{"id":262414,"date":"2025-10-31T07:35:13","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T07:35:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/262414\/"},"modified":"2025-10-31T07:35:13","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T07:35:13","slug":"the-doobie-brothers-john-mcfee-shares-the-story-behind-the-just-reissued-sole-album-by-his-short-lived-supergroup-jackdawg-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/262414\/","title":{"rendered":"The Doobie Brothers\u2019 John McFee Shares the Story Behind the Just-Reissued Sole Album by His Short-Lived Supergroup Jackdawg (Exclusive)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jackdawg, the sole studio album recorded by a supergroup of the same name featuring longtime Doobie Brothers<\/a> multi-instrumentalist John McFee<\/a> and drummer Keith Knudsen and founding Creedence Clearwater Revival<\/a> bassist Stu Cook, has just been reissued<\/a>. When the trio recorded the album, McFee, Knudsen, and Cook were playing together in the popular country-rock band Southern Pacific.<\/p>\n

Jackdawg, though, was a full-on rock project, mixing elements of roots rock, Southern rock, heavy metal, and even a bit of alternative rock.<\/p>\n

[RELATED: Short-Lived 1990s Supergroup Featuring Three Future Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Set To Reissue Its Only Album]<\/a><\/p>\n

McFee recently chatted with American Songwriter about Jackdawg, sharing details about the band, how the album came together, and more. At the time, Southern Pacific was winding down, and McFee, Knudsen, and Cook, who all lived in California, started getting together to work on new material at John\u2019s Lizard Rock Studio in Solvang, California.<\/p>\n

As McFee recalled, \u201cWe would get together and just fool around. And we started recording this stuff, and [were] like, \u2018Let\u2019s just do stuff that we think is fun. No musical limitations or \u2026 guidelines or anything. Let\u2019s just be creative and see what we come up with.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

John noted that, at that time, the musicians hadn\u2019t even been thinking about launching a new band or leaving Southern Pacific.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was more just us spending some of our time creatively,\u201d he added. \u201cAnd we came up with a bunch of stuff and recorded it. And then, there was no label involved and no \u2026 real goal involved, other than just making some music we liked.\u201d<\/p>\n

About the Project\u2019s Musical Direction and McFee\u2019s Major Role in the Band<\/p>\n

Reflecting on how different Jackdawg\u2019s music was from Southern Pacific\u2019s, McFee offered, \u201cThere\u2019s nothing \u2026 in the Jackdawg project that you could say is really country. And it was \u2026 partly because we were having that outlet with Southern Pacific, and we\u2019d been doing it for several years. [S]o it was like, \u2018Let\u2019s do some rock,\u2019 \u2026 but it wasn\u2019t like \u2018let\u2019s get away from [country]\u2019 or anything. It was more like \u2026 \u2018Let\u2019s just do something different,\u2019 and that\u2019s why it took the direction it did.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFee has been a supporting musician for most of the bands and musical projects he\u2019s been involved with throughout his career. In Jackdawg, though, John was the frontman. He not only sang lead, but contributed lead guitar, as well as keyboards and harmonica. McFee also co-wrote all of Jackdawg\u2019s original material, mostly with both Cook and Knudsen, sometimes with one of the two.<\/p>\n

Regarding taking on lead-vocal duties in Jackdawg, John said, \u201cIf I do say so myself, I\u2019m a decent lead singer. I can do it. But I don\u2019t seek the spotlight. In fact, I kind of tend to avoid it. But in this case \u2026 we were just trying stuff out, and it was fun. So, as long as it\u2019s fun, I\u2019d like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFee also insisted that Cook and Knudsen\u2019s contributions to the project not be overlooked.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were pitching in together, you know, the three of us,\u201d he said. \u201cSo, it was definitely a group effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

More Details About the Album and Some Standout Songs<\/p>\n

Jackdawg is available now on CD, as a vinyl LP, and digitally. The CD and digital versions feature 15 tracks, while the LP has only 10 songs. In addition to the original tunes, Jackdawg features covers of Van Morrison\u2019s \u201cWild Night\u201d and Roky Erickson\u2019s \u201cIt\u2019s a Cold Night for Alligators.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFee talked with American Songwriter about some of his favorite songs on the album.<\/p>\n

First, he mentioned the lead track, \u201cBayou Rebel,\u201d which he co-wrote with Cook, as one of his favorites. Perhaps not surprisingly, the song features some swamp-rock influences reminiscent of CCR, but with a 1990s rock edge. McFee pointed that he\u2019s known Cook \u201csince before Creedence put a record out.\u201d<\/p>\n

John continued, \u201cI \u2026 like \u2018Kisses in the Rain,\u2019 just because I like the background vocals. \u2026 I thought that was fun. And \u2018Ghost Dance\u2019 I like. I like what Keith did with the toms. \u2026 The drum approach on that was an interesting thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

McFee added with a laugh, \u201cMy son likes \u2018Looking for Trouble.\u2019 He thinks the guitar stuff on that is just the best.\u201d The tune features some impressive shredding by John.<\/p>\n

The album\u2019s closing track is an interesting reworking of Morrison\u2019s 1971 hit, the original version of which McFee played pedal-steel guitar on. McFee told American Songwriter that he can\u2019t remember who suggested Jackdawg record \u201cWild Night,\u201d although he recalls that someone had noted that he had a connection to the tune.<\/p>\n

Regarding their unique take on the song, John said, \u201cOur whole approach in Jackdawg, I think, was \u2018let\u2019s do the unexpected\u2019 or \u2026 \u2018let\u2019s just go where nobody would think we would might go.\u2019 And so, that\u2019s kind of what we did, obviously, on that one. [It was] nothing like Van\u2019s version.\u201d<\/p>\n

More About the History of the Jackdawg Album<\/p>\n

The Jackdawg album actually didn\u2019t receive its first release until well over a decade after it was recorded.<\/p>\n

Around the time that Southern Pacific was breaking up in the early 1990s, McFee, Cook, and Knudsen did consider putting the record out. They contacted Joe Gottfried, one of the owners of the famous Sound City Studios in Los Angeles, and asked him if he\u2019d be interested in shopping the album to labels. As McFee explained, Gottfried was interested, but sadly, he died suddenly shortly after that, so nothing came of the plan.<\/p>\n

Also around this time, McFee and Knudsen were asked to rejoin The Doobie Brothers, while Cook and CCR drummer Doug Clifford launched their band Creedence Clearwater Revisited.<\/p>\n

The Jackdawg album remained on the shelf until the 2000s, when McFee met Joey Stec, founder of a label called Sonic Past Music.<\/p>\n

Stec had released some rare material by John\u2019s pre-Doobie Brothers band Clover, and asked McFee if he had any other unreleased material that he might be interested in putting out. The Jackdawg album was released on Sonic Past Music in 2009, but quickly went out of print.<\/p>\n

A new deal recently was struck with the Liberation Hall label, which reissued Jackdawg and gave the album its first vinyl release.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on the album, McFee told American Songwriter, \u201c[T]here\u2019s some really cool \u2026 and interesting [songs,] \u2026 that nobody else has done stuff quite like, I think. Some of it, it\u2019s unique. So I think it\u2019s valid, and I hope there\u2019s somebody out there that\u2019ll like it.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can buy Jackdawg now at the group\u2019s official Bandcamp page<\/a> and LiberationHall.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Jackdawg CD and Digital Track List:<\/p>\n

\u201cBayou Rebel\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen the Sun Don\u2019t Shine\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Men Who Would Be King\u201d*<\/p>\n

\u201cHunger\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cGhost Dance\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTake It Off\u201d*<\/p>\n

\u201cKisses in the Rain\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI Couldn\u2019t Help Myself\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cQuicksand\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLookin\u2019 for Trouble\u201d*<\/p>\n

\u201cRelentless\u201d*<\/p>\n

\u201cYoung Ones\u201d*<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Girl from Oz\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCold Night for Alligators\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWild Night\u201d<\/p>\n

* = does not appear on the LP version.<\/p>\n

(Courtesy of John McFee)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Jackdawg, the sole studio album recorded by a supergroup of the same name featuring longtime Doobie Brothers multi-instrumentalist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":262415,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[2617,88,141417,216,141418],"class_list":{"0":"post-262414","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-classic-rock","9":"tag-entertainment","10":"tag-john-mcfee","11":"tag-music","12":"tag-the-doobie-brothers"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262414\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/262415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}