Classic rock singer-songwriters Boz Scaggs and Michael McDonald join the 2017 Tanglewood Season on Friday, June 30. Celebrated rocker John Mellencamp will join forces with fellow singer-songwriters Emmylou Harris and Carlene Carter for a performance in the Shed on Saturday, July 1. Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant makes her Tanglewood debut on Sunday, July 2, at 7 p.m. James Taylor and his All-Star Band return the Shed on July 3 and 4.
Grammy Award winning rock legend Boz Scaggs, whose 1976 solo album Silk Degrees went multi-platinum, rose to fame in the late 1960s as lead singer in the Steve Miller Band. He released his latest album, A Fool to Care, in 2015. With a career that spans more than four decades, five-time Grammy Award-winner singer-songwriter Michael McDonald made his mark as a member of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers before launching a successful solo career in the 1980s.
Born October 7, 1951, in Seymour, Indiana, John Mellencamp fell in love with music at an early age and was gigging in local bars and fronting a soul band by the time he was 14. His professional music career began in earnest in 1976 when MCA Records released his first album, The Chestnut Street Incident. After releasing a few albums, he broke out in 1979 with his first hit, “I Need A Lover.”
Singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant makes her Tanglewood debut on Sunday, July 2, at 7 p.m., bringing her distinctive voice and style to the Koussevitzky Music Shed. Ms. Merchant, who began her career with alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs in 1981, has released seven solo albums-most recently Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings (released in November 2015), a collection of all-new recordings revisiting Merchant’s multi-platinum solo debut Tigerlily, originally released in 1995.
James Taylor returns to Tanglewood with his All-Star Band for performances on Monday, July 3, and Tuesday, July 4, 2017 each at 8 p.m. in the Koussevitzky Music Shed. The July 4 concert will be followed by a spectacular fireworks display over the Stockbridge Bowl in celebration of the Independence Day holiday. Taylor’s music embodies the art of songwriting in its most personal and universal forms. He is a master at describing specific, even autobiographical situations in a way that resonates with people everywhere.