ever wonder what the hell album covers photos relevancy is to the group, or the album? I do. This was 1973, and a freeway and overpass were in the middle of construction.

Whats that got to do with "China Grove" or Long Train Runnin'?

Trivia: Jeff Baxter of Steely Dan played pedal steel guitar on the track. He would become an official Doobie Brother in 1974.

The artwork found on the front and back of the album features the band, including manager Bruce Cohn, dressed in 19th century western garments and riding a horse-drawn stagecoach beneath an unfinished modern freeway overpass.

 "All that stuff came from the Warner Bros. film studios lot," Tom Johnston said. "It must've been a lot of work for the guys who brought up the horse team and the carriage and the clothes. It was fun to do - they had coffins out there, all kinds of crazy stuff."

The photography was done by Michael and Jill Maggid.

The setting for the cover was located at the Newhall Pass interchange of the Interstate 5 and California State Route 14 freeways near Sylmar, California that collapsed during the 1971 San Fernando earthquake.

 This same section of freeway would collapse again during the 1994 Northridge earthquake

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Captain_and_Me