Long Train Runnin': Our Story of The Doobie Brothers

by Pat Simmons, Tom Johnston, Chris Epting

Overview

For the first time, the incredible true story of the legendary band, The Doobie Brothers, written by founding members Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston.

Only a very few rock bands have had the longevity, success, and drama of The Doobie Brothers. Born out of late 1960s NorCal, and led by Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston, they stood alongside their contemporaries The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, and many others as an iconic American rock band. The train was rolling along, hits were flowing like wine, and arenas were packed with fans who wanted to see them live...then Tom Johnston, the band’s front man and lead guitarist, became ill and had to leave.

The Doobies' train came to a screeching halt. All of a sudden the band started contemplating the end of the road only seven years into their career, just as things were taking off. But Pat Simmons made sure they were far from the end and began the process of keeping the band together through most of the next decade.

A soul-steeped backup singer for Steely Dan named Michael McDonald took a shot at singing some of the Doobies' songs on tour, and all of a sudden a new chapter in the Doobie Brothers' story began. The band expanded their sound and had even more hits with their new front addition. Tom recovered from his health issues, but the band had moved on. When it came time for a reunion concert in the ’80s, Tom got the call and was back in the mix. Led once again by Pat and Tom, The Doobie Brothers have been touring ever since and maintain a massive fan base the world over.

Never before have Pat and Tom shared their story, in their own words. In Long Train Runnin’ they’ll change that.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250270061
Publisher:	St. Martin's Publishing Group
Publication date:	05/10/2022
Sold by:	Macmillan
Format:	NOOK Book
Pages:	320
Sales rank:	31,117
File size:	50 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

PAT SIMMONS and TOM JOHNSTON are founding members of The Doobie Brothers. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, they’ve won four Grammy Awards and have sold nearly 50 million records. Their 1976 album Best of the Doobies has sold more than 12 million copies, achieving the rare Diamond Certification by the RIAA (less than 100 albums in the history of modern music, across all genres, have done this). All in all, they’ve tallied five Top 10 singles and 16 Top 40 hits.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of many books including the music memoirs Adrenalized (with Phil Collen) and Change of Seasons (with John Oates). As a music journalist he has written extensively for the Huffington Post, Ultimate Classic Rock and many others.

PAT SIMMONS is a founding member of The Doobie Brothers. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, they’ve won four Grammy Awards and have sold nearly 50 million records. Their 1976 album Best of the Doobies has sold more than 12 million copies, achieving the rare Diamond Certification by the RIAA (less than 100 albums in the history of modern music, across all genres, have done this). All in all, they’ve tallied five Top 10 singles and 16 Top 40 hits.
TOM JOHNSTON is a founding member of The Doobie Brothers. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020, they’ve won four Grammy Awards and have sold nearly 50 million records. Their 1976 album Best of the Doobies has sold more than 12 million copies, achieving the rare Diamond Certification by the RIAA (less than 100 albums in the history of modern music, across all genres, have done this). All in all, they’ve tallied five Top 10 singles and 16 Top 40 hits.
CHRIS EPTING is the author of many books including the music memoirs Adrenalized (with Phil Collen) and Change of Seasons (with John Oates). As a music journalist he has written extensively for the Huffington Post, Ultimate Classic Rock and many others.

Table of Contents

Cast of Characters vii

Introduction ix

1 Natural Thing 1

2 Feelin' Down Farther 15

3 Closer Every Day 35

4 Sitting by the Window (Moby Grape) 47

5 Growin' a Little Each Day 53

6 Nobody 75

7 Travelin' Man 87

8 Listen to the Music 95

9 Jesus Is Just Alright 109

10 Rockin' Down the Highway 119

11 The Captain and Me 125

12 Clear as the Driven Snow 139

13 Road Angel 145

14 Black Water 157

15 Down in the Track 171

16 Eyes of Silver 177

17 Take Me in Your Arms 187

18 I Cheat the Hangman 197

19 Takin' It to the Streets 211

20 Wheels of Fortune 233

21 What's Happening!! 245

22 Dependin' on You 251

23 Minute by Minute 261

24 What a Fool Believes 269

25 It Keeps You Runnin' 281

26 Long Train Runnin' 285

27 Encore-1987-2020 297

Afterword by Cowriter Chris Epting 329

Thank-Yous 333

Current Touring Members 337

Former Members 339

Index 341

Editorial Reviews

03/07/2022

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)

Publishers Weekly

“The Doobie Brothers’ saga truly is one of the untold stories in rock.” —Rolling Stone

"Founding members of the Doobie Brothers Johnston and Simmons ... deliver an amiable, polyphonic history of the band ... A delightfully unpretentious, pleasing account of rock stardom." —Kirkus Reviews

“The leaders of legendary rock band the Doobie Brothers offer a spirited tour through the five decades of music … Fans will be thrilled by this unvarnished look at the good, the bad, and the ugly that went into making the band.” —Publishers Weekly

"Long Train Runnin’: Our Story of The Doobie Brothers, takes fans on a ride through all that went into The Doobie Brothers, and all that came out of them. Lengthy, casual exchanges between founders Tom Johnston and Pat Simmons, plus others central to the tale … create a narrative both stimulating and easy to digest … Doobie Brothers fans will find much to enjoy in this book, and will likely be compelled to revisit one of American rock ‘n’ roll’s catchiest, feel-good, and enduring songbooks.” —Tahoe Onstage.

From the Publisher

03/01/2022

Guitarists Johnston and Pat Simmons, the founding members of the pop rock group the Doobie Brothers, work with music journalist Chris Epting to chronicle the band's musical journey. In this book, which also features remarks from other band members and insiders, Johnston and Simmons reflect upon their childhoods, the influence of musically diverse rockers Moby Grape, and forming the Doobie Brothers in San José. The duo fondly recall the band's first hit, "Listen to the Music" (1972), and describe their constant touring and continued chart successes with "Long Train Runnin'" (1973) and the number-one hit "Black Water" (1974). They credit their triumphs to their eclectic style, characterized by the use of two lead vocals, Simmons's acoustic country-blues picking, and Johnston's electric R&B-styled chording and innovative bass lines. The book explains the Doobie Brothers' progression to a more mellow pop sound in 1975, when vocalist and keyboard player Michael McDonald replaced Johnston, who suffered a life-threatening ulcer. The guitarists plow through subsequent albums, including the chart-topping, multi-platinum Minute by Minute (1978). They discuss the group's disbandment in 1982, the reunion five years later, and subsequent albums and tours up to the present. VERDICT Though they're sometimes repetitive, Johnston and Simmons ably and vividly recount the Doobie Brothers' hard-working, highly successful 50-year career. Their account will appeal to fans of '70s rock.—David P. Szatmary

Library Journal

2022-02-11
Founding members of the Doobie Brothers Johnston and Simmons alternate their perspectives to deliver an amiable, polyphonic history of the band.

It may surprise some readers to know that the Doobies—so named for the ever present joints that surrounded the band for its first decade or so—modeled themselves after Moby Grape, a San Francisco group that never got much traction, even backing up the ill-fated Skip Spence on numerous occasions. Early on, the Doobie Brothers played in Bay Area mountain towns that Ken Kesey and Hunter S. Thompson would make infamous, with lots of Hells Angels in the crowd. Still, Johnston notes, they were playing for plenty of people besides bikers: “We didn’t consider ourselves anything other than a band that was growing and developing.” Drawing on other members of the band, producer Ted Templeman, and other principals, Johnston and Simmons trace the births and fortunes of songs that yielded one hit record after another in the 1970s and ’80s: “Natural Thing,” for instance, some of the magic of which they graciously attribute to engineer Don Landee, who “was really into ‘phasing’ effects.” The authors also praise on T. Rex mastermind Marc Bolan, whom they credit for both entertaining stagecraft and exquisite good manners. “Kind of ironic,” Simmons adds parenthetically, “that, eventually, the Doobie Brothers and T. Rex would be inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in the same year, 2020.” It’s clear that there were tensions between some band members—Jeff “Skunk” Baxter doesn’t come off particularly well—and that some fans never got over Michael McDonald changing the direction of the band (replies McDonald, “It may be my voice on some of the songs, but it was the band that adapted everything, not just me”). But what’s most striking is the generosity Johnston and Simmons show to everyone around them, from supporting acts to session players, roadies, and all the band members over the years.

A delightfully unpretentious, pleasing account of rock stardom.

Kirkus Reviews