Boz Scaggs: Out Of The Blues Tour Comes To Van Wezel

Grammy Award-winner ("Lowdown") Boz Scaggs returns to Sarasota with his Out Of The Blues Tour, celebrating his new album. "Music has been a constant companion and I'm feeling more free with it than ever," Scaggs comments. "I feel like I've found my voice through all these years, and I've gotten closer to where I want to be with my approach." Enjoy old favorites and new songs on Thursday, April 18, 2019 at 8 p.m. - live at the Van Wezel!

It's been a life of music - five decades in the case of Boz Scaggs, and spread far and wide with remarkable range in style and influence. From his early West Coast rock and soul bands, through his smooth '70s Hollywood years with hits like "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle," to his more recent explorations in R&B, jazz and the Great American Songbook, the versatile singer/songwriter/guitarist has created a highly personal, unfailingly soulful repertoire. The latest edition, Out Of The Blues, released in 2018 on Concord Records, finds Scaggs, born in Ohio and raised in Texas and Oklahoma, reconnecting with his earliest musical loves.

This album, which was nominated for a GRAMMY Award in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album in 2018, marks the final piece of an unofficial trilogy for Scaggs, which began with the Steve Jordan-produced albums Memphis and A Fool to Care. "I'm a child of the '50s," he explains, "and grew up on the music of my parents' generation - the post war swingers, the Hit Parade era, the semi-classical Gershwin albums and the American songbook of show and film music. Then came early rock radio; with Elvis, Fats Domino, Chuck Berry and Little Richard, the high-watt late night radio out of Nashville and Chicago and doowop out of the East Coast. All the same stars that dotted the musical heaven our generation grew up under. Particular to my coming of age in the Southwest was hearing that crazy stuff out of south Texas and Louisiana. It was something different from that which my fellow teenyboppers in other areas were hearing. These albums, to some degree, are an exploration of those early influences, tracked through different periods of my experience."

The self-produced Out Of The Blues finds Scaggs applying his iconic voice and gritty guitar skills to a set of vintage classics by such blues greats as Bobby "Blue" Bland, Jimmy Reed and Magic Sam, an unexpected and stirring reading of Neil Young's "On the Beach" and original compositions by the songwriter Jack Walroth.

For the occasion, Scaggs assembled a star-studded studio band including such prestigious players as guitarists Doyle Bramhall II, Ray Parker Jr. and Charlie Sexton, bassist Willie Weeks, drummer Jim Keltner and keyboardist Jim Cox, as well as Boz himself on guitar, bass and vocoder, and longtime friend Jack Walroth on harmonica.

Scaggs is currently in the midst of a personal musical renaissance. Liberated from the old-school album/tour cycle, he's worked on his own terms this decade to create a series of eclectic, highly personal recordings that showcase his mastery of multiple musical genres, including the jazz standards collections But Beautiful and Speak Low, which topped the Billboard Jazz charts, the soul-inflected Memphis and the bluesy A Fool to Care, each hitting #1 on Billboard's Blues charts.

"Out Of The Blues, from its very onset, feels like one of the most special of my career," Scaggs asserts. "It just came so easily, and the sessions fell into place so effortlessly. Sometimes you assemble your dream team and it doesn't work. But in this case, the chemistry was right and it all came together beautifully. It was a complete joy from beginning to end, and I'm really happy with it."

Tickets are $27-$82 with limited sections remaining. Purchase at VanWezel.org, the Box Office or by calling (941) 953-3368. Groups of 10 or more should contact (941) 363-2025. This show is sponsored by Gettel Automotive Group & 107.9 WSRZ. Pre-show dining is available at Mattison's Bayside located in the Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall and can be reserved at VanWezel.org or through the Box Office.