Boz Scaggs Out of the Blues Tour Band
Boz Scaggs gets back to the blues and out on a new tour
When the COVID-19 shutdown hit more than two years ago, longtime Bay Area musician Boz Scaggs thought it might be an opportune time to write some songs.
"I worked on some odds and ends," Scaggs said. "In the beginning, I thought that with all that time, it would be a good time to write. But it didn't happen. I couldn't focus. Now that I'm getting out more to play live, I feel motivated to write."
Scaggs' new tour opened May 18 in Redding and runs through Aug. 17, ending with a show in Minnesota. He has performed half a dozen times at Santa Rosa's Luther Burbank Center for the Arts, and will return May 30 for the first time since 2017.
He did tour for about six weeks last fall and played a couple dates earlier this month in Florida and Louisiana. But the new tour is the biggest project he has tackled for a while.
Scaggs remains best-known as the singer-songwriter who scored hits in the late '70s and early '80s, including "Lowdown" and "Lido's Shuffle," but that doesn't cover his entire musical range.
"I have recorded in a number of different genres, and that gets confusing for people sometimes, and for me, too, I must admit," Scaggs joked. "I don't have any choice. I just have to do what I feel like I can do."
His most recent album is "Out of the Blues," released in 2018. While no new album is ready for release just yet, Scaggs does foresee a return to recording.
"There's always something going on," he said. "I've been in the studio a bit lately, but nothing major so far."
Scaggs, 77, was born William Royce Scaggs in Canton, Ohio, in 1944, the eldest child of a traveling salesman. His family moved to McAlester, Oklahoma, then to Plano, Texas, north of Dallas.
After learning guitar at the age of 12, Scaggs met Steve Miller at St. Mark's School in Dallas. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, the Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin at Madison together, playing in blues bands.
Leaving school, Scaggs briefly joined the R&B scene in London, then traveled on to Sweden as a solo performer. In 1965, he recorded his solo debut album, "Boz."
Returning to the U.S. in 1967, Scaggs headed for San Francisco, where he teamed up with Steve Miller again, appearing on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums. Scaggs went on to collaborate with Phoebe Snow and Michael McDonald, and he contributed to the soundtrack for the 1980 film "Urban Cowboy."
Scaggs and his wife, Dominique, moved to the hills above Napa Valley in 1996. In 2000, they started to produce wine and continued until 2013. They also have a place in San Francisco.
Backed by his six-piece band, Scaggs expects on this new tour to give his fans a bit of everything — his hits, some blues, some jazzy sounds and maybe a couple of standards.
"I feel like if people like what I do, they're gonna love the lineup I have now," he said. "We're having a great time playing together. I feel very lucky my music has evolved to this point."
You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com or 707-521-5243. On Twitter @danarts.
Dan Taylor
Arts & Entertainment, The Press Democrat
Do you take fun seriously? I know I do. Tell me what you want to know about arts and entertainment in the North Bay to make the best use of your leisure time and money. As a longtime local arts journalist, I have learned where to look and who to ask.
Source: https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/entertainment/boz-scaggs-gets-back-to-the-blues-and-out-on-a-new-tour/
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