With his grey hair, Michael McDonald, already seemed like he was around in music for a long time, when I liked his songs in the 80s. His duet with Patti Labelle, ”On My Own”, is still one of my favorite tracks, and “Sweet Freedom” gets played by me often too. Then later I found out about his work with the Doobie brothers and that he’s the original performer of the soul backtrack used for Warren G’s “Regulate”, another one of my favorites.
I was quite surprised to see his name pop up in a list of new releases, last week. He’s now 65, but I really thought he was no longer active in music. It’s too early to say if he confirms what I claimed in one of my earlier blogs; that musicians rarely retire at all, but it looks like he’s well on his way to keep doing music until he no longer can.
As the voice ages, it usually becomes a lot fuller, which is only working in Michael’s favor. He already had a dark, full and soulful voice, which has only deepened over time. His last official single was “Find It In Your Heart”, which is exactly what I would expect from Michael. It’s soulful and smooth, in every expect. It also offers some advice, which makes sense from someone in the stage of life where Michael is at and the song does make me very curious about his new album, “Wide Open”, out on September 15th.
In order to promote the album, Michael also released a lyrics video of another track from the album, “Half Truth”. This is actually the release that caught my attention to look him up and blog about him. With the harmonica and the blues influences, this song backs away from the Michael McDonald I knew from way back when. The track even brings in some slight rock influences, which makes it a little rough around the edges. A little less polished then the sweet, smooth soul songs.
It really works for him though. He reminds me of music that I don’t hear too often today. It takes me back in time to the old rhythm and blues music. This probably explains why he’s been off my radar for many years, because this music will appeal to the fans he already attached to him. It won’t appeal to a younger audience as it’s so different from music today, especially r&b music today. Nevertheless, I’m definitely reconnected to keep up with a part of his new music
