Foghat to bring the problem of 'so many good songs' for RAGBRAI 50 concert in Tama-Toledo

If you’re going to mess up a song, don’t mess up “Slow Ride” by Foghat.

So says lead singer and guitarist Scott Holt of Foghat, the 1970s blues-rock band behind that hit song as well their popular cover of Willie Dixon’s “I Just Want to Make Love to You.”

Holt’s advice comes from firsthand experience. During an early performance of his with the band in Colorado, filling in for then lead singer Charlie Huhn, Foghat had to restart the song to salvage it.

Audiences shouldn’t worry that’ll happen when the band, which originated in London, arrives in Tama-Toledo Thursday to celebrate with thousands of bicyclists nearing the end of their river-to-river journey across the state as part of the Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Foghat will fit right in with the two towns’ 1970s-theme day.

Holt spoke with Des Moines Register from just outside of Nashville in a phone call Monday and talked about Foghat’s many great songs and joining the band in recent years.

Note: Answers edited for clarity and length.

Des Moines Register: What have you heard from fans over the years about their relationship with Foghat and its music?

Scott Holt: The pandemic wiped out a lot of the personal interaction between the band and the audience. We couldn't really have the meet and greets and stuff like that, where you get to have some kind of interaction with people other than just being on stage. But every time I've talked to people that are fans of the band, (they say) how important the music was to them. That’s one of the most beautiful things about music is the effect it has and the impact that it can have on people. It's the soundtrack to monumental events in their life or it brings them back to a time they remember fondly. Music is just a powerful thing. Especially in this country, I think we tend to take it for granted because it's just all around us all the time, but it's such a beautiful, powerful thing, and I wish we could respect it and care for it more, but Foghat fans, they're amazing. They talk to us all the time and tell stories about the impact that it's had on them and how important the band was to them, the first time they saw the band.

Des Moines Register: Scott, you stepped into the lead singer role last year, though your experience with the band goes back further than that. How did it feel to take on this role in Foghat?

Holt: It felt really good. We've been friends for a long time and we've always wanted to work together and we've always tried to figure out ways to work together and it just worked out that way. These guys, I love them to death. They're just a great bunch of guys, the whole crew, everybody, it’s just a big family out there on the road. We inspire each other creatively. We create more I think because we're together and we interact. Roger (Earl) and I, we just clicked and so we just get along so well and he inspires me to be more creative, and hopefully I do the same for him. There wasn't any kind of strangeness to it at all.

Des Moines Register: Foghat’s performance in Iowa on Thursday is unique in that you'll be performing for thousands of bicyclists who have been journeying across the state of Iowa. What have been some memorable performances for you during your time with Foghat?

Holt: Every show has been memorable. It's been just an amazing experience. The very first show I played with them I was actually filling in for Charlie. We did a show in Colorado and that was the very first time I've performed with the band as the lead singer. But every show we've done. They're all different… the show we play in Toledo, Iowa, is going to be unique to that audience. We're going to play certain songs that we've probably played the night before and the night after, but those performances of those songs is just for those people. And that's kind of the attitude that I take onstage with me every night is this show is for these people. That's the way live music should be presented.

Des Moines Register: From “Slow Ride” to “I Just Want to Make Love to You,” what about Foghat’s music makes it so enduring that not only are people still listening to it, but being introduced to it today?

Holt: It goes without saying that a good song is a good song. The reason why songs last through the years, and why people are still listening to them, is because they were good songs when they were written, they were good songs when they were recorded. If you turn on your radio right now and you hear a song from 10, 15, 20 years ago? Chances are it's because it was a good song then and it's a good song now. Good music doesn't have a shelf life. It's kind of eternal. Which is part of that sort of spiritual existence of music. It's almost like the songs have always been there and as a writer, you're just finding them and then re-presenting them to the public. Specific to Foghat, they're good songs and they're songs that make you feel good and make you want to move around… We were having a discussion within the band. We've got a show coming up, we've got a really short amount of time to play. And we're trying to talk about how to present as much Foghat as we can in a short amount of time. We were going around and around and around with trying to figure out how to do it. And finally, I looked at Roger (Earl) and said, “Well, it's your fault for having so many good songs. Maybe if y’all hadn’t had so many good songs, we wouldn't have this problem.” But that's the thing. You start looking at these songs, and you go, “OK, which one should we not play? Or which one can we put to the side? It's almost impossible.”

Paris Barraza covers entertainment, lifestyle and arts at the Des Moines Register. Reach her at pbarraza@registermedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @ParisBarraza.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Foghat to bring 1970s rock hits to Tama-Toledo for RAGBRAI 50