Boz Scaggs brings bluesy rock ‘n' roll to Santa Rosa

Boz Scaggs remains best-known as the singer-songwriter who scored hits in the late '70s and early '80s, including “Lowdown” and “Lido's Shuffle,” but there's a lot more to know.

At 73, he has never stopped growing musically, mostly recently releasing “A Fool to Care,” an album of soul classics titled after a Fats Domino hit, in 2015. His previous endeavors include collections of jazz standards on 2003's “But Beautiful” and 2008's “Speak Low.”

His business resume is also impressive. Scaggs is a founding partner of Slim's live music club and co-owner of The Great American Music Hall, both in San Francisco, and with his wife, Dominique, he's proprietor of Scaggs Vineyard in Oakville.

And he's still playing 80 to 90 tour dates a year, including his Aug. 1 show at Santa Rosa's Luther Burbank Center for the Arts.

The Ohio-born Scaggs spoke by telephone during a tour stop in Providence, Rhode Island.

Q: The Northern California audiences seem to consider you one of their own. Do you feel a special bond with concert crowds here?

A: Most definitely. I came to San Francisco in 1967, and that part of the country is home to me. I can't think of any place I'd rather be.

Q: You've had a lot of stellar collaborations with a variety of interesting people over the years, starting out in the Steve Miller Band and later working with Phoebe Snow and Michael McDonald. Do you have any new collaborations in the works right now?

A: I wouldn't frame those projects as “stellar,” but in retrospect, I guess they are. I take it as it comes. I'm making a record when I take a break from touring in August and September. I have some musicians that are my greatest heroes on this record.

I have Jim Keltner on drums, Willie Weeks on bass and Ray Parker Jr. and Jim Cox on guitar. Those are my superheroes.

Q: Do you have any particular musical thrust for the next album?

A: Yeah, it's kind of bluesy, and rock ‘n' roll.

Q: How has your approach to music evolved over the years, going back to the Steve Miller roots and all of the different things you've since then? Do you feel like it's heading in a particular direction over all? Or are you just trying out things you want to do?

A: I think it's probably going to continue to be what it always has been. I have an interest in a broad range of musical styles. I have a couple of records in mind after this one that will take me back into a standards mode - a jazzy quartet thing - and then another one that I've wanted to make all my life, which is a collection of moody ballads. I think I'm going to keep doing what I'm doing.

Q: Is there anything in particular that's working especially well musically for right now?

A: I really enjoy playing the guitar a lot these days. I think I'm finally getting a handle on it.

Q: I should think you've mastered that by now.

A: Thank you, but no. Not by a long stretch.

Q: For this coming show at Luther Burbank Center, what do you have in mind?

A: Well, for this tour, I'm doing a smattering of my hits, and I am doing some material from a couple of recent records.

This little cycle I'm in right now, I call a trilogy. I made a record in Memphis and one in Nashville, and there's one I'm planning now that will be made in L.A. They're in a rootsy vein. It's reminiscent of music that I grew up with, music that I heard on the radio, forming my musical taste. So the tour has some things that are recent, and there are just some songs that I like the arrangements for.

Q: What do you think your fans expect?

A: I think people like to hear the hits, like some of the stuff from my “Silk Degrees” album. I know they do. So I keep those handy.

You can reach Staff Writer Dan Taylor at 707-521-5243 or dan.taylor@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @danarts.