Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of the Doobie Brothers

The leaders of legendary rock band the Doobie Brothers offer a spirited tour through the five decades of music that landed them in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020. “Destined to be the Doobie Boys,” thanks to their predilection for smoking joints, Johnston and Simmons formed the group in 1970 after being introduced by friends. Within the year, they found a formidable fan base performing “Long Train Runnin’ ” and “Rockin’ down the Highway” (“songs we would be famous for”) around San Jose, Calif., and secured a recording contract with Warner Bros. But their meteoric rise was halted in 1975 when a neglected stomach ulcer forced Johnston to retire from the group. Simmons and the band persisted, honing their sound with new voices—including that of Steely Dan’s Michael McDonald (“The second I heard him open up his mouth... my mind was blown,” recalls bass player Tiran Porter)—until Johnston rejoined the group in 1987. While discussions of “stuff like wah-wah pedals, Echoplex parts, and... flanging guitar pedals” can bog down the narrative, the warts-and-all account of their drug-addled path to fame entertains nonetheless. Fans will be thrilled by this unvarnished look at the good, the bad, and the ugly that went into making the band. (May)