If you’re only going to have one original on an album filled with classics, it better measure up. And Boz Scaggs felt that “Hell to Pay,” his sole songwriting credit on his forthcoming A Fool to Care (out March 31) certainly did.
He initially thought of Lucinda Williams as a duet partner on the track, but he wound up using her on his rendition of The Band’s “Whispering Pines.” Then his recording engineer suggested Bonnie Raitt, which A Fool to Care producer Steve Jordan seconded. “I was scared to call Bonnie. I’m sort of in awe of Bonnie,” Scaggs confesses. “So Jordan called Bonnie and we sent Bonnie the demo and the lyrics and she fell for it and she came up to the house and we spent a day together. She’s just a really strong musician, a remarkable woman. That’s special to me.”
