496 - Boz Scaggs - Boz Scaggs - Kevin Nealon
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EPISODE SUMMARY:
Kevin Nealon joins Josh Adam Meyers on The 500 to breakdown Boz Scaggs' 1969 self-titled debut album.
On this episode, we learned about that Muscle Shoals sound from Alabama that provided the framework for Boz to play across an assortment of genres representing a country, folk with a blues bedrock n roll from Texas that seems to be completely removed from the psychedelia movement and the heavy political climate of the time.
From I'm Easy to Duane Allman's virtuoso solo on Loan Me a Dime, the record eeked its way onto the list, but we're better for having gone through the week analyzing a key figure in music history with a veteran of comedy history like Kevin.
Every generation in history has produced creative minds that laid the groundwork for those who came after them, and as episode 496 of the 500 with Josh Adam Meyers shows, it’s not even clear to those trailblazers how their efforts will ripple outwards in time.
While Saturday Night Live has produced dozens of wildly influential cast members, few alumni have crafted as humbly ubiquitous a presence in comedic television and movies as this week’s guest, Kevin Nealon. The same could be said of Boz Scaggs, whose soulful self-titled debut album which Kevin and Josh discuss, was so different in style and execution from his contemporaries, its staying power as a landmark of Americana wasn’t recognized until years after its release in 1969.
SHOW NOTES:
01:00 – Intro
08:30 – Interview starts
09:30 – William Royce Scaggs, a.k.a. “Bosley”
10:30 - Not listening to the lyrics
12:15 - The importance of good home defense
14:00 - What Kevin grew up listening to
18:00 - Kevin’s 11-year-old son loves Ed Sheeran
18:30 - Kevin’s first experience with Boz Scaggs
21:00 - Listening for the influences
22:00 - The state of the world in 1969
23:30 - Boz didn’t reflect the world around him
24:30 - The history of Muscle Shoals
28:00 - Kevin has worked with some of the greatest ever
29:30 - How Kevin prepared to enter comedy
32:00 - Kevin’s early comedy friends
34:45 - The first listen experience
37:15 - The time Josh saw the biggest penis he’s ever seen
42:00 - Kevin loves “the music” in music
44:30 - Kevin loves a good heartbreak song
46:00 - What rooms are best for the sound of laughter?
47:30 - Heartbreak and hope are the themes of the album
50:30 - Did Boz realize what he was doing?
54:45 - Soundtracking the movie of Kevin’s life
56:30 - Outro
ALBUM STREAM - BOZ SCAGGS:
NEW ARTIST INFLUENCED BY BOZ SCAGGS:
“Little Pocket” by Ladygod