While the past few weeks of concert picks have showcased a variety of music styles, this week will spotlight the Sarasota area’s favorite genre: the blues.
Numerous acclaimed blues musicians will visit the area this week, including a double-bill of Blues Music Award-winning and nominated bands at Bradenton’s Flamingo Bay Brewing, with the latter group also playing a separate headlining show at Englewoods on Dearborn.
If you’re not feeling the blues, we have a few other options as well, including a Tampa Bay jazz trio known for their inventive covers and a Nashville-by-way-of-Blue Ridge, Georgia country singer-songwriter. Here are this week’s highlights. Event details are subject to change.
The Shaelyn Band
A few weeks before they’re set to release their latest album “Chapter 3,” blues group The Shaelyn Band will play Fogartyville in Sarasota. The Florida group was one of the opening acts for Buddy Guy’s annual 16-show January run at his namesake Chicago club Buddy Guy’s Legends.
The band’s other releases include 2023’s “Juke Joint,” named after the historic Black establishments that blues musicians regularly played (and served as the main setting of recent Oscar-winning film “Sinners,” featuring Guy.) 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Saturday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $30, $25 members, $15 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Jason Ricci & the Bad Kind, J.P. Soars & the Red Hots
Bradenton’s Flamingo Bay Brewing will host a double-bill of acclaimed blues artists with Jason Ricci & the Bad Kind and J.P. Soars & the Red Hots, with the latter also playing a headlining show at Englewoods on Dearborn. Ricci has won multiple Blues Music Awards in the Instrumentalist — Harmonica category, most recently in 2024, and played with Tom Morello, Zac Brown and Paul Shaffer at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction of Paul Butterfield Blues Band.
Soars & the Red Hots earned four Blues Music Awards nominations in 2022: Band of the Year, B.B. King Entertainer and Instrumentalist — Guitar for Soars, and Instrumentalist — Drums for bandmate Chris Peet. 7 p.m. Saturday; Flamingo Bay Brewing Co., 1910 14th St. W., Bradenton; 941-795-1141; flamingobaybrewingco.com; 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 21; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $7; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
La Lucha
Jazz Club of Sarasota’s Monday Night Jazz Cabaret series, held in Florida Studio Theatre’s John C. Court Cabaret, will continue with La Lucha. The Tampa Bay trio are known for their covers of songs from other genres, with their 2024 album “La Lucha Plays the ’80s” featuring jazzy renditions of hits from that decade such as Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” and “Raspberry Beret” and Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” and “Like a Prayer.”
Their 2009 debut “A Cup of Fuzzy Water” features covers of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” Deftones’ “Change (In the House of Flies)” and Britney Spears’ “Toxic.” 7:30 p.m. Monday; John C. Court Cabaret, 1265 First St., Sarasota; $48.07; 941-260-9951; jazzclubofsarasota.org
Biscuit Miller Band
Englewoods on Dearborn will also feature a return appearance by blues bassist and singer-songwriter Biscuit Miller this week. A two-time winner of the Blues Music Award for Instrumentalist — Bass in 2012 and 2017, Miller has released albums including 2019’s “Chicken Grease” and 2010’s “Blues with a Smile,” a fitting title for the charismatic performer.
Along with leading his own band, Miller performed for years in the groups of other blues musicians such as Lonnie Brooks and Anthony Gomes. 6:30 p.m. Wednesday; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $10; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
Lindsay Beth Harper
Fogartyville’s live music lineup this week will also include country singer-songwriter Lindsay Beth Harper. From Blue Ridge, Georgia, Harper moved to the country music hub of Nashville in 2019 to further pursue her songwriting career.
Harper has been performing since she was a child, however, including appearing on the NBC show “America’s Most Talented Kid.” Joshua Reilly will open. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Thursday, May 21; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $25, $20 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 5 concerts this week in Sarasota, Bradenton, Englewood
Reporting by Jimmy Geurts, Sarasota Herald-Tribune / Sarasota Herald-Tribune
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