← Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Takin' A Walk - Music History with Buzz Knight
Patrick Simmons of The Doobie Brothers: Music Interview- 50 Years of Classic Rock Music History
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- [00:00]
Mandy Woodruff Santos
This is an iHeart podcast.
- [00:02]
Buzz Knight
Guaranteed Human this episode of Taking a Walk is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve. Whether I'm booking my next vacation or going to a concert, Chase Sapphire Reserve is my gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. When I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I get eight times points on all the purchases I make through Chase Travel and even access to one of a kind experiences like music festivals and sports events. And that's not even mentioning how the card gets me into the Sapphire Lounge by the club at select airports nationwide. No matter where I'm walking, travel is more rewarding with Chase Sapphire Reserve. Discover more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank NA member FDIC subject to credit approval terms apply.
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- [02:28]
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Buzz Knight
Taking a Walk I'm Buzz Knight and welcome to the Taking a Walk podcast. And as we close out 2025, we're going through our top five most listened to episodes of 2025 on the Taking a Walk podcast. So here's number five. Today's episode first ran back in March of 2025. It features a true rock and roll legend, Patrick Simmons, founding member and guitarist of the Doobie Brothers. For over five decades, Patrick has been the creative force behind some of the band's most iconic songs, From Black Water to South City, Midnight Lady. We dive into his incredible journey through the evolution of rock music, his songwriting process, and the stories behind the hits that have defined generations. It's an intimate conversation with with one of music's most respected and enduring talents. Next on the Taking a walk podcast, number five of 2025, Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers.
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Patrick Simmons
Taking a Walk.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
Patrick Simmons, great to have you on Taking a walk.
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Patrick Simmons
Thank you, Buzz. Great to be here. Appreciate your taking the time.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
So since the podcast is called Taking a Walk, if you could take a walk with someone, living or dead, doesn't have to be in the music world, but it certainly could be, who would it be and where would you take a walk?
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Patrick Simmons
I'd probably take a walk with Barack Obama and Jimmy Carter. And I don't care where we walk, we don't have to walk. We could just stand there. Wherever they want to walk, that's where I'd be going.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
That's a powerful group, man. You get the Secret Service out of the way and you guys could have some peace and quiet, right?
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Patrick Simmons
Yeah, we got that we don't need.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
So talk about the beginning of the journey, the Patrick Simmons Doobie Brothers journey. How did it start and how did you first become a Doobie?
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Patrick Simmons
Well, let's see. While I was living in San Jose, I grew up in San Jose. I was, you know, been playing around town since I was a young teenager, clubs and stuff around the area. And, you know, I've been in quite a few different bands, you know, high school bands and stuff. And a little bit when I was in college and I was playing a club one night in a suburb of San Jose and I got booked with Skip Spence and, and the band that he had at the time. And it turns out the. The band was made up of Skip. Skip was a guitar player with a band called Moby Grape. He had. And he was also the first drummer for the Jefferson Airplane. But anyway, I, I had a little duo with another guy and we opened the show and Skip was there with his band, which was John Hartman on drums, who later became the first Doobie Brother drummer, Tom Johnston, guitar player for the Doobies eventually, and another guy that they had planned bass at the time. And so we did a set and then Skip and the guys did a set. And I knew Skip. I was friends with him. And so I went up afterwards to say hi and he introduced me to Tom and John, which was really cool. I really, you know, they were great guys and. And that was sort of my introduction to those guys. And John informed me that they were putting together a band and they were trying to find some other players. Would I be interested? And I said, no. I had a. I had a band of guys that I was playing with at the time and. But I would love to come and hang out because I. I really like them as musicians and. And I. I really thought they were great, both of them, and. And I thought Skip was going to be a part of it. It turns out Skip wasn't. So, anyway, I started hanging out with the guys, Tom and John, just going over there and. And, you know, jamming once in a while and. And hanging out. We became friends and. I don't know, it was probably six months later, something like that. They had a gig at a. At a club in town called the Chateau Liberte, which I had played at with some of the guys prior to that time, but that was their first gig. And they said, hey, we, you know, would you be interested? We need somebody to kind of help us round out the. The set, that we need some. Some more songs to. To do an evening of music. Would you feel like coming and sitting in with us and, and playing? We can rehearse. And so I said, sure. And so we were sitting around smoking some kind of herb, herbal substance.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
God's green earth, as Henry Diltz calls.
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Patrick Simmons
Exactly. And one of the guys who lived in the house there said, God, you guys smoke so much weed, you should call yourselves the Doobie Brothers. And so we said, oh, that's a good idea. We don't. We don't have a name. So we booked ourselves as the Doobie Brothers from this first gig at the Chateau Liberte, which we became kind of the house band after that. We ended up going back there countless times and playing. That was our first gig and that was, you know, we were the Doobie Brothers on day one.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
And this guy, Dino Rosen. Keith. Dino Rosen, I believe he's the guy that suggested you call yourself the Doobies. Is that correct?
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Patrick Simmons
It is correct, yeah.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
But you thought you might find another name for the band?
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Patrick Simmons
Absolutely. You know, we thought that was silly, you know, name, and that was just for that night. And then, you know, we got a great favorable reaction at the club when we played. And so we thought, well, you know, and they asked us back, you Know, hey, you, you know, immediately called us and want us to come back and play. So we thought, well, gosh, everybody thinks we're the Doobie Brothers. We're going to hang, stick with that name for a while anyway. And we thought, you know, when we got. When we started shopping a record deal, we went to several few different record labels, but we thought by the time we maybe if. If we got a deal that we'd probably end up changing our name, but Warner Brothers signed us and they really liked the name. So.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
Were there any second or third choice names that you remember?
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Patrick Simmons
No, no, I don't think we ever. After that, we never really. Well, we thought it was going to be a problem, you know, because the. It was a little early in the. The pot scene for, you know, a lot of people were smoking pot. But, you know, now it's like everybody smokes pot. You know, we don't even smoke pot anymore. We're kind of over it all. Everybody else I know does.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
It's funny how times have changed. Gambling's legal, pot's legal.
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Buzz Knight
Right?
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Patrick Simmons
Yeah, what I thought. Right. Yeah.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
So the band dynamics certainly were interesting when you guys ran into this guy, Jeff Skunk Baxter, Right. Which. Which was an interesting time, how the Doobies and sort of Steely Dan became intertwined. Can you talk about that period when you first encountered Skunk? And certainly he had a great influence on the band.
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Patrick Simmons
We had, you know, did a lot of shows with SteELY Dan, probably 72, 1972. We went on the road and we did a number of shows with this. It was. See, it was. Marshall Tucker opened, Steely Dan played, we played. And then Savoy Blues Band, Kim Simmons, they were the headliners. And so that was the bill, four bands and it was a big, large bill. And we did a number of shows with. With that, all those guys. And then we played some other shows later on with Steely Dan, I think with the Beach Boys maybe, and some other. Some other bands. But we, we got to be friends with those guys and particularly Jeff, who's really, you know, was very outgoing. And at that time, Jeff was living in la. I think most of the guys were living in la, but Jeff had really gotten into the scene there doing sessions and stuff around town. And I particularly got to be friends with Jeff and I, you know, when I would get down, I'd call him and I'd go by and we'd hang out and go. He has a little apartment in Hollywood there. And I would go visit him. And at some point I. I said, would you Know, would you come in and play some steel on a song that I have. And so that was the captain me a song called South City Midnight Lady. And he's out, of course. And so I came in and played on the. The song and. Which, you know, further solidified our. In a relationship. When we would come to town, you know, I call him, I say, hey, Jeff, come on down. You know, you want to come and hang out? You know, sit in with us if you want, you know, feel like jamming on something. So he would sit in and play with us from time to time here and there when we were in the area. And then it got to be like whenever we. Anywhere he would show up anywhere in California, there was Jeff and he would make the trip. You know, he just got. We got very tight as friends and so that was it. And then later on he left Steely Dan and was kind of like hanging around. We. I think Tyrone, I think a bass player said, jeff, you know, why don't you come and play with us? And Ty asked Tom and myself, you know, what do you think about having Jeff sit in with us? And. And Hartman as well? And. And at that time we had Michael Hossack playing drums and two drummers at that point. But it was mainly, you know, John and Tom and myself that had, you know, founded the band. And Tyrone said, you know, what do you think about having Jeff play with us? And everybody said, yeah, because we have this relationship with the Moby Grape, you know. And I mentioned Skip Spence. Skip? Yep, yep. We always had this vision. We loved the three guitars and they all were just. They stink distinct kind of players, you know. Jerry was kind of this country sort of bebop player and Peter. Peter Lewis was this picker and. And who else? The. Oh, and Skip was just kind of crazy rock and roller. So we kind of had those elements, you know. I was kind of a little country, you know, not bebop exactly, but I like, you know, played the blues. And Jeff was a great kind of bebopper. And then Tommy was a hard rocking guy. And so we had all the elements that we were. Look that we, you know, sort of projected on ourselves to be that kind of a band with the three guitar players. So having Jeff, you know, kind of. It was a natural progression. So Jeff became a member and was for along quite a while and ultimately.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
Made the Recommendation for Michael McDonald to join the band.
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Patrick Simmons
Is that right? He did. I had been to see Steely Dan soon after Michael joined the band. He was. They brought him on. They had about Three, three or four background singers at one point. Royce Jones was a guy. David Palmer had been in there at the beginning and then they had a gal that was singing back up, maybe more than one. And Mike had been brought in to sing backgrounds and play keyboards. And I thought he was fantastic. And then Jeff mentioned when Tommy took a leave of absence, Jeff said, well, I know. How about Mike McDonald? Remember that guy? I go, yeah, he's great. He goes, what do you think? I go, you should call him. And so Mike joined and, you know, we had that. We had a new element which we all kind of like because we had a lot of keyboards on our songs in the studio. So, you know, that was a, for me, a great attraction right there. But I didn't really think of anything except Mike. Mike was going to be a background singer and I was going to. Ended up having to take over the. The lead vocals slot and pleasantly surprised that Mike was a great singer and kind of took the weight off my shoulders and. And it turned out he was just, you know, a super talent. So he more than took the weight off my shoulders. He took the spotlight, which was fine with me. I loved. I loved everything he did. And he brought us a wonderful element to the band.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
And then taking it to the streets. What an incredible album. 1976, produced by Ted Templeman. How did you encounter Ted? And then when you think about the whole process of putting together, taking it to the streets, what can you tell me about that? It was really, you know, such a. An amazing point in the Doobie Brothers.
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Patrick Simmons
Career when we actually, we hadn't been signed to Warner Brothers yet. But they, you know, they were interested in the band and they sent Lenny Warren Kerr, who was, you know, became actually the president, I think, of Warner Brothers at one point. And Ted was sort of a. A new producer there at the label and they. He was sort of under. Lenny had taken him under his wing and was, you know, teaching the ropes. And so they both came to see us play. We played at the Chateau, which was our, you know, at that point we were the house band, more or less. So. So Ted and Money flew up San Jose and came to see at the Chateau and there were these two really straight looking guys in the club and, you know, it was frequented by, you know, the Hell's Angels. There were always a dozen Hells Angels in the club and, you know, all the outrageous mountain people, hippies, you know, dressed in, you know, crazy outfits and just a real wild scene. People smoking weed openly in the club or outside the door anyway. And so that, you know, their eyes were as big as saucers in this club. I look across, I knew it was them immediately. They were sitting at this table across the room and saw us play. And they loved this. And they had already, you know, really liked the demo we sent them. But seeing us play solidified our commitment or their un of Warner's commitment to us. So they produced our first record together and then we went on to do a second record and Lenny bowed out and let Ted take over. So Ted did all the records from then on up through One Step Closer. So he did, you know, eight or ten records for us. Ted was fabulous producer. He just really was really great. The difference between our first album and our second album are day and night. Not that Lenny wasn't a great producer, but he had a different vision for kind of who we were in our identity. And Ted had a better vision for, you know, how to make us more appealing to an audience. And so that was how we got together with Ted. The album before Taking to the Streets, I think it was Stampede had been the album before, and we were kind of on a roll. Every album that we put out, you know, did. We did pretty well at. We had some successful commercial songs and, you know, the audience was growing all the time. And then Tommy was out and of course we were all like, oh, no, what are we going to do now? And Ted said, well, I. You know, my vision is you're going to have to take over the. The bulk of the writing and the singing path, and we'll see where it goes from there. And when I heard Mike sing, I thought, well, this guy is a super talent and I think he can bring something new to the band. And it's. It. It was a leap of faith on my part and a huge leap of faith for Ted and the label. And I basically had to kind of talk him into it. Ted didn't take much talking in to things with Ted once he heard Mike sing and heard his songs. Ted knows good music when he hears it and a good song. So, you know, we just kind of went forward. We knew we had to make a change because Tommy was, you know, he had. He wasn't feeling well and he was kind of. He had lost his passion for. For the band. He really was kind of intent on seeking his own path and wanted to try some other things. And I, I get that. We got. We got it at the time, but at the same time, we didn't know where we were going to go with things, as it turned out, you know, we landed on our feet. But thank goodness for Mike. Thanks to Ted for seeing the potential and thanks to Warner Brothers for allowing us to make the change. They weren't confident of it at all. And in fact the head of promotions had approached me prior to that record coming out and sort of read me the riot act on what did I think I was doing, you know, who did I think I was. And I tried to explain to him that, you know, this wasn't something that I, that I was hoping for or trying to promote. It was just what I, what we were left with and we were making the best of it. Luckily that guy got shown the door not because of anything I said, but I think he probably opened his mouth too many times to say similar thing to other people about their, their endeavors. And so he, they let him go. We had a new guy that again saw our potential and got behind it. So I mean it was pretty much where we thought we were going to be treading water. We were Phelan strong. So we was up from there. We're lucky to say the least.
- [22:52]
Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
And sailing strong Patrick Simmons into 2025 with a new album. And tell me about that project, how you're feeling about it and then ultimately you guys will be hitting the road and going out to your loyal fan base.
- [23:10]
Patrick Simmons
The road is our star master. The Albus walked this road and that. That was a type of a song that Mike wrote with John Shanks, kind of a gospel inspired tune, if you will. Pretty rockin gospel blues kind of thing. And we all sang, we all played. It was really, you know, a great moment for, for us because really Tom and Mike and myself, we haven't put this much into a record as a. The three of us as writers like ever. So this is, you know, like having a new direction if you will. We, we worked a little bit on Taking it to the Streets but Tom didn't really contribute much in that in the way of writing and a minimal amount of playing this record. Everybody contributed and there's a lot more going on in terms of contribution from the three of us. And then John McPhee is as usual putting his butt off. But yeah, it's just a great moment for the band. Everybody contributed songs, worked closely with the producer to make it happen. We worked with each other, you know, very supportive process that we had. And you know, it's nice to have new music to, to play for the audiences. You know, I think that's probably. It's always something, at least for us. I and I gotta think it's common for Most. Most bands you like, you love to have something new to play for folks, whether it's gonna be something they're gonna attach themselves to or not, it's still, you know, you're attached to it, and it's meaningful, and there's a lot more passion, if you will, in those moments when you have the opportunity to play some new songs for people and see how it goes and see how people respond to that. We have been doing Walk this Road, and it didn't get a great response, and in my opinion, it's a great song, and I love it. We have, by the way, Mavis Staples sings on the track, too. I think she knocked my socks off. See, I, I, Whoops. I have no socks on. And I love that. So that's outstanding. You know, Mavis is so fantastic. But anyway, as I started to say, I, I. It's a great song, but I don't think it isn't the best live track that we have. We got some great, great songs that I think are gonna translate in a live setting that are going to be really great for us. So, you know, again, it's always. It's always fun to have new music, and I think our core audience appreciates that. The, the average person, they just play us the hits, you know, just want to hear that, just want to live. Go down memory lane. And we get that, and we love that, you know, the opportunity we have as well. But like I say, the moments are probably the most fun, or when you get to play some. Some new music and you're a little off balance when you're doing that. I think that's important as a musician to. To have to be a little bit unsure about where things are going, and they try that much harder, you know, So I, I think that's important.
- [26:44]
Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
Oh, Patrick Simmons, I'm so grateful that you came on Taking a Walk. It's a real thrill, and I'm so appreciative for the music you and the band continue to give us. It's the soundtrack of our life, and it continues to just lift us up and make us feel good. I'm really grateful you took the time to be on Patrick.
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Patrick Simmons
Yeah, so nice to be Buzz and walk this road. We're walking and walking that road with you right now.
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Buzz Knight (Interviewer)
Perfect. Thank you, Patrick. I appreciate you.
- [27:16]
Patrick Simmons
Thank you, Buzz. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Taking a Walk podcast.
- [27:22]
Coca Cola Sports Ad Voice
Share this and other episodes with your friends and follow us so you never miss an episode. Taking a Walk is available on the.
- [27:30]
Patrick Simmons
Iheartradio app, Apple Podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts.
- [27:37]
Buzz Knight
This episode of Taking a Walk is brought to you by Chase Sapphire Reserve where Whether I'm booking my next vacation or going to a concert, Chase Sapphire Reserve is my gateway to the world's most captivating destinations. When I use my Chase Sapphire Reserve card, I get eight times points on all the purchases I make through Chase Travel and even access to one of a kind experiences like music festivals and sports events. And that's not even mentioning how the card gets me into the Sapphire Lounge, but by the club at select airports nationwide. No matter where I'm walking, travel is more rewarding with Chase Sapphire Reserve. Discover more@chase.com Sapphire Reserve cards issued by JP Morgan Chase Bank NA member FDIC subject to credit approval terms apply.
- [28:32]
Coca Cola Sports Ad Voice
What a matchup we got y'.
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Patrick Simmons
All.
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Coca Cola Sports Ad Voice
This is that classic HBCU vibe. Non stop action. The band is rocking and the crowd lit. Chance echo drum beat everybody showing that school pride Game like this. Yeah, it calls for an ice cold Coca Cola. Ah, crisp and refreshing. That's a game changer right there. Yeah, that taste always hits the right note. Just like the band at halftime. And just like that, we're back at it. Asheville fans, school colors everywhere and an ice cold Coca Cola. That's a winning combo no matter the sport, no matter the yard. Everybody knows fan work is thirsty work. So grab a Coca Cola and keep that HBCU pride going.
- [29:19]
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- [30:18]
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Mandy Woodruff Santos
Guaranteed Human.