The last time we ran into Scott Boyer, he was jamming at a Florence lake house last year with Wayne Perkins and a Muscle Shoals rhythm section and feeling fine.

Scott Boyer

But since he’s come down with peripheral artery disease and had surgery that replaced much of his right femoral artery to improve circulation, and since he has no health insurance - like many musicians and Americans - the medical expenses are piling up.

So his friends in the music business and fans are putting on a benefit at Birmingham’s Alabama Theatre April 18 to help out.

And what a jam it promises to be.

Gregg Allman and Butch Trucks of the Allman Brothers Band are headlining, and the lineup will include the Amazing Rhythm Aces, the Capricorn Rhythm Section and the Decoys, along with Bonnie Bramlett, Donnie Fritts, Paul Thorn, Wayne Perkins, Topper Price and “Nashville Star” runner-up Zac Hacker.

The first time I ever saw Scott Boyer play, his band Cowboy had joined up with the Allman Brothers on a gold record tour and appeared at the old Boutwell Auditorium in downtown Birmingham. I was 17 and playing the drums around Birmingham’s club scene already.

Cowboy recorded four albums with Capricorn in the early 1970s before merging with the Allmans. One of the most memorable cuts was Boyer’s “It’s Time,” a song that became the title track of Bonnie Bramlett’s first solo album. Perhaps Boyer’s most famous song is “Please Be With Me,” recorded by Eric Clapton in 1974 on the album “461 Ocean Boulevard.”

I used to run into Boyer a lot down on the Gulf Coast in the late 1980s, and remember many sweaty nights at Judge Roy Bean and even the Pink Pony Pub in Gulf Shores, where Boyer used to share the singing duties with his incredibly hot and talented sister. He also appeared with The Locust Fork Band and The Convertibles, with Topper Price.

“I’ve still got a lot of really close friends in that area that I still love,” along the Gulf Coast, Boyer told the Mobile Press Register in an interview.

Since 1988, he’s been based in Muscle Shoals as a studio musician, writing songs and performing.

The first benefit for Boyer went down last Wednesday in Florence. For the Birmingham benefit April 18, with the show starting at 7 p.m., tickets are going for $40 and $50 on Ticketmaster.

For details, visit the Boyer Benefit Myspace page.

For more information on Scott, visit his official homepage at ScottBoyer.Net.

Friends and fans who can’t attend but wish to make donations can do so by sending checks payable to the Muscle Shoals Music Association, earmarked for the Scott Boyer Benefit, at MSMA, P.O. Box 2383, Muscle Shoals, AL 35662. Online PayPal donations may be sent to sboyer-msma-med@yahoo.com.

We all wish Scott well and would like to see something like this benefit become a regular thing in Birmingham, with a monthly jam.

We are actively looking at rooms and talking to musicians about this now. If you would like to get involved, e-mail Locust Fork News and Journal editor and publisher Glynn Wilson at fast2write@charter.net.

Tags: Birmingham Blues

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