“Boz Scaggs”

You may not know this, but Boz Scaggs was an original member of the Steve Miller Band. He left Steve Miller in ‘68 to pursue a solo career and this is his 2nd studio album, released in August of ‘69. For this record he traveled to Sheffield Alabama and the Muscle Shoals Sound Studio. The album tracks are a mix of several musical genres and hinted at what would become Scaggs’ signature blue-eyed soul of his later releases “Slow Dancer” and “Silk Degrees”.

A regular session guitarist at Muscle Shoals was none other than Duane “Skydog” Allman. Can you guess why I wanted this as a 16-year-old kid? Of course the highlight of the record and my absolute favorite track is his cover of Fenton Robinson’s “Loan Me a Dime”. Skydog laid down the guitar work for this track around the same time he and his brother Greg were forming a little band in Jacksonville Florida. I found this phenomenal video from a Scaggs show in 2010 that will give a feel for this classic, timeless cover.