By Tom King
We continue our look at the music of 50 years ago….
Tom Johnston was playing in Bay Area bands in the late 60’s when he hooked up with drummer John Hartman along with various bass players in power trios that banged out rock & blues in clubs around San Francisco and San Jose. In 1970 guitarist and songwriter Patrick Simmons and bassist Dave Shogren joined the duo and formed what became known as the Doobie Brothers. Another area musician is credited with giving them the name when they could not think of a name themselves. He suggested “Doobie Brothers” since they smoked so much pot at the time. The band members considered it stupid and figured they would change it at some point. They never got around to it.