Boz Scaggs

Boz Scaggs is the second studio album by American musician Boz Scaggs, released in 1969 by Atlantic Records. A stylistically diverse album, Boz Scaggs incorporates several genres, including Americana, blue-eyed soul, country, and rhythm and blues. The lyrics are about typical themes found in blues songs, such as love, regret, guilt, and loss. Scaggs recorded the album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio with producer Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine. The Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section heavily contributed to the album, which included a young Duane Allman, before his rise to fame with the Allman Brothers Band. Boz Scaggs was mostly ignored by listeners and critics upon release, and only sold around 20,000 copies within its first few years. The critics that did review the album enjoyed it, and commended the musicianship between Scaggs and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. Boz Scaggs continues to receive praise in retrospective reviews, with some critics calling it an underrated album from the 1960s. In 2012, Boz Scaggs was ranked at number 496 on Rolling Stone list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Background and recording In 1967, Boz Scaggs joined the Steve Miller Band, a San Francisco-based rock group. He played guitar on the band's first two albums—Children of the Future and Sailor (both 1968)—before leaving the same year to pursue a solo career. At the time, Scaggs lived in Potrero Hill, and was next-door neighbors with Jann Wenner, the co-founder of Rolling Stone magazine. The two became good friends; Wenner provided feedback on material Scaggs had written, and encouraged him to make some demo tapes. Wenner was looking for more funding for the magazine, and talked with music executives along the East Coast of the United States. In one of the meetings, he talked with Jerry Wexler of Atlantic Records, and gave Wexler a demo tape Scaggs had made. Wexler was impressed by the music, and asked Wenner to produce an album with Scaggs under the Atlantic label. After some initial discussions with Scaggs, Wenner suggested he record the album at Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Sheffield, Alabama, based on the style of music he had been making. Scaggs wanted to watch some of the recording sessions at Muscle Shoals anonymously, so Wenner gave him a Rolling Stone press badge to visit the studio and interact with the studio musicians.