From the Promoter

A casual listen to the Boz Scaggs discography makes one thing obvious: Boz Scaggs is both a musical seeker and a man of sizable talent as a singer, songwriter and guitarist. His explorations in blues and R&B, Rock and Jazz have produced lasting work and a career that has brought with it acclaim, a loyal following, and an enduring respect among musicians.

With MEMPHIS (429 Records), his first studio album in five years, Scaggs looks back musically and biographically. (His father and grandparents are from Memphis, as is his wife.) “I had been thinking about a record that involved going back into my past and finding songs that match my style and my voice,” Scaggs says. With producer Steve Jordan and a crack band he puts a distinctive touch on classics like “Rainy Night in Georgia,” “Corinna Corinna,” and “Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl,” as well as on a couple of originals. Thirteen tracks were recorded in three days at the city’s landmark Royal Studios, where the late Willie Mitchell produced so many of Al Green’s and Anne Peebles’ legendary albums.

“The project just fell out naturally,” Scaggs says. “It didn’t require working over takes or a lot of revising. Choosing the material came, to some degree, out of the work I’d been doing with the Dukes of September (a band featuring Donald Fagen, Michael McDonald and Boz). We’d considered hundreds of songs over the last three years so a number of these had been spinning around in my head for a while. Then when I sounded Steve Jordan about producing the record, his reaction gelled so completely and instantly with mine. Was it the first or second conversation we had where I thought he was reading my mind: Royal Studios in Memphis? Ace players like Willie Weeks and Ray Parker Jr. and Charles Hodges? YES.”

In addition to touring extensively with his own band, Scaggs continues to work with Donald Fagen and Michael McDonald as The Dukes of September, most recently a playing a 47-city tour to rave reviews, performing their own material along with R&B and Soul classics. Within that collaboration, throughout his career and especially evident in MEMPHIS, Scaggs’ unique voice and trademark sound make plain his abiding respect for a wide spectrum of American roots music.

“It is hard to imagine any other current artist who could move from blues, R&B, and Southern soul through yacht rock, MOR and disco with credibility this intact. One class act.” - Exclaim! magazine, June 28, 2013