Soul -- real, honest and unforced soul -- is at the core of Michael McDonald’s long and varied career in music. Whether playing with his early bands like Mike and the Majestics in the midwest, working on the road and in the studio with Steely Dan, famously revitalizing the sound of the Doobie Brothers, or, most recently, following his own muse as a soul artist, McDonald has always made music graced by a radiant and dignified sort of soulfulness.

With 2002’s surprise smash Motown album, McDonald and his collaborators like producer Simon Climie effectively showcased the groundbreaking and still relevant music once known as “The Sound of Young America.” A respectful yet contemporary salute to one of our most beloved musical legacies, McDonald’s album proved once again that the music of Motown is a global phenomenon that speaks not to just the Big Chill generation but to every generation. The great admiration and deep love that McDonald, his producers and fellow musicians conveyed for the great artists and songs of Motown came through loud and clear on his platinum, Grammy-nominated album. And in the best spirit of the music itself, Motown -– and now its brand new, equally impressive sequel Motown Two -- crossed over any imaginary boundaries of race or genre, something that McDonald’s music too has always done along the way.

Michael McDonald comes by his own distinctive soulfulness quite naturally. He was born in 1952, not in the Detroit of Motown fame, but not all that far way in another urban center of the American Midwest, St. Louis, Missouri.

“You could very easily develop a love of rhythm and blues in that town without really trying,” McDonald explains.  “Even when I go back there today, it’s still a town where people put on some obscure soul records and go, `Have you heard these guys?’  The town seems to be just filled with kind of people who are connoisseurs of rhythm and blues. I grew up around guys like who were well versed in all the soul singers, and ended up playing with lots of them in bands. I remember thinking, at a young age, `These are the kinds of records I’d love to make some day.’ At that point the world was filled with the sounds of the Troggs and the Kinks – groups I loved too. But my leanings were always towards classic soul music.”

Born from a moment he  spent with his daughter Scarlett, Michael wrote the beautiful "When Scarlett Smiles", specifically for the "Golden Slumbers -  A Father's Love" album.


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