Johnston, McDonald and singer- guitarist Patrick Simmons - the only member who’s been part of every Doobies permutation - appear together on just five of the new album’s 10 tracks, and for the most part their contributions are limited to background vocals on the songs they didn’t write. What makes Walk This Road a Doobie Brothers album rather than a compilation of solo tracks is the cementing presence of John Shanks. As on 2021’s Liberté, the veteran producer and songwriter co-wrote, produced and played on every track, but the returning McDonald has brought a new challenge to the collaboration.
Shanks worked up the songs from scratch in the studio with each of the three principals, then deftly mixed and matched the performances of multi-instrumentalist John McFee and a platoon of hand-picked session musicians, bringing coherence to the album.
Shanks couldn’t have pulled it off, of course, without inspired song ideas and performances from the three alternating frontmen. The opening title song, a gospel- flavoured call for togetherness, sets the album’s introspective tone. McDonald sings the first verse with characteristic conviction. “Walk this road with me/And we’llseejustwhere it goes”, he begins. “Longas we're together/It will always take us home”. Blending their voices with McDonald’s in the first chorus, Johnston, Simmons and guest vocalist Mavis Staples each sing a verse, giving the track a life- affirming, communal feel.
On the following “Angels & Mercy”, Simmons delivers the prayerful lyric amid a cascade of finger-picked guitars, mandolin and Dobro and a galloping groove from drummer Victor Indrizzo.
A few songs later, Simmons reiterates his preoccupation with salvation on the mid- tempo ballad “State Of Grace”, its solemn tone underpinned by John McFee’s yearning pedal steel and a billowing Pino Palladino bassline.
Johnston shows his longstanding knack for making a newly written song seem like a familiar Doobies classic on the Al Green-inspired, horn-driven rocker “Call Me” - and this despite the fact that he’s the only bandmember on the track. He peers inward on the redemptive “Here To Stay", confessing, “Came so close to losing/ I almost said goodbye/ And I changed my way of thinking/Now everything's all right”. The presence of Simmons and McDonald on backing vocals renders the song even more elegiacally poignant.
Every time McDonald steps up to the plate, he hits it out of the park, embedding words of hard- earned wisdom in regally soulful, keyboard-driven soundscapes that bear his distinctive sonic signature from the opening bars. The emotional impact of the nocturne “Learn To Let Go”, an inner dialogue in which McDonald reassures himself that he’s finally on the right track, is deepened by a brief but eloquent guitar solo, presumably by Simmons. New Orleans”, Simmons’ return to “Black Water” country, follows McDonald’s Meters/Little Feat-style groovefest “The Kind That Lasts” to form a sort of Crescent Citymedley. Butit’shis “Speed Of Pain” - whose heart-wrenching lyric unfolds with a cavalcade of hooks, building through a delectable pre-chorus and bridge to a glorious payoff - that provides the album with its most indelible moments.
On the closing “Lahaina”, Simmons reflects on the devastating wildfire that swept through the Hawaiian town he’s called home for nearly three decades, supported by fellow Maui resident Mick Fleetwood on drums and Hawaiians Jake Shimabukuro and Henry Kapono on ukulele and backing vocals respectively.
Throughout, the band show no interest in modernising their long-established sound, and with Shanks’ help, these septuagenarians have made a Doobie Brothers album that sounds like it was recorded by their much younger selves, and the passing years haven’t blunted their vibrancy. Walk This Road is a testament to sheer resilience. And that’s no small achievement.
Every time McDonald steps up to the plate, he hits it out of the park, embedding words of hard- earned wisdom in regally soulful, keyboard-driven soundscapes that bear his distinctive sonic signature from the opening bars. The emotional impact of the nocturne “Learn To Let Go”, an inner dialogue in which McDonald reassures himself that he’s finally on the right track, is deepened by a brief but eloquent guitar solo, presumably by Simmons. New Orleans”, Simmons’ return to “Black Water” country, follows McDonald’s Meters/Little Feat-style groovefest “The Kind That Lasts” to form a sort of Crescent Citymedley. Butit’shis “Speed Of Pain” - whose heart-wrenching lyric unfolds with a cavalcade of hooks, building through a delectable pre-chorus and bridge to a glorious payoff - that provides the album with its most indelible moments.
On the closing “Lahaina”, Simmons reflects on the devastating wildfire that swept through the Hawaiian town he’s called home for nearly three decades, supported by fellow Maui resident Mick Fleetwood on drums and Hawaiians Jake Shimabukuro and Henry Kapono on ukulele and backing vocals respectively.
Throughout, the band show no interest in modernising their long-established sound, and with Shanks’ help, these septuagenarians have made a Doobie Brothers album that sounds like it was recorded by their much younger selves, and the passing years haven’t blunted their vibrancy. Walk This Road is a testament to sheer resilience. And that’s no small achievement.
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