Boz Scaggs

A performer recognized with Grammy awards and repeated chart success across blues, jazz, and R&B, Boz Scaggs also writes his own material and takes it to audiences worldwide. During the 1960s he played guitar and stepped forward as lead vocalist from time to time inside the Steve Miller Band, then rose to wider prominence in the following decade through a string of solo Top 20 singles that included “Lido Shuffle” and “Lowdown.” Both tracks appeared on the multi-platinum, proto-disco album Silk Degrees, issued in 1976 to widespread critical praise and a number-two peak on the Billboard Top 200. Scaggs’ earthy tenor moves fluidly over whatever style he decides to tackle, while his relaxed phrasing conceals a deep concentration and fervor. His discography spans blues and R&B sessions, pop standards, jazz excursions, and rock outings, all made with the assistance of exceptional session players. Although new releases arrive only sporadically, each one registers as a significant occasion. Later projects such as 1997’s Come on Home, 2013’s Memphis, 2015’s A Fool to Care, and 2018’s Out of the Blues continue to trace the R&B, soul, and blues passions that first seized him while he was still a high-school student and aspiring player in Plano, Texas. His concert work, especially the shows mounted by the all-star Dukes of September ensemble alongside Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen, has reinforced the same lifelong commitment.

Born William Royce Scaggs in Ohio on June 8, 1944, he grew up in Oklahoma and Texas; while enrolled at a Dallas prep school he encountered guitarist Steve Miller. Scaggs entered Miller’s band the Marksmen as a singer in 1959, and the two later studied together at the University of Wisconsin, performing in blues outfits including the Ardells and the Fabulous Knight Trains.

Scaggs went back to Dallas by himself in 1963 to front the R&B group the Wigs; once he moved to England the band dissolved, and two former members, John Andrews and Bob Arthur, soon founded Mother Earth. He stayed in Europe, performing on street corners, and also cut an unsuccessful solo acoustic album for Polydor in Sweden titled Boz under the name William R. Scaggs before returning to the United States two years later. After establishing himself in San Francisco he rejoined Miller and entered the newly formed Steve Miller Band; following the release of two well-regarded albums with the group, Children of the Future and Sailor, both from 1968, Scaggs departed to launch a solo career.

Assisted by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, he next obtained a contract with Atlantic Records. The 1968 soul-inflected Boz Scaggs, which featured a guest appearance by Duane Allman, earned strong reviews yet failed to reach listeners; its track “Loan Me a Dime” later triggered a successful lawsuit by blues artist Fenton Robinson over composer credit. After moving to Columbia, Scaggs collaborated with producer Glyn Johns on 1971’s Moments, an adept fusion of rock and R&B that likewise made little commercial headway.

He continued to receive critical acclaim for albums such as 1972’s My Time and 1974’s Slow Dancer, yet commercial success arrived only with 1976’s Silk Degrees, which climbed to number two on the album charts and yielded the Top Three single “Lowdown” together with the hit “Lido Shuffle.” Down Two Then Left, released in 1977, also performed well, while 1980’s Middle Man reached the Top Ten buoyed by the singles “Breakdown Dead Ahead” and “Jo Jo.”

Scaggs largely withdrew from recording during much of the 1980s, devoting time instead to ownership of the San Francisco nightclub Slim’s and restricting live work chiefly to the venue’s annual black-tie New Year’s Eve shows. He reappeared in 1988 with Other Roads and three years afterward joined Donald Fagen’s Rock and Soul Revue on tour. The solo album Some Change surfaced in 1994, followed in 1997 by both Come on Home and the anthology My Time: The Anthology (1969-1997). The revitalized artist issued further recordings over the ensuing years, among them Fade into Light, Dig, and the standards collection But Beautiful. An expanded edition of Silk Degrees and the 1974 concert recording Runnin’ Blue both appeared in 2007, while Speak Low found him revisiting jazz standards in 2008.

In 2012 Scaggs performed with the Dukes of September, whose other key members were Michael McDonald and Donald Fagen. He ended a period of recording inactivity in March 2013 with Memphis, produced by Steve Jordan and containing both original songs and covers; taped at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studio, the project aimed to honor the continuing influence of Southern soul.

Working once more with Jordan in 2014, Scaggs booked four days at Nashville’s Blackbird Studio alongside a core Memphis rhythm section, then added leading Music City session musicians plus guests Bonnie Raitt and Lucinda Williams. Released by 429 in 2015, A Fool to Care presented covers drawn from classic soul, New Orleans R&B, rock and roll, and country alongside newly written material.

Following well-received tours across the United States, Europe, and Japan, both alone and with the Dukes of September, Scaggs returned to the studio to finish the “roots trilogy” that began with Memphis and A Fool to Care and that celebrates his enduring affection for blues and R&B. He had explored the same territory throughout his career, yet began offering explicit tributes with the earlier covers album Come on Home. For Out of the Blues he revisited songs associated with iconic soul-blues figures such as Bobby “Blue” Bland, Jimmy Reed, and Magic Sam, delivered an unexpected interpretation of Neil Young’s “On the Beach,” and incorporated original compositions by Jack Walroth. Scaggs himself produced the album and gathered a distinguished studio ensemble that featured guitarists Doyle Bramhall II, Ray Parker, Jr., and Charlie Sexton, bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Jim Keltner, keyboardist Jim Cox, and Walroth on harmonica; Scaggs contributed guitar and bass. Preceded by the May single “Rock and Stick,” Out of the Blues appeared in July 2018, reached number one on the blues charts, and remained in the Top Ten for more than six months.