Here’s how definitive rock ‘n’ roll group the Doobie Brothers defines itself on its Web site:

Doobie Brothers n. — 1 music group known for blues based songs with a rock edge, often with lush vocal harmonies (see also rock ‘n’ soul). 2 assemblage of musicians specializing in country-based rock featuring instrumentation such as violin and finger-picked acoustic guitar combined with electrical instruments and drums. 3 musical entity recognized for incorporating sophisticated jazz stylings into “popular hit” songs. 4 “rock” band, origins circa 1970, with reputation for exciting live performances and skillful musicianship.

The Doobie Brothers began recording in 1971, the year after they formed in San Jose year, selling more than 27 million albums. The band has experienced nearly everything a rock band can go through, including the death of three members. But its lineup has remained relatively intact for more than a decade, and it includes four of the eight-piece band’s members from the 1970s.

The longtime members are Pat Simmons (guitar and vocals), Tom Johnston (guitar and vocals), Michael Hossack (drums) and John McFee (guitar, strings and vocals).
The Doobies recently completed a 25-date tour with the band Chicago. On Saturday, July 26, the Doobie Brothers will stop at MontBleu Casino Resort for one of 14 shows in 18 days on the West Coast.

According to their Web site, the Doobie Brothers are working on a new studio album.
Simmons met Johnston and John Hartman after a 1969 show at the Gaslighter Theater in Campbell. Ex-Moby Grape member Skip Spence introduced them.
Johnston’s song “Listen to the Music,” on the band’s second album helped the Doobies achieve rock ‘n’ roll success. Simmons wrote “Black Water” in 1975, which brought mainstream success and the band’s first No. 1 single.

The Doobies were innovators and invited Hossack to sit in as a second drummer, along with Keith Knudsen, for a gig at Bimbos in San Francisco. The sound was so good that the band added Hossack, who played in a Boy Scouts drum troupe as a boy.

“People always ask me of it’s hard to play with another drummer,” Hossack says on the band’s Web site. “I tell them that after playing along with up to 12 other drummers at once in the drum corps, this is a snap.”

Hossack quit the band in 1973, and Johnston, citing exhaustion, left a couple of years later. “Blue-eyed soul” singer Michael McDonald replaced Johnston.
Pedal steel guitarist McFee came aboard in 1979.

“I was a big fan of the group before I ever thought about joining them,” he said on the Web site. “They were always experimenting and mixing blues, country, jazz, rock — all into their own style.”

McFee recently joined a country legend for a video in support of an album, “Meet Glen Campbell,” due out Aug. 19.

Simmons decided to leave in 1981, which briefly ended the band. It reunited for a 1982 farewell tour, and released a live album in 1983.

Headed by Knudsen, the Doobies got together for a 1987 tour to benefit Vietnam veterans. Both drummers, Knudsen and Hossack, were vets. Knudsen died in 2005.
The remaining members of the contemporary Doobie Brothers are keyboardist Guy Allison, saxophonist Marc Russo, bassist Skylark and drummer Ed Toth.

Allison, who joined the band in 1996, formerly played for the Moody Blues and Air Supply.

“I always dreamed of working with John and Keith in the Doobies, so when I was asked I didn’t believe it at first,” Allison said on the Web site. “I had just seen the band in Tahoe and thought … this band is cool. Now how could I pass that up?”