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Speaker 1: Taking a Walk.

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Speaker 2: I'm Buzzsnight and welcome to the Taking a Walk Podcast.

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Speaker 2: And as we close out twenty twenty five, we're going

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Speaker 2: through our top five most listened to episodes of twenty

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Speaker 2: twenty five on the Taken a Walk Podcast.

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Speaker 3: So here's number five.

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Speaker 4: Today's episode first ran back in March of twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 4: It features a true rock and roll legend, Patrick Simmons,

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Speaker 4: founding member and guitarist of The Doobie Brothers for over

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Speaker 4: five decades. Patrick has been the creative force behind some

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Speaker 4: of the band's most iconic songs, from Blackwater to South

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Speaker 4: City Midnight Lady, we dive into his incredible journey through

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Speaker 4: the evolution of rock music, his songwriting process, and the

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Speaker 4: stories behind the hits that have defined generations. It's an

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Speaker 4: intimate conversation with one of music's most respected and enduring talents.

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Speaker 4: Next on the Taking a Walk Podcast, number five of

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Speaker 4: twenty twenty five, Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers Taking

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Speaker 4: a Walk.

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Speaker 3: Patrick Simmons, Great to have you on Taking a Walk.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Buzz, great to be here, appreciate your taking

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Speaker 1: the time.

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Speaker 5: So, since the podcast is called Taking a Walk, if

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Speaker 5: you could take a walk with someone living or dead.

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Speaker 5: It doesn't have to be in the music world, but

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Speaker 5: it certainly could be.

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Speaker 3: Who would it be and where would you take a walk?

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Speaker 1: I'd probably take a walk with Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter,

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Speaker 1: and I don't care where we walk. We don't have

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Speaker 1: to walk where you just stand there wherever they want

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Speaker 1: to walk. That's where I'd be going.

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Speaker 3: That's a powerful group, man.

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Speaker 5: You get the Secret Service out of the way, and

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Speaker 5: you guys could have some peace and quiet.

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Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, we don't need it.

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Speaker 5: So talk about the beginning of the journey, the Patrick

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Speaker 5: Simmons Doobie Brothers journey. How did it start and how

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Speaker 5: did you first become a Doobie.

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Speaker 1: Well, let's see, Well, I was living in San Jose.

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Speaker 1: I grew up in San Jose. I was, you know,

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Speaker 1: been playing around town since I was a young teenager,

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Speaker 1: clubs and stuff around the area. And you know, I've

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Speaker 1: been in quite a few different bands, you know, high

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Speaker 1: school bands and stuff, and a little bit when I

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Speaker 1: was in college and I was playing a club one

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Speaker 1: night in a suburb of San Jose. Uh and Uh.

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Speaker 1: I got booked with Skip Spence and the band that

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Speaker 1: he had at the time, and it turns out that

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Speaker 1: the band was made up of Skip. Skip was a

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Speaker 1: guitar player with a band called Moby Grape he had

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Speaker 1: and it was also the first drummer of the Jefferson Airplane.

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Speaker 1: But anyway, I had a little duo with another guy

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Speaker 1: and we opened the show and Skip was there with

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Speaker 1: his band, which was John Hartman on drums, who later

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Speaker 1: became the first Doobie Brother drummer, Tom Johnston guitar player

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Speaker 1: for the Doobies eventually, and another guy that they had

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Speaker 1: planned bas at the time, And so we did a

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Speaker 1: set and then Skipping the guys did a set and

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Speaker 1: I knew Skip. I was friends with him, and so

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Speaker 1: I went up afterwards to say hi, and he introduced

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Speaker 1: me to Tom and John, which was really cool. I

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Speaker 1: really you know, they were great guys, and that was

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Speaker 1: sort of my introduction to those guys. And John informed

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Speaker 1: me that they were putting together a band and they

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Speaker 1: were trying to find some of the players. Would I

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Speaker 1: be interested And I said, no, I had a band,

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Speaker 1: the guys that I was playing with at the time,

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Speaker 1: but I would love to come and hang out because

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Speaker 1: I really like them as musicians. And and I really

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Speaker 1: thought they were great, both of them, and and I

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Speaker 1: thought Skip was going to be a part of it.

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Speaker 1: In turns how Skip wasn't. Uh So, anyway, I started

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Speaker 1: hanging out with the guys Tom and John, just going

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Speaker 1: over there and you know, jamming once in a while

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Speaker 1: and hanging out. We became friends, and I don't know,

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Speaker 1: it was probably six months later something like that. They

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Speaker 1: had a gig at a club in town called the

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Speaker 1: Chateau Libertay, which I had played at with some of

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Speaker 1: the guys prior to that time, but that was their

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Speaker 1: first gig. And they said, hey, we you know, would

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Speaker 1: you be interested. We need somebody to kind of help

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Speaker 1: us round out the set, and we need some more

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Speaker 1: songs to do an evening of music. Would you feel

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Speaker 1: like coming and sitting in with us and playing we

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Speaker 1: can rehearse, And so I said sure. And so we were

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Speaker 1: sitting around smoking some kind of herb herbal substance.

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Speaker 3: God's Green Earth as Henry Dilts.

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Speaker 1: Exactly, and one of the guys who lived in the

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Speaker 1: house there said, God, you guys smoke so much of

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Speaker 1: weed you should call yourselves the Doobie Brothers. And so

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Speaker 1: we said, oh, that's a good idea. We don't have

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Speaker 1: a name. So we booked ourselves as the Doobie Brothers

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Speaker 1: from this first gig at the Chateau Libertae, which we

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Speaker 1: became kind of the house band after that. We ended

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Speaker 1: up going back there countless times and playing. That was

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Speaker 1: our first gig, and that was you know, we were

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Speaker 1: the Doobie Brothers on day one.

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Speaker 5: And this guy Dino Rosen Keith Dinoh Rosen, I believe

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Speaker 5: he's the guy.

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Speaker 3: That suggested you call yourself the Doobies. Is that correct?

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Speaker 1: It is correct, yeah, But you.

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Speaker 3: Thought you might find another name for the band.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely, you know, we thought that was a silly, you

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Speaker 1: know name, and that was just for that night. And then,

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Speaker 1: you know, we got a great favorable reaction at the

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Speaker 1: club when we played, and so we thought, well, you know,

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Speaker 1: and they asked us back. You know, hey, you got

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Speaker 1: you know, immediately called us and want us to come

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Speaker 1: back and play. So we thought, well, gosh, everybody thinks

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Speaker 1: we're the Doobie Brothers. We'll get to hang stick with

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Speaker 1: that name for a while anyway. And we thought, you know,

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Speaker 1: when we got when we start shopping a record deal,

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Speaker 1: we went to several few different record labels, and we

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Speaker 1: thought by the time we maybe if if we got

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Speaker 1: a deal, that we'd probably end up changing our name.

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Speaker 1: But Warner Brothers signed us and they really liked the name.

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Speaker 3: So were there any second or third choice names that

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Speaker 3: you remember?

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Speaker 1: No, I don't think we ever after that. We never

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Speaker 1: really well, we thought it was going to be a problem. No,

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Speaker 1: because the it was a little early in the the

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Speaker 1: pot scene, for you know, a lot of people were

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Speaker 1: smoking pot. But you know now it's like everybody smokes pot.

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Speaker 1: We don't even smoke pot anymore. We're kind of over it.

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Speaker 1: Well everybody else I know.

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Speaker 5: Does It's funny how times have changed. Gambling's legal, pot's legal?

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Speaker 1: Right, Yeah, would have thought, right.

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Speaker 3: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: So the band dynamics certainly were interesting when you guys

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Speaker 5: ran into this guy Jeff Skunk Baxter, right, which which

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Speaker 5: was an interesting time. How the Doobies and sort of

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Speaker 5: Steely Dan became intertwined. Can you talk about that period

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Speaker 5: when you first encountered Skunk and certainly he had a

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Speaker 5: great influence son the band.

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Speaker 1: We had, you know, did a lot of shows with

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Speaker 1: Steely Dan, probably seventy two, nineteen seventy two. We went

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Speaker 1: on the road and we did a number of shows

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Speaker 1: with this. It was see it was Marshall Tucker opened,

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Speaker 1: Steely Dan played, we played, and then Savoy blues band

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Speaker 1: Kim Simmons. They were the headliners, and so that was

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Speaker 1: the bill for bands, and it was a large bill,

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Speaker 1: and we did a number of shows with that, all

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Speaker 1: those guys, and then we played some other shows later

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Speaker 1: on with Steee Dan, I think with the Beach Boys

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Speaker 1: maybe and some other some other bands. But we got

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Speaker 1: to be friends with those guys, and particularly Jeff is really,

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Speaker 1: you know, was very outgoing, and at that time, Jeff

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Speaker 1: was living in LA I think most of the guys

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Speaker 1: were living in la but Jeff would had really gotten

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Speaker 1: into the scene there doing sessions and stuff around town.

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Speaker 1: And I particularly got to be friends with Jeff and

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Speaker 1: I you know, when I would get down, I'd call

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Speaker 1: him and I'd go buy and we'd hang out. And

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Speaker 1: he had a little apartment in Hollywood there and I

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Speaker 1: would go visit him and at some point I said,

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Speaker 1: you know, would you come in and play some steel

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Speaker 1: on a song that I have, And so that was

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Speaker 1: the Captain and Me a song called South City Midnight

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Speaker 1: Lady and he's not, of course, and so I came

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Speaker 1: in and played him the song, and which you know,

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Speaker 1: further solidified our in a relationship. When we would come

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Speaker 1: to town, you know, I called him, I say, hey, Jeff,

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Speaker 1: come on down, you know you want to come and

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Speaker 1: hang out, you know, sit in with us if you want,

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Speaker 1: you know, feel like jammin on something. So he would

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Speaker 1: sit in and play with us from time to time

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Speaker 1: here and there when we were in the area. And

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Speaker 1: then it got to be like whenever we played anywhere,

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Speaker 1: he would show up anywhere in California, there was Jeff

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Speaker 1: and he would make the trip. You know, he just

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Speaker 1: got We got very tight as friends, and so that

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Speaker 1: was it. And then later on he left Steely Dan

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Speaker 1: and was kind of like hanging around. I think Tyrone,

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Speaker 1: I think the bass player said Jeff, you know, why

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Speaker 1: don't you come and play with us? And j ty

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Speaker 1: asked Tom and myself, you know, what do you think

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Speaker 1: about to have a Jemp sit in with us? And

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Speaker 1: and Hartman as well, And at that time we had

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Speaker 1: Michael Hassak playing drums and two drummers at that point,

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Speaker 1: but it was mainly you know, John and Tom and

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Speaker 1: myself that had you know, founded the band and Tyrant said,

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Speaker 1: you know, what do you think about having Jeff play

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Speaker 1: with us? And everybody said yeah, because we have this

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Speaker 1: relationship with the Moby Grape, uh you know, and I

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Speaker 1: mentioned Skip Spence Skip. We always had this vision. We

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Speaker 1: love the three guitars, and they all were just thextinct,

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Speaker 1: distinct kind of players, you know. Jerry was kind of

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Speaker 1: this country sort of the bop player, and Peter Lewis

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Speaker 1: was this picker and uh who else the and Skip

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Speaker 1: was this kind of crazy rock and roller. So we

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Speaker 1: kind of had those elements. You know. I was kind

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Speaker 1: of a little country you know, not be bop exactly,

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Speaker 1: but I like, you know, played the blues, and Jeff

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Speaker 1: was a great kind of bee bopper, and then Tommy

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Speaker 1: was a hard rocking guy. And so we had all

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Speaker 1: the elements that we were looking that we you know,

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Speaker 1: sort of projected on ourselves to be that kind of

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Speaker 1: a band with the three guitar players. So having Jeff,

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Speaker 1: you know, kind of it was a natural progression. So

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Speaker 1: Jeff went became a member and was for along quite

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Speaker 1: a while.

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Speaker 5: And ultimately made the recommendation for Michael McDonald to join

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Speaker 5: the band.

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Speaker 3: Is that right?

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Speaker 1: He did. I had been to see Steely Dan soon

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Speaker 1: after Michael joined the band was they brought him on.

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Speaker 1: They had about three, three or four background singers at

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Speaker 1: one point. Royce Jones was the guy. David Palmer had

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Speaker 1: been in there at the beginning, and then they had

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Speaker 1: a gal that was singing back up, maybe more than one.

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Speaker 1: And Mike had been brought into just sing backgrounds and

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Speaker 1: play keyboards, and I thought he was fantastic. And then

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Speaker 1: Jeff mentioned when Tommy took a leave of absence, just said, well,

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Speaker 1: I know, how about Mike McConaughey. Remember that guy. I go, Yeah,

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Speaker 1: he's great. He goes, what do you think? I go,

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Speaker 1: you should call him? And so Mike joined, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we had that we had a new element, which we

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Speaker 1: all kind of liked because we had a lot of

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Speaker 1: keyboards on our songs in the studio. So you know,

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Speaker 1: that was for me a great attraction right there. But

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Speaker 1: I didn't really think of anything except Mike. Mike was

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Speaker 1: going to be a background singer and I was going

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Speaker 1: to end up having to take over the lead vocals slot.

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Speaker 1: And pleasantly surprised that Mike was a great singer and

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Speaker 1: kind of took the weight off my shoulders, and it

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Speaker 1: turned out he was just you know, a super talent.

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Speaker 1: So he more than took the weight off my shoulders,

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Speaker 1: he took the spotlight, which was fine with me. I

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Speaker 1: loved everything he did, and he brought us a wonderful

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Speaker 1: element to the band.

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Speaker 5: And then taking it to the streets with an incredible

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Speaker 5: album nineteen seventy six produced by Ted Templeman.

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Speaker 3: How did you encounter Ted?

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Speaker 5: And then when you think about the whole process of

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Speaker 5: putting together taking it to the streets, what can you

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Speaker 5: tell me about that?

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Speaker 3: It was really, you know.

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Speaker 5: Such an amazing point in the Doobie Brothers career.

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Speaker 1: When we actually we hadn't been signed to Warner Brothers yet,

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Speaker 1: but they, you know, they were interested in the band,

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Speaker 1: and they sent Lenny Warrenker, who was you know, became

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Speaker 1: actually the president I think of Warner Brothers at one point,

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Speaker 1: and Ted was sort of a new producer there at

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Speaker 1: the label, and they he was sort of under Lenny

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Speaker 1: had ticket him under his wing and was you know,

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Speaker 1: teaching the ropes and so they both came to see

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Speaker 1: us play. We played at the Chateau, which was you know,

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Speaker 1: at that point, we were the house band more or

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Speaker 1: less so so and Lenny flew up San Jose and

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Speaker 1: came to see it that chateau, and there were these

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Speaker 1: two really straight looking guys in the club, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it was frequented by you know, the Hell's Angels. There

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Speaker 1: were always a dozen Hells Angels in the club, and

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Speaker 1: you know, all the outrageous mountain people, hippies, you know,

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Speaker 1: dressed in you know, crazy outfits and just a real

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Speaker 1: wild scene. People smoking weed openly in the club or

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Speaker 1: outside the door anyway. And so you know, their eyes

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Speaker 1: were as big as saucers and club I looked across,

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Speaker 1: I knew it was them immediately. They were sitting at

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Speaker 1: the stable across the room and Sauce play and they

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Speaker 1: love this and they had already, you know, really liked

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Speaker 1: the demo we sent them, but seeing us play solidified

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Speaker 1: our commitment or their you know, Warner's commitment to us.

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Speaker 1: So they produced our first record together, and then we

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Speaker 1: went on to do a second record and Lenny bowed

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Speaker 1: out let Ted take over. So Ted did all the

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Speaker 1: records from then on up through One Step Closer. So

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Speaker 1: he did eight or ten records for us. Ted was

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Speaker 1: fabulous producer. He just really was really great. The difference

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Speaker 1: between our first album and our second album or Day

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Speaker 1: and Night. Not that Lenny wasn't a great producer, but

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Speaker 1: he had a different vision for kind of who we

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Speaker 1: were in our identity, and Ted had a better vision for,

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Speaker 1: you know, how to make us more appealing to an audience.

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Speaker 1: And so that was how we got together with Ted.

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Speaker 1: An album before taking to the streets. I think it

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Speaker 1: was Stampede had been the album before, and we were

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Speaker 1: kind of on a roll. Every album that we put out,

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Speaker 1: you know, did we did pretty well at We had

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Speaker 1: some successful commercial songs, and you know, the audience was

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Speaker 1: growing all the time. And then Tommy was out, and

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Speaker 1: of course we were all like, oh no, what are

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Speaker 1: we going to do now? And Ted said, well, you know,

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Speaker 1: my vision is you're going to have to take over

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Speaker 1: the the bulk of the writing and the singing, Pat

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Speaker 1: and we'll see where it goes from there. And when

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Speaker 1: I heard Mike sing, I got well, this guy is

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Speaker 1: a super talent and I think he can bring something

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Speaker 1: new to the band, and it's it was a leap

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Speaker 1: of faith on my part and a huge leap of

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Speaker 1: faith or Ted and the label and I basically had

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Speaker 1: to talk kind of talk him into it. Ted didn't

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Speaker 1: take much talking into things with Ted once he heard

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Speaker 1: Mike sing and heard his songs. Ted knows good music

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Speaker 1: when he hears it, and a good song, so, you know,

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Speaker 1: we just kind of went forward. We knew we had

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Speaker 1: to make a change because Tommy was you know, he

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Speaker 1: had he wasn't feeling well and he was kind of

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Speaker 1: he had lost his passion for the band. He really

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Speaker 1: was kind of intent on seeking his own path and

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Speaker 1: wanted to try some other things. And I get that.

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Speaker 1: We got we got it at the time, but at

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Speaker 1: the same time, we didn't know where we're going to

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Speaker 1: go with things. As it turned out, you know, we

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Speaker 1: landed on our feet. But fan goodness for Mike, thinks

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Speaker 1: to Ted for seeing the potential, and thanks to Warner

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Speaker 1: Brothers for allowing us to make the change. They weren't

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Speaker 1: confident of it at all, and in fact, the head

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Speaker 1: of promotions had approached me prior to that record coming

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Speaker 1: out and sort of read me the Riot Act and

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Speaker 1: what I think I was doing? You know, who did

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Speaker 1: I think I was? And I tried to explain to

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Speaker 1: him that, you know, this wasn't something that that I

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Speaker 1: was hoping for or trying to promote. It was just

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Speaker 1: what we were left with and we were making the

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Speaker 1: best of it. Luckily, that guy got shown the door,

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Speaker 1: not because of anything I said, but I think he

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Speaker 1: probably opened his mouth too many times to say the

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Speaker 1: similar thing to other people about their endeavors, and so

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Speaker 1: they let him go. We had a new guy that

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Speaker 1: again saw our potential and got behind it. So I

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Speaker 1: mean it was pretty much where we thought we were

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Speaker 1: going to be treading water. We were they one strong,

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Speaker 1: so was up from there and we're lucky, to say the.

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Speaker 3: Least, and sale and strong. Patrick Simmons into twenty twenty.

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Speaker 5: Five with a new album and tell me about that project,

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Speaker 5: how you're feeling about it, and then ultimately you guys

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Speaker 5: will be hitting the road and going out to your

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Speaker 5: loyal fan base.

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Speaker 1: The road is our is our Master. The album's Walk

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Speaker 1: this Road. And that was a song that Mike wrote

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Speaker 1: with John Shanks, kind of a gospel inspired tune if

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Speaker 1: you will, pretty rocking gospel blues kind of thing, and

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Speaker 1: we all sang, we all played. It was really, you know,

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Speaker 1: a great moment for us because really Tom and Mike

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Speaker 1: and myself we haven't put this much into a record

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Speaker 1: as the three of us as writers like ever, so

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Speaker 1: this is, you know, like having a new direction, if

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Speaker 1: you will. We worked a little bit on taking it

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Speaker 1: to the streets, but Tom didn't really contribute much that

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Speaker 1: way of writing and a minimal amount of playing this record.

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Speaker 1: Everybody contributed and there's a lot more going on in

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Speaker 1: terms of contribution from three of us. And then John

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Speaker 1: McPhee is as usual playing his butt off. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: it's just a great moment for the band. Everybody contributed songs,

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Speaker 1: work closely with the producer to make it happen. We

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Speaker 1: work with each other, you know, very supportive process that

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Speaker 1: we had, and you know, it's nice to have new

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Speaker 1: music to play for the audiences, you know. I think

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Speaker 1: that's probably it's always something at least for us, and

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Speaker 1: I've got to think it's common for most most bands,

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Speaker 1: Like you'll love to have something new to play for folks.

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Speaker 1: Whether it's going to be something they're going to attach

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Speaker 1: themselves to or not, it's still you know, you're attached

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Speaker 1: to it and it's meaningful and there's a lot more passion,

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Speaker 1: if you will, in those moments when you have the

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Speaker 1: opportunity to play some new songs for people and you know,

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Speaker 1: see how it goes and see how people respond to that.

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Speaker 1: We have been doing Walk This Road and it didn't

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Speaker 1: get great response. And in my opinion, it's it's it's

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Speaker 1: a great song and I love it. We have. By

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Speaker 1: the way, Mayvis Staples sings on the track too, I

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Speaker 1: think she'd knock my songs up. See oop, I have

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Speaker 1: no sock sign.

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Speaker 3: And I love that. So that's outstanding.

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Speaker 1: You know, Mayvis is so fantastic. But anyway, as I

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Speaker 1: started to say, it's a great song, but I don't

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Speaker 1: think it isn't the best live track that we have.

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Speaker 1: We got some great, great songs that I think are

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Speaker 1: going to translate in a live setting that they're going

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Speaker 1: to be really great for us. So you know, again

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Speaker 1: it's always it's always fun to have new music. And

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Speaker 1: I think our core audience appreciates that. The average person,

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Speaker 1: they just play us the hits. You know, I just

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Speaker 1: want to hear that, I just want to live go

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Speaker 1: down memory Lane, and we get that and we love that,

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Speaker 1: you know, the opportunity we have as well. But like

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Speaker 1: I say, the moments are probably the most fun or

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Speaker 1: when you get placed some new music and your a

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Speaker 1: little off balance when you're doing that. I think that's

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Speaker 1: important as a musician to have to be a little

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Speaker 1: bit unsure about where things are going, and they try

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Speaker 1: that much harder. You know though, I think that's important.

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Speaker 5: Patrick Simmons, I'm so grateful that you came on Taking

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Speaker 5: a Walk. It's a real thrill and I'm so appreciative

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Speaker 5: for the music you and the band continue to give us.

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Speaker 5: It's the soundtrack of our life and it continues to

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Speaker 5: just lift us up and make us feel good. I'm

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Speaker 5: really grateful you took the time to be on, Patrick.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's so nice of you, Buzz and walk this road.

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Speaker 1: We're walking and walking that road with you right now.

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Speaker 3: Perfect. Thank you, Patrick, I appreciate you.

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Speaker 1: Thank you, Buzz. Thanks for listening to this episode of

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Speaker 1: the Taking a Walk podcast.

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Speaker 2: Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow

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Speaker 2: us so you never miss an episode.

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Speaker 3: Taking a Walk is available on the iHeartRadio

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Speaker 1: App, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your podcasts.