Michael McDonald Brings Yacht Rock to Your Home in NPR’s ‘Tiny Desk Concert’

Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, NPR has been bringing their Tiny Desk Concert series to artist’s homes, recently with performances by Soccer Mommy and Margo Price. Now, the series has sprinkled some yacht rock magic into your quarantine, with Michael McDonald performing Doobie Brothers hits from his home in Santa Barbara, California.

“Hope you’re all staying healthy and staying safe out there,” McDonald told the camera, after opening with his emotional solo track “Matters of the Heart.”

“Wishing you all the best of luck and Godspeed through this event we’re all living through,” he added.

Sitting next to a Tiny Desk Concert poster McDonald drew himself — surrounded by guitars and keyboards — the singer launched into the Doobie classics “Minute by Minute” and “What a Fool Believes.” “If you know the words, sing along with me at home,” he said, smiling.

The Doobie Brothers will be inducted into the 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame alongside Nine Inch Nails, Notorious B.I.G., Whitney Houston and others. Originally slated for May 2nd at Cleveland’s Public Hall, the ceremony will now take place on November 7th.

“It’s the culmination of a lot of years of traveling together and working together,” McDonald told Rolling Stone of the induction. “We are fortunate that our friendship has remained the most important thing to us through all the various incarnations of the band. We all had an appreciation for what the band has meant to each of us individually and what it’s been as an experience collectively.”

As of right now, the Doobie Brothers’ 50th anniversary tour is still on, with McDonald joining the band for the first time since 1995. The trek kicks off in Jacksonville, Florida, on June 12th.