You certainly won’t be “all alone” this Sunday evening when Boz Scaggs takes the stage at the Ulster Performing Arts Center (UPAC): Tickets are selling fast for the concert by the blue-eyed soul singer and R & B musician who crooned “We’re All Alone” while fans fell in love and hit the dance floor to “Lido Shuffle” back in the day. The Grammy-winning singer/songwriter’s Capital Records release, Silk Degrees, reached #2 on the US pop album charts in the late ’70s, and Scaggs has been producing soulful, danceable cross-genre music all along. His concert at UPAC is part of an extensive tour, and when he leaves here, he’ll head down to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and crisscross the US.
Before striking out on his own to release several chart-topping hits featuring his signature singing, Scaggs was a guitarist in the Steve Miller Band. In a 2015 television interview with Tavis Smiley, Scaggs talked about his life as a series of phases and described how he has continued to expand and grow, sometimes focused on music, but not always. He said that he “sat out the ’80s” and didn’t make much music until his desire for it returned. He made a couple of jazz recordings featuring tunes from the Great American Songbook. He started the Scaggs Vineyard on his Napa property, where he’s a hands-on proprietor engaged in the crafting and production of just 350 cases annually of French-style red and rosé wines.
But back to the music: His 2015 release, A Fool to Care (429 Records), reached #1 on the Billboard Blues Chart, an impressive testament to his staying power after nearly five decades in the music industry. The R & B, soul and rock are there, of course, but you can also hear country influences on several cuts, one notably featuring Bonnie Raitt on slide guitar and another where Scaggs trades vocal riffs with Lucinda Williams. A man of musical surprises.
Boz Scaggs, Sunday, April 17, 7 p.m., $39-$99, Ulster Performing Arts Center, 601 Broadway, Kingston; (845) 339-6088, www.bardavon.org.
