One August night a few weeks ago, as the Doobie Brothers were playing before 18,000 ardent fans in Montana, founding guitarist Pat Simmons looked out into the audience. "I see this guy in dreads; he's probably 18 years old. He's got his fist up in the air and he's shaking his head. And right beside him is a bald guy, probably 65 years old, and he's got his fist in the air and he's shaking his head. It's all the same; we're making a connection," Simmons says. He skips a beat before adding, "They were right in front of the girl who was pulling her blouse off." Long live rock'n'roll, and long live the Doobie Brothers.

For nearly 40 years the Northern California band has been rocking down the highway, selling some 40 million albums worldwide, according to its management, and delivering more than two dozen charting singles, including such classics as "Black Water," "Listen to the Music," "China Grove and "Long Train Runnin'."

And the band-which also includes founding vocalist Tom Johnston and two other longtime members, multi-instrumentalist John McFee and drummer Michael Hossack-is far from done. The Doobies remain a tremendously strong live draw and, now, they're releasing their first album since 2000's "Sibling Rivalry."

"World Gone Crazy" arrives Sept. 28 on HOR Entertainment, a new independent company launched by industry veterans. The set not only features such classic Doobie-style songs as "Nobody" (a remake of a tune that appeared on the group's 1971 self-titled debut) but also sees the band stretching out musically in a new way, such as on the gospel-inflected "A Brighter Day" or the New Orleans brass of the title track.

"It's the best thing we've done musically in forever," Johnston says of the album.

The set was recorded during a three-year period. It was co-produced by the band with Ted Templeman, the producer behind all of the group's classic hits, who was with the band in the beginning. It features guest appearances by Willie Nelson and former Doobie Michael McDonald.

"We'd been talking about some other people and then Ted came in," Simmons says. "We knew that would be a good partnership and just fun for us to return to our roots."

To release "World Gone Crazy," the Doobies turned to HOR Entertainment. Although initially leery of signing with an indie after the band's long career on major labels, longtime Doobies manager Bruce Cohn says, "HOR just surfaced as people who seemed to have genuine interest in bringing the band back into the forefront of their audience and gaining a new audience and seemed to really have the fire."

The HOR deal also includes a live CD/DVD package, as well as a concept album with the band re-creating its hits with special guests.

HOR CEO/president of A&R Larry Lee wanted to sign a legacy group to the label. When he learned from HOR VP of marketing and promotion Bob Divney that Cohn was shopping a new Doobies set, the label got an advance of the album "and listened to it... then listened again," and decided to check out the band in concert.

"So we traveled to Chicago, saw them live and [were] completely blown away," Lee said in an e-mail interview.

Still a staple at classic rock formats, the band is going to radio with new tracks for the first time in more than a decade. The opening salvo is the rollicking "Nobody," which has been serviced to classic rock, mainstream rock and triple A. Plans call for taking up to four singles to various radio formats, including, Cohn says, possibly remixing "Far From Home" for country radio.

However, all involved know the radio game has changed since the band's last top 10 hit, 1989's "The Doctor," and that some reintroduction is in order.

Next Page