I-95 Exclusive: Michael McDonald on Family, Fans and 40-Year-Old Virgin

The Doobie Brothers and Michael McDonald are together once again on the road, and in the studio. The Doobies are currently putting the finishing touches on a new album as they aim their tour bus at the State of Connecticut.

Michael and the Doobie Brothers will be playing the Mohegan Sun Arena this Saturday, October 5th, 2024. Ahead of this massive gig, we were granted to the great honor of interviewing Michael McDonald about his career, family and fans. These are some of our favorite moments from that discussion which took place on the Monday (09/30/24) edition of the I-95 Morning Show.

Lou: We're now at the 54-year mark for the Doobie Brother and we can try and wrap our heads around that as fans from the outside but from the inside, is it a vivid photo album for you or are parts of it a blur at this point? 

Michael: "It's a little of both just in the sense that life, you find yourself at this age going where did it go, how fast did it go and how fast is it going? At the same time, it's a very kind of vivid gratitude photo for us. I think that we, it isn't lost on any of us how fortunate we are to be standing on stages like this, still playing for an audience that has come out year-after-year for more than 50 years. It's one of the greatest honors of our life to still be doing this. I think we all feel amazingly grateful and appreciative." 

Lou: The legend of "What a Fool Believes" is that you were toying around with the piano part for the longest time and unsure if you actually wanted to share it with him (Kenny Loggins). Then, you were waiting for him to come over and he heard it through the door and that kind of started the process and the rest is history. Why did you have doubt about sharing that with him? 

Michael: "I didn’t have serious doubts about sharing it; I wanted to share it with him. However, I didn’t know Kenny at that time—I’d never met him. Maybe he could be the guy to help me finish this idea I had been torturing myself with for over a year. Our producer, Ted Templeman, would often ask, 'What do you have for the next record?' I played him some songs, including that one, and he always insisted, 'Man, you’ve got to finish that. I’m telling you, that is a hit song; you need to get it done.' I said, 'Okay, I will,' but I never did. When Kenny came over, I was playing it for my sister. It had a kind of strange Gospel bounce, and I wasn’t sure if I should play it for Kenny. I thought, 'Yeah, I don’t know about that.' Just then, the doorbell rang. As I helped him through the door with his guitar, notepads, and tape recorders, he said, 'Before I say anything else, I heard you playing something on the piano just now. Is that something new?' I replied, 'Yes, as a matter of fact, I was thinking of playing it for you.' He responded, 'Perfect! That’s the first thing I want to work on.' So we dove into 'What a Fool Believes' and finished the song by the next day."

Lou: I'm curious you mentioned your wife just now, you've been touring and performing for two-thirds of your life. How does that alter or shape a family? It's obviously not a traditional lifestyle. 

Michael: "It's tough for sure in terms of the family structure sense. You know it's like anything you get used to, my kids were used to me coming and going. We tried to make up for it in my spare time, whenever I would get home we always would try and makeup for the time lost. My wife was always pretty good at that you know, making sure, keeping me mindful of that. You know I'd get home and feel like there are a million things that I need to get done while I'm home that have to do with other parts of my career. Whether it be writing or sessions and stuff, production things and the band business keeps going on, even though we're not on the road. She was always really good at holding me accountable to the fact that the kids have not seen me in awhile and I'm grateful for that, increasingly grateful for that over the years because I feel like my kids and I have a close bond. In some ways I feel like we appreciate it more because of the time we lost to my touring and having to be away from home so much." 

Lou: In 2005, a little comedy comes out starring Paul Rudd and Steve Carrell called "40-Year-Old Virgin." There is a scene in the movie where Paul Rudd goes up to his boss and says, "if you don't take this Michael McDonald DVD off that you've been playing for two years, I'm going to kill everyone in the store." How did you learn about this, did you get a call from a friend, and what did you think of the scene? 

Michael: "Well first of all I was flattered, I thought it was hysterical. It was even better than that, my friend worked on the film. He was like the music department director on the film and he was sending me updated scripts everyday because he was concerned that I would be offended. Some of the stuff that they didn't use was even funnier but it was brutal you know? I reassured him saying no, this is funny and it was. It was hysterical, I though they really captured that whole disenfranchised era. When we went through the 80s, it was almost like having a price on your head from being in the 70s. Nobody wanted to know who you were and certainly didn't want to hear your music anymore. So, the fact that it came back around thanks to oldies radio and yacht rock, I'm more than appreciative for it because we were dead men walking in the 80s. But, it was funny and Paul Rudd actually stopped me in an airport and said look I just want to apologize, I hope you didn't take it personally. I said no, not at all."  

I wanted to tell him about my I-95 Morning Show "Chicken Bars" bit but I did not know where to begin. 

You can listen to our complete three-part interview with Michael McDonald below.

Part 1 - Michael shares one of his favorite collaborators, an artist he believes pushed him to be better. 

Part 2  - Michael revealed that he co-wrote his memoir "What a Fool Believes" with a famous comedian that happens to be one of his biggest fans. 

Part 3 - Michael says Ray Charles helped shape his musical dreams and changed his life forever. 

Check out the Ethan, Lou & Large Dave Podcast on Apple and Spotify