We never
really well, we thought it was going to be a problem. No,
because the it was a little early in the the
pot scene, for you know, a lot of people were
smoking pot. But you know now it's like everybody smokes pot.
(07:21):
We don't even smoke pot anymore. We're kind of over it.
Well everybody else I know.
Speaker 5 (07:25):
Does It's funny how times have changed. Gambling's legal, pot's legal?
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Right, Yeah, would have thought, right.
Speaker 3 (07:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (07:35):
So the band dynamics certainly were interesting when you guys
ran into this guy Jeff Skunk Baxter, right, which which
was an interesting time. How the Doobies and sort of
Steely Dan became intertwined. Can you talk about that period
(07:55):
when you first encountered Skunk and certainly he had a
great influence son the band.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
We had, you know, did a lot of shows with
Steely Dan, probably seventy two, nineteen seventy two. We went
on the road and we did a number of shows
with this. It was see it was Marshall Tucker opened,
Steely Dan played, we played, and then Savoy blues band
(08:30):
Kim Simmons. They were the headliners, and so that was
the bill for bands, and it was a large bill,
and we did a number of shows with that, all
those guys, and then we played some other shows later
on with Steee Dan, I think with the Beach Boys
maybe and some other some other bands. But we got
(08:55):
to be friends with those guys, and particularly Jeff is really,
you know, was very outgoing, and at that time, Jeff
was living in LA I think most of the guys
were living in la but Jeff would had really gotten
into the scene there doing sessions and stuff around town.
And I particularly got to be friends with Jeff and
(09:18):
I you know, when I would get down, I'd call
him and I'd go buy and we'd hang out. And
he had a little apartment in Hollywood there and I
would go visit him and at some point I said,
you know, would you come in and play some steel
on a song that I have, And so that was
the Captain and Me a song called South City Midnight
(09:40):
Lady and he's not, of course, and so I came
in and played him the song, and which you know,
further solidified our in a relationship. When we would come
to town, you know, I called him, I say, hey, Jeff,
come on down, you know you want to come and
hang out, you know, sit in with us if you want,
you know, feel like jammin on something. So he would
(10:01):
sit in and play with us from time to time
here and there when we were in the area. And
then it got to be like whenever we played anywhere,
he would show up anywhere in California, there was Jeff
and he would make the trip. You know, he just
got We got very tight as friends, and so that
(10:23):
was it. And then later on he left Steely Dan
and was kind of like hanging around. I think Tyrone,
I think the bass player said Jeff, you know, why
don't you come and play with us? And j ty
asked Tom and myself, you know, what do you think
about to have a Jemp sit in with us? And
(10:46):
and Hartman as well, And at that time we had
Michael Hassak playing drums and two drummers at that point,
but it was mainly you know, John and Tom and
myself that had you know, founded the band and Tyrant said,
you know, what do you think about having Jeff play
with us? And everybody said yeah, because we have this
relationship with the Moby Grape, uh you know, and I
(11:10):
mentioned Skip Spence Skip. We always had this vision. We
love the three guitars, and they all were just thextinct,
distinct kind of players, you know. Jerry was kind of
this country sort of the bop player, and Peter Lewis
was this picker and uh who else the and Skip
(11:34):
was this kind of crazy rock and roller. So we
kind of had those elements. You know. I was kind
of a little country you know, not be bop exactly,
but I like, you know, played the blues, and Jeff
was a great kind of bee bopper, and then Tommy
was a hard rocking guy. And so we had all
the elements that we were looking that we you know,
(11:54):
sort of projected on ourselves to be that kind of
a band with the three guitar players. So having Jeff,
you know, kind of it was a natural progression. So
Jeff went became a member and was for along quite
a while.
Speaker 5 (12:11):
And ultimately made the recommendation for Michael McDonald to join
the band.
Speaker 3 (12:16):
Is that right?
Speaker 1 (12:17):
He did. I had been to see Steely Dan soon
after Michael joined the band was they brought him on.
They had about three, three or four background singers at
one point. Royce Jones was the guy. David Palmer had
been in there at the beginning, and then they had
(12:38):
a gal that was singing back up, maybe more than one.
And Mike had been brought into just sing backgrounds and
play keyboards, and I thought he was fantastic. And then
Jeff mentioned when Tommy took a leave of absence, just said, well,
I know, how about Mike McConaughey. Remember that guy. I go, Yeah,
he's great. He goes, what do you think? I go,
(13:00):
you should call him? And so Mike joined, and you know,
we had that we had a new element, which we
all kind of liked because we had a lot of
keyboards on our songs in the studio. So you know,
that was for me a great attraction right there. But
I didn't really think of anything except Mike. Mike was
going to be a background singer and I was going
(13:21):
to end up having to take over the lead vocals slot.
And pleasantly surprised that Mike was a great singer and
kind of took the weight off my shoulders, and it
turned out he was just you know, a super talent.
So he more than took the weight off my shoulders,
he took the spotlight, which was fine with me. I
(13:45):
loved everything he did, and he brought us a wonderful
element to the band.
Speaker 5 (13:52):
And then taking it to the streets with an incredible
album nineteen seventy six produced by Ted Templeman.
Speaker 3 (14:02):
How did you encounter Ted?
Speaker 5 (14:05):
And then when you think about the whole process of
putting together taking it to the streets, what can you
tell me about that?
Speaker 3 (14:12):
It was really, you know.
Speaker 5 (14:13):
Such an amazing point in the Doobie Brothers career.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
When we actually we hadn't been signed to Warner Brothers yet,
but they, you know, they were interested in the band,
and they sent Lenny Warrenker, who was you know, became
actually the president I think of Warner Brothers at one point,
and Ted was sort of a new producer there at
(14:41):
the label, and they he was sort of under Lenny
had ticket him under his wing and was you know,
teaching the ropes and so they both came to see
us play. We played at the Chateau, which was you know,
at that point, we were the house band more or
less so so and Lenny flew up San Jose and
(15:03):
came to see it that chateau, and there were these
two really straight looking guys in the club, and you know,
it was frequented by you know, the Hell's Angels. There
were always a dozen Hells Angels in the club, and
you know, all the outrageous mountain people, hippies, you know,
(15:24):
dressed in you know, crazy outfits and just a real
wild scene. People smoking weed openly in the club or
outside the door anyway. And so you know, their eyes
were as big as saucers and club I looked across,
I knew it was them immediately. They were sitting at
the stable across the room and Sauce play and they
(15:48):
love this and they had already, you know, really liked
the demo we sent them, but seeing us play solidified
our commitment or their you know, Warner's commitment to us.
So they produced our first record together, and then we
went on to do a second record and Lenny bowed
(16:09):
out let Ted take over. So Ted did all the
records from then on up through One Step Closer. So
he did eight or ten records for us. Ted was
fabulous producer. He just really was really great. The difference
between our first album and our second album or Day
and Night. Not that Lenny wasn't a great producer, but
(16:32):
he had a different vision for kind of who we
were in our identity, and Ted had a better vision for,
you know, how to make us more appealing to an audience.
And so that was how we got together with Ted.
An album before taking to the streets. I think it
(16:53):
was Stampede had been the album before, and we were
kind of on a roll. Every album that we put out,
you know, did we did pretty well at We had
some successful commercial songs, and you know, the audience was
growing all the time. And then Tommy was out, and
of course we were all like, oh no, what are
(17:15):
we going to do now? And Ted said, well, you know,
my vision is you're going to have to take over
the the bulk of the writing and the singing, Pat
and we'll see where it goes from there. And when
I heard Mike sing, I got well, this guy is
a super talent and I think he can bring something
(17:36):
new to the band, and it's it was a leap
of faith on my part and a huge leap of
faith or Ted and the label and I basically had
to talk kind of talk him into it. Ted didn't
take much talking into things with Ted once he heard
Mike sing and heard his songs. Ted knows good music
(18:00):
when he hears it, and a good song, so, you know,
we just kind of went forward. We knew we had
to make a change because Tommy was you know, he
had he wasn't feeling well and he was kind of
he had lost his passion for the band. He really
was kind of intent on seeking his own path and
(18:23):
wanted to try some other things. And I get that.
We got we got it at the time, but at
the same time, we didn't know where we're going to
go with things. As it turned out, you know, we
landed on our feet. But fan goodness for Mike, thinks
to Ted for seeing the potential, and thanks to Warner
(18:43):
Brothers for allowing us to make the change. They weren't
confident of it at all, and in fact, the head
of promotions had approached me prior to that record coming
out and sort of read me the Riot Act and
what I think I was doing? You know, who did
I think I was? And I tried to explain to
(19:05):
him that, you know, this wasn't something that that I
was hoping for or trying to promote. It was just
what we were left with and we were making the
best of it. Luckily, that guy got shown the door,
not because of anything I said, but I think he
probably opened his mouth too many times to say the
(19:29):
similar thing to other people about their endeavors, and so
they let him go. We had a new guy that
again saw our potential and got behind it. So I
mean it was pretty much where we thought we were
going to be treading water. We were they one strong,
so was up from there and we're lucky, to say the.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Least, and sale and strong. Patrick Simmons into twenty twenty.
Speaker 5 (19:59):
Five with a new album and tell me about that project,
how you're feeling about it, and then ultimately you guys
will be hitting the road and going out to your
loyal fan base.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
The road is our is our Master. The album's Walk
this Road. And that was a song that Mike wrote
with John Shanks, kind of a gospel inspired tune if
you will, pretty rocking gospel blues kind of thing, and
we all sang, we all played. It was really, you know,
(20:36):
a great moment for us because really Tom and Mike
and myself we haven't put this much into a record
as the three of us as writers like ever, so
this is, you know, like having a new direction, if
you will. We worked a little bit on taking it
(20:56):
to the streets, but Tom didn't really contribute much that
way of writing and a minimal amount of playing this record.
Everybody contributed and there's a lot more going on in
terms of contribution from three of us. And then John
McPhee is as usual playing his butt off. But yeah,
(21:18):
it's just a great moment for the band. Everybody contributed songs,
work closely with the producer to make it happen. We
work with each other, you know, very supportive process that
we had, and you know, it's nice to have new
(21:40):
music to play for the audiences, you know. I think
that's probably it's always something at least for us, and
I've got to think it's common for most most bands,
Like you'll love to have something new to play for folks.
Whether it's going to be something they're going to attach
themselves to or not, it's still you know, you're attached
(22:02):
to it and it's meaningful and there's a lot more passion,
if you will, in those moments when you have the
opportunity to play some new songs for people and you know,
see how it goes and see how people respond to that.
We have been doing Walk This Road and it didn't
get great response. And in my opinion, it's it's it's
(22:28):
a great song and I love it. We have. By
the way, Mayvis Staples sings on the track too, I
think she'd knock my songs up. See oop, I have
no sock sign.
Speaker 3 (22:43):
And I love that. So that's outstanding.
Speaker 1 (22:47):
You know, Mayvis is so fantastic. But anyway, as I
started to say, it's a great song, but I don't
think it isn't the best live track that we have.
We got some great, great songs that I think are
going to translate in a live setting that they're going
to be really great for us. So you know, again
(23:10):
it's always it's always fun to have new music. And
I think our core audience appreciates that. The average person,
they just play us the hits. You know, I just
want to hear that, I just want to live go
down memory Lane, and we get that and we love that,
you know, the opportunity we have as well. But like
I say, the moments are probably the most fun or
when you get placed some new music and your a
(23:33):
little off balance when you're doing that. I think that's
important as a musician to have to be a little
bit unsure about where things are going, and they try
that much harder. You know though, I think that's important.
Speaker 5 (23:47):
Patrick Simmons, I'm so grateful that you came on Taking
a Walk. It's a real thrill and I'm so appreciative
for the music you and the band continue to give us.
It's the soundtrack of our life and it continues to
just lift us up and make us feel good. I'm
really grateful you took the time to be on, Patrick.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Yeah, it's so nice of you, Buzz and walk this road.
We're walking and walking that road with you right now.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Perfect. Thank you, Patrick, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
Thank you, Buzz. Thanks for listening to this episode of
the Taking a Walk podcast.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow
us so you never miss an episode.
Speaker 3 (24:31):
Taking a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio
Speaker 1 (24:33):
App, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.
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