This week's episode of the Jazz Cruises Conversations podcast features a very special interview by Marcus Miller with Michael McDonald, recorded on The Smooth Jazz Cruise earlier this year.

Marcus talked with Michael about his long and storied career, which started out in St. Louis, playing and singing in local cover bands. The rest is history, which you'll hear about in this engaging and entertaining talk. How about this little fact? Michael's local young band backed Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry back in the day. And he explains the origin of the band name The Doobie Brothers. And Michael tells how he came to duet famously with Patti LaBelle on their smash hit "On My Own." And now they're doing a cruise together, the McDonald Labelle Cruise with us April 10-13 to Nassau in the Bahamas.