Listen To The Music: The Doobie Brothers at the Carson Center

You say that you don't really care for The Doobie Brothers? You're not all that familiar with them? After 40 years, 22 million records sold and a couple of No. 1 singles, this could only be What A Fool Believes.

Come down to the Carson Center, 7:30 p.m., Friday, April 3, and Listen To The Music. Minute By Minute, you'll develop a Real Love for the Doobies — so much so that you'll be Takin' It To The Streets after the show. Dependin' On You and your musical taste, you may find that one thing about the Doobie's music is that It Keeps You Runnin' back for more.

Long after the show is over, you'll still being hearing those Echoes Of Love for The Doobie Brothers' music. Because, after all, Jesus Is Just Alright, but the Doobie Brothers are awesome!

OK, so that was sort of gimmicky and very corny, but it's not a bad way to describe just how pervasive and popular The Doobie Brothers were throughout the'70s and'80s. I just wish I could've worked Another Park, Another Sunday, China Grove and Black Water into my routine.

The San Jose, Calif.-based band formed in 1970. After an inauspicious debut album that might not even exist in Paducah, they hit their stride with their sophomore effort, Toulouse Street. With hits Listen To The Music and Jesus Is Just Alright, Toulouse Street offered a first glimpse into the signature Doobie Brothers sound with which we are now so familiar.

You could describe the Doobie Brothers in terms of three eras: pre-Michael McDonald, Michael McDonald and post-Michael McDonald.

The pre-Michael McDonald era included hard-edged, guitar-driven songs like China Grove and Jesus Is Just Alright.

The Michael McDonald era started with 1976's Takin' It To the Streets and had a more soulful, polished feel.

Now that we're in the post-Michael McDonald era, it's easy to see where he got his influence. In the past five years, Michael McDonald has released three albums of Motown cover songs.

Don't look for McDonald in Friday's lineup — he hasn't played regularly with The Doobie Brothers since 1995. That's OK — The Doobie Brothers have changed lineups more often than Spinal Tap.

However, through the variety of iterations, The Doobies have remained surprisingly consistent. They simply play great rock and roll that we all know, love and to which we will all be singing along.

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