This week’s biggest news in the Sarasota area music scene will be the debut of the new venue Encore Live, with an opening weekend that’ll conclude with a concert by a band featuring an Aerosmith member. (Hey, maybe they’ll visit Joe Perry while in town.)
Other notable concerts will include a recently Grammy-nominated reggae group returning to Anna Maria Island, a folk singer-songwriter who’s used Siesta Key as lyrical inspiration playing two nights of shows in Sarasota, and a Blues Music Award-winning, Grammy-nominated performer joined by musician friends in Bradenton. Here are this week’s highlights. Event details are subject to change.
The Kennedys
Folk rock group The Kennedys will return to Fogartyville in Sarasota for a show Friday. The Kennedys have no relation to the political dynasty of the same name, but are rather named after married members Maura and Pete Kennedy, who both formerly played in Nanci Griffith’s band.
The two most recently released 2023’s “Headwinds,” with other albums of theirs including 2014’s “Dance a Little Closer: The Kennedys Sing the Songs of Nanci Griffith,” paying tribute to their former bandmate. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Friday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $27, $22 members, $15 students ages 13 and up (sold out as of press time); 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
The Wailers
Reggae group The Wailers will return to The Center of Anna Maria Island on Saturday as part of the venue’s Bradenton Gulf Islands Concert Series. When Bob Marley and the Wailers ended after Marley’s death in 1981, The Wailers became their own group, led for many years by Aston “Family Man” Barrett, who died in 2024 in Miami at 77.
These days, the band is led by his son Aston Barrett Jr., who portrayed his father in the 2024 biopic “Bob Marley: One Love,” and recently earned a Best Reggae Album Grammy nomination for 2024’s “Evolution,” after another nomination in the same category for 2020’s “One World.” The concert is outdoors, so bring your own chair. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Saturday; The Center of Anna Maria Island, 407 Magnolia Ave., Anna Maria; $50; 941-778-1908; centerami.org
Mean Mary
Venice music shop and venue Troll Music will welcome singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Mean Mary for a show Saturday. The musician, formerly from Florida but now based in Nashville, blends Americana, bluegrass, blues and folk into her sound.
Mean Mary’s most recent album is 2024’s “Woman Creature (Portrait of a Woman, Pt. 2),” a sequel to 2022’s “Portrait of a Woman, Pt. 1,” though she did release the 2023 Christmas album “I’d Rather Be Merry” in between those two full-lengths. 7:30 p.m. Saturday; Troll Music, 628 E. Venice Ave., Venice; $25; 941-484-8765; trollmusic.com
Susan Werner
Fogartyville’s live music lineup this week also features folk singer-songwriter Susan Werner, playing two nights of sold-out shows. Werner’s albums include 2007’s “The Gospel Truth,” with its track “Did Trouble Me” later recorded by Tom Jones, and 2010’s “Kicking the Beehive,” featuring guest musicians such as Keb’ Mo’ and Vince Gill.
Werner’s 2022 EP “The Birds of Florida” came to be while she spent the winter of the pandemic in Siesta Key, with lyrical inspirations like “a silver haired Siesta Key neighbor who uncannily resembled an ibis.” 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Saturday, 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Sunday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $35, $30 members, $15 students ages 13 and up (sold out as of press time); 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Close Enemies
Encore Live, a new Sarasota venue, will close out their opening weekend with a concert by rock supergroup Close Enemies. The band’s lineup includes Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton, who during his time with that group co-penned hits such as “Sweet Emotion” and “Janie’s Got a Gun” and was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.
Close Enemies also features drummer Tony Brock of The Babys (“Isn’t It Time,” “Every Time I Think of You”), Sheryl Crow guitarist Peter Stroud, AC/DC and Aerosmith tech Trace Foster, and singer Chasen Hampton. 6 p.m. Sunday; Encore Live, 8341 Lockwood Ridge Road, Sarasota; $21.96, $59.06 VIP (21-and-up only); encorelive.com
Cynthia Sayer Hot Jazz Quartet
Jazz banjoist Cynthia Sayer will return to Glenridge Performing Arts Center in Sarasota for a show Sunday afternoon. Sayer won a Steve Martin Banjo Prize in 2023 and was inducted into the American Banjo Museum Hall of Fame in 2006. Before that, Sayer was a founding member of Woody Allen’s New Orleans Jazz Band, and played on the soundtracks to some of Allen’s films, along with other musicians including pianist, NEA Jazz Master and Venice resident Dick Hyman.
Joining Sayer as a special guest at the show will be trumpeter Jon-Erik Kellso. 2 p.m. Sunday; Glenridge Performing Arts Center, 7333 Scotland Way, Sarasota; $30-$35; 941-552-5325; gpactix.com
Mark Hummel
Bradenton’s Cottonmouth and Flamingo Bay Brewing Co. will team up for this concert, held at the latter venue, with harmonica player and singer-songwriter Mark Hummel joined by Junior Watson, Anson Funderburgh, Wes Starr and Bill Stuve. Hummel was nominated for a Best Blues Album Grammy and won the Album of the Year Blues Music Award for producing and performing on 2013’s “Remembering Little Walter,” paying tribute to the late blues harmonica great.
Hummel has also earned several Blues Music Awards nominations for Instrumentalist — Harmonica, including last year. 7 p.m. Monday; Flamingo Bay Brewing Co., 1910 14th St. W., Bradenton; $20; 941-795-1141; flamingobaybrewingco.com
JW-Jones Band
Sarasota County restaurant and blues venue Englewoods on Dearborn will feature Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist JW-Jones on Wednesday. Jones’ releases include 2014’s “Belmont Boulevard,” which was nominated for Blues Album of the Year at the Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys), and 2016’s “High Temperature,” which won Best Self-Produced CD at the International Blues Challenge.
More recently, Jones won the 2020 Gibson Guitar Award (Best Band Guitarist), again at the International Blues Challenge, and released 2023’s “Everything Now.” 6:30 p.m. Wednesday; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $7; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
Handguns
Bradenton cafe and music venue Oscura will host pop-punk/emo band Handguns for an acoustic show. The group played Vans Warped Tour in 2013 and 2015, and released multiple albums on Pure Noise Records, including their 2012 debut full-length “Angst,” which charted on the Billboard 200.
Jonas Gaertner, of Sarasota emo bands Cherish This and Floating Boy, and members of the Sarasota-Manatee alternative/punk rock group Neverglades will open the show. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Thursday, Jan. 29; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; free/pay-what-you-want ages 21 and up, $10 under age 21; oscura.live
Cassie and Maggie
Rounding out Fogartyville’s live music lineup this week will be a return appearance by Cassie and Maggie from Nova Scotia, Canada. The sisters who play a contemporary take on Celtic music were nominated for Traditional Roots Album of the Year at the Juno Awards for 2016’s “The Willow Collection.”
More recently, the duo released the new album “Gold and Coal” last year and “A Very Very Cassie and Maggie Christmas” in 2022. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Thursday, Jan. 29; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $27, $22 members, $13 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top 10 concerts this week in Sarasota, Bradenton, Anna Maria Island
Reporting by Jimmy Geurts, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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