Rightfully inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, The Doobie Brothers are back in 2025 with a new album called Walk This Road. Released on June 6, 2025, via Rhino Records, their sixteenth album plants a flag of a victorious return to shape for a Rock band that long ago established both the chops and virtuosity required to cement a legendary resume.
Featuring the reunited classic lineup of Vocalist/Keyboardist Michael McDonald, Vocalist/Guitarist Tom Johnston, Guitarist Patrick Simmons, and Guitarist John McFee, the album serves as a clinical display of collaboration, built around themes of recovery, loyalty, and a certain divine resilience, the record is a groovy, swingin’ and foot-tappin’ journey into the past. A testament to the band’s artistic cohesiveness, this new collection traipses through Rock-n-Roll, Jazz, Soul, Blues, and even a little Country, showcasing the group’s seemingly never-ending repertoire.
Produced by Bon Jovi’s John Shanks, who also captained their 2021 record Liberté, Walk This Road feels both entrenched in The Doobie Brothers’ prototypical sound and adventurous in its eagerness to dutifully mine the Soul, Americana, and Gospel-touched territory. With that said, Shanks brings calm clarity and nostalgia as a producer and co-writer, which develops a time and place for each member’s respective voice and instrument to shine.
The first Doobie Brothers album to feature Michael McDonald since 2014’s Southbound, Walk This Road features ten tracks, each delivering a diverse glimpse into the past and future of the Doobies’ lore, while also contributing to an organized and tightly knit narrative of resilience and constant evolution. The opener, as well as the title track, “Walk This Road,” features a charged guest vocal performance from Mavis Staples, setting the scene with its Gospel-soaked proclamation of hope. Meanwhile, both “Angels & Mercy” and “State of Grace” continue in the former’s image, swirling acoustic grains with onion-layer harmonies that snap the mind right to the band’s early ‘70s work, but with a tad more heart and a bit more wisdom.
Michael McDonald’s luminescent keys and vocals are standouts on songs like “Call Me” and “Learn to Let Go,” where his classic sound develops an emotional depth not always reached in the tunes of today. This is while Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons furiously drive the album’s Rock and Blues energy with their trademark guitar interplay, which allows John McFee to display his versatility to the world, sliding seamlessly between several instruments, including: slide guitar, fiddle, and mandolin, which lends an instrumental richness to the album that will satisfy all musical taste buds.
However, perhaps the pinnacle moment comes with “Lahaina,” a moving homage (Mick Fleetwood, Jake Shimabukuro & Henry Kapono) to the Hawaiian community ravaged by the 2023 wildfires. It is a straightforward, yet deeply heartfelt track that works to lift and honor both a place and its people, highlighting the band’s enduring kindness with a delivery of colorful licks and inspirational grooves that push those struggling forward. The keyboard work on the track is outer-worldly, and the slick cohesiveness of the vocals is just prime-time Doobie Brothers, capping off a record that is sure to light a fire in all those that listen to it.
In the end, Walk This Road is more than just a fresh addition to an already stellar discography; it is a statement from a band that for decades has done their best to say what needs to be said, but also strives to encourage those around them to be more than they are. It honors The Doobie Brothers’ storied past while stalwartly progressing, blending rock, Soul, Jazz, Americana, and the Blues into an auditory blend that feels as if it were recorded fifty years ago, yet is meant for today.
As the group embarks on its 2025 tour and celebrates its recent induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, this album will remain a triumphant example of exactly how they will shortly find themselves in such hallowed halls. A must-listen, Cryptic Rock gives Walk This Road 4.5 out of 5 stars.
){kind=link}
No comment