Michael McDonald on his music, his mistakes, and small epiphanies

No songwriter finds that magic spark in the same way. You can live in the moment, jamming with your favorite collaborators. But you can also look back: poring over old recordings and revisiting childhood favorites.

A trip down memory lane isn’t always easy – as you listen back to old tapes, there are slips of melodies, wrong notes, blown speakers.  

But there are also moments of sudden — if small — epiphanies to fire your imagination.

We sit down to talk about the ins and outs of staying inspired with Michael McDonald, singer-songwriter and member of Steely Dan and The Doobie Brothers. His memoir “What a fool believes…” is out now.