Psychedelic Lunch

Welcome to our “Psychedelic Lunch” series where we find out how deep the rabbit hole really goes and explore music from the 60’s to today. Weekdays At Noon EST. Enjoy the trip!

The Doobie Brothers Band Artist Facts

McDonald was brought in when Johnston fell ill and could not tour in 1975. He and Jeff “Skunk” Baxter both recorded with Steely Dan.

The Doobie Brothers from 1970 to 1975 featured most vocals from Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons. The band was more rock-oriented and was heard on what is now known on Classic Rock stations. From 1976 to 1982 the band had a new lead singer in Michael McDonald who turned the band more towards blue-eyed soul.

In a 1986 Los Angeles Times poll, the Doobie Brothers were the band that readers most wanted to reunite, behind Led Zeppelin.

A benefit concert they played for the Vietnam Veterans Aid Foundation at the Hollywood Bowl in 1987 was the fastest show to sell out there since the Beatles played in the mid-1960s.

Despite their multitude of members, the Brothers began as a trio.

Johnston and Hartman met each other through mutual friend and Moby Grape guitarist Skip Spence. They wanted to emulate that band. Future sax player Bumpus was in a late version of Moby Grape.

The new band’s name, suggested by a friend (apparently as a joke), was taken from a slang term for a marijuana joint. “Doobie” was a popular word in California culture.

Baxter and McDonald had been with Steely Dan. They joined the Doobies when they shifted their focus from touring to studio work.

Hartman left the band to tend his California ranch.

LaKind was a Doobie Brothers lighting man before joining the band. He died of cancer in 1992.

McFee and Knudsen joined Country group Southern Pacific with Creedence Clearwater Revival bassist Stu Cook.

Before landing on the name The Doobie Brothers, the band originally went by Pud.

Following his stints in the rock bands Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers during the 1970s and Spirit in the 1980s, Jeff “Skunk” Baxter became a self-taught ballistic missile expert who went on to chair a Congressional Advisory Board on missile defense.