Super trio gives it another shot

By Kevin C. JOHNSON

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz Scaggs, collectively known as the Dukes of September Rhythm Revue, have regrouped for another go-round.

The band is feeling freer than it did the first time it hit the road.

“If we learned anything, it’s only that this time we can push the envelope a little bit more with the material,” says McDonald. “In the first round, we were wondering how obscure we could get with some of the material.”

Before, the Dukes of September touched on songs by the Band, the Grateful Dead and the Beach Boys, things people most likely would recognize.

But now, “we do our originals, too — bring those to the table,” McDonald says. “It’s kind of self-indulgent. But I think it’s self-indulgent for the audience, too, in a way because there’s not too many shows where you’re going to see this much material that is kind of old and obscure. But our aim I think is always to pick those songs that when you hear them, people go, ‘Oh man, I haven’t heard that in years.’ But they remember the song.”

Fagen, McDonald and Scaggs will dig into their catalogs, performing selected hits as well as tributes to their influences. They are touring with Jon Herington (guitar), Freddie Washington (bass); Shannon Forest (drums); Michael Leonhart, Walt Weiskopf and Jay Collins (horns); Jim Beard (organ); and Carolyn Leonhart and Catherine Russell (background vocals).

In compiling what would play out on stage, everything started with email, with each artist suggesting songs.

“We try to figure out just anything we think might work, with the idea it will all get boiled down to a two-hour show,” McDonald says. “We go through songs that would probably be more like a four-hour show until we boil it all down. It’s a great chance for us to just sit and fantasize about any songs we’d like to do.”