GRAMMY®-winning singer, songwriter, and musician Boz Scaggs joins Dan Rather for an all-new episode of The Big Interview—airing Tuesday, June 11 at 8E/5pP. During the conversation, Scaggs opens up about life on the road, his experience in San Francisco’s 1960s counterculture scene, dealing with the loss of his home to the Napa fires, the life-changing Ray Charles concert he attended as a teenager, and why he believes his voice has only gotten better with age.
In this exclusive first look, Scaggs discusses discovering the Blues at an early age and how accessible the genre was for him as a young musician who was just beginning to play guitar and sing—laying the groundwork for what would become a celebrated career in music. “I guess I picked up the guitar and started singing sort of at the same time,” Scaggs says. Like many of his peers, Scaggs was drawn to the powerful feeling that Blues inspires in people from all walks of life. He continues, “It’s primal… But it’s also probably the most basic human utterance that there is. Every nationality, every place in the world has a form of the Blues.”
Though generally known as a genre fueled by pain and despair, the Blues means much more than that to Scaggs. “It was the sounds of escape,” he explains. “It’s emotionally a way to forget about one’s troubles… so I think there’s a joy and a release in that music. I’d say release is probably the most essential quality of that music.” Watch it here.
The Big Interview airs every Tuesday at 8pE/5pP, only on AXS TV.
