There’s often a moment during a Tiny Desk concert when an artist realizes that playing in an office was either the right or wrong thing to do. After starting the set with “Takin’ It to the Streets,” one of The Doobie Brothers‘ many hits, Tom Johnston tells the audience, “It’s not like this at gigs. We just played up in New York at Jones Beach last night and y’all are outdoing them. It’s pretty cool.” For a band as accomplished as this to still encounter new experiences as performers says a lot about the energy bouncing around the walls of NPR headquarters.
With over 50 years in the music business, plus numerous awards and accolades — including inductions into the Rock & Roll and Songwriters Hall of Fame — Johnston, Michael McDonald, Patrick Simmons and John McFee don’t have anything more to prove. But the living members of The Doobie Brothers reunited this year and released Walk This Road. To support the new album, they hit the road and stopped by the Desk to play a new tune, “Angels & Mercy.” But they didn’t leave without giving us a couple more hits and had the whole crowd singing along to “Black Water” and “Listen to the Music.”
SET LIST
“Takin’ It to the Streets” “Black Water” “Angels & Mercy””Listen to the Music”Â
MUSICIANS
Michael McDonald: vocals, keys, mandolinTom Johnston: vocals, guitarPatrick Simmons: vocals, guitar John McFee: vocals, guitar, violin John Cowan: bass, background vocalsMarc Russo: saxMarc Quiñones: conga, percussion, background vocalsEd Toth: drums
TINY DESK TEAM
Producer: Bobby CarterDirector/Editor: Joshua BryantAudio Technical Director: Neil TevaultVideographers: Joshua Bryant, Maia Stern, Kara Frame, Sofia SeidelAudio Engineer: Josephine NyounaiProduction Assistants: Dhanika Pineda, Dora LevitePhotographer: Grace RaverTiny Desk Team: Josh Newell, Ashley PointerSeries Editor: Lars GotrichExecutive Producer: Suraya MohamedExecutive Director: Sonali MehtaSeries Creators: Bob Boilen, Stephen Thompson, Robin Hilton