Writing for JamBase about singer and keyboardist Michael McDonald’s recent New York appearance with Steely Dan, music scribe Scott Bernstein dubbed McDonald a “Yacht Rock icon.” Truer words have never been penned. McDonald’s soulful vocals appear on the Dan’s 1977 “Peg,” a high-water mark for yacht rock, and that’s McDonald on The Doobie Brothers’ epochal “What a Fool Believes” and “Minute by Minute.” Apart from his stint with Steely Dan, which included vocal and keyboard work on their albums The Royal Scam and Katy Lied, McDonald is a first-rate soul and pop singer and a terrific and equally soulful keyboardist. Divorced from the trappings of yacht rock, the pop icon makes like the great musician he is when he plays live. His voice is perfectly controlled in a post-Ray Charles manner, and he lays into a groove that seems effortless. A man who has worked with Walter Becker and Donald Fagen, Toto and Carly Simon can do whatever he wants. This week’s Ryman show will feature McDonald singing Christmas songs, covering Motown tunes and playing his hits. EDD HURT
Michael McDonald
