The Doobie Brothers Southbound

Country Celebrates The Doobie Brothers with the November 4 Release of Southbound

Nashville, TN – Country music is celebrating four-time GRAMMY® winning band The Doobie Brothers with the November 4 release of Southbound, as some of country’s biggest stars join The Doobie Brothers with Michael McDonald for all-new recordings of the band’s classic hits. Blake Shelton, Casey James, Charlie Worsham, Johnnyswim’s Amanda Sudano Ramirez, and Tyler Farr have been added to the roster of artists choosing their favorite Doobie songs to record with the band, with selected tracks featuring special instrumental contributions from Hunter Hayes and Vince Gill.

Releasing on Arista Nashville, Southbound also features previously announced artists Toby Keith, Brad Paisley, Zac Brown Band, Sara Evans, Chris Young, Jerrod Niemann, and Love and Theft.

The Doobie Brothers’ most recent studio lineup harkens back to their earliest days. Fellow singer-songwriter-guitarist-lead-vocalists Patrick Simmons and Tom Johnston continue to front the group, while multi-instrumentalist John McFee’s history with the Brothers dates back to 1978, after his stint with Southern Pacific. Michael McDonald returns to The Doobie Brothers for this project, which invites fans to once again “Listen to the Music” in a whole new way.

Joining The Doobie Brothers on these new recordings, the guest artists and a complete track listing (sequence pending) are as follows:

“Black Water” with Zac Brown Band
“China Grove” with Chris Young
“Jesus Is Just Alright” with Casey James
“Listen to the Music” with Blake Shelton with Hunter Hayes on guitar
“Long Train Runnin’” with Toby Keith
“Nobody” with Charlie Worsham
“Rockin’ Down the Highway” with Brad Paisley
“South City Midnight Lady” with Jerrod Niemann
“Take Me in Your Arms (Rock Me a Little While)” with Tyler Farr
“Takin’ It to the Streets” with Love and Theft
“What a Fool Believes” with Sara Evans
“You Belong to Me” with Amanda Sudano Ramirez of the band Johnnyswim with Vince Gill on guitar

In choosing the album title, The Doobie Brothers’ Tom Johnston remarked, “Southbound seemed like the perfect name of this collaboration project with all these dynamic country artists. The band has a lot of roots, both musically and lyrically, from the South such as blues, country, R&B, and folk. To us it was a natural fit that it be called Southbound.”

As durable as American steel, Northern California’s four-time GRAMMY winning Doobie Brothers have become part of America’s musical firmament. The Doobies have rung up a glittering track record that would be the envy of any band. Beginning with their multi-million-selling sophomore collection Toulouse Street, the Doobies have 3 multi-platinum, 7 platinum and 14 gold albums. Their Best of the Doobies has sold more than 11 million copies – a rare “diamond record.” To date, the band’s propulsive, roots-based, harmony-laden, guitar-driven style has sold more than 40 million albums.

Their #1 singles “Black Water” and “What a Fool Believes,” both gold, lead a catalog of indelible songs that includes “Jesus Is Just Alright,” “Rockin’ Down the Highway,” “Long Train Runnin’,” “China Grove,” “Take Me in Your Arms,” “Takin’ It to the Streets,” “Minute by Minute,” “You Belong to Me,” “The Doctor,” and more. In all, the Doobies have tallied five top 10 singles and 16 top 40 hits.

Formed in 1969 by Simmons and Johnston, the Doobies made their mark with a run of punchy, melodic hits on Warner Bros. Records, attaining radio and chart ubiquity in the early ’70s. The group’s expanded line-up was later augmented by Michael McDonald, whose soaring lead vocals pushed the band to new commercial and critical heights.