Top 12 concerts this week in Sarasota, Bradenton, Englewood, Punta Gorda – Sarasota Herald-Tribune
It’s another week full of local events, including live music, this February in Sarasota, Manatee and Charlotte counties. And while just about any week of the year is a good one for blues music fans in our area, this’ll be an especially busy one, with one of the biggest, Grammy-nominated names in blues-rock playing Sarasota’s premier performing arts venue and numerous Blues Music Award-winning or nominated musicians appearing elsewhere, including a Bradenton cigar box guitar festival.
Blues not your genre of choice? You’ll find plenty of others represented in this concert picks installment, including Celtic, alt-Americana, folk, bluegrass and even Broadway. Here are this week’s highlights. Event details are subject to change.
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‘Sincerely, Sondheim’
Recently appearing in the cast of the Tony-winning, gender-switched Broadway revival of “Company,” singer and actor Nicholas Rodriguez will visit Sarasota for a concert celebrating the music of the late great Stephen Sondheim. “Sincerely, Sondheim” will feature selections from Sondheim shows such as “Company,” “Sunday in the Park with George” and “Into the Woods,” along with stories in Sondheim’s own words. Rodriguez also released the album “The First Time…” with covers including the Oscar-winning, Sondheim-penned track “Sooner or Later” performed by Madonna in 1990’s “Dick Tracy,” as well as Joni Mitchell’s “A Case of You” and Dolly Parton’s “Jolene.” 7:30 p.m. Friday; Glenridge Performing Arts Center, 7333 Scotland Way, Sarasota; $25-$30; 941-552-5325; gpactix.com
Cassie and Maggie
Fogartyville, one of the top spots in Sarasota to see nationally touring singer-songwriter acts, will go international this week with Cassie and Maggie from Nova Scotia, Canada. The sisters who play a contemporary take on Celtic music earned a Traditional Roots Album of the Year nomination at the Juno Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys) for 2016’s “The Willow Collection.” More recently, the duo released the 2022 holiday album “A Very Very Cassie and Maggie Christmas.” 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Friday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $24, $20 members, $12 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Chris O’Leary Band
After releasing his latest album “The Hard Line” last month on esteemed Chicago blues label Alligator Records, singer-songwriter and harmonica player Chris O’Leary will return to our area for a show at Leroy’s in Punta Gorda. Prior to his solo career, O’Leary spent six years fronting the blues group The Barn Burners alongside the late great The Band drummer-singer Levon Helm. He then struck out on his own with the 2010 album “Mr. Used to Be,” which was nominated for a Best New Artist Debut Blues Music Award and won a New Artist Debut Release Blues Blast Music Award. 8 p.m. Friday; Leroy’s Southern Kitchen & Bar, 201 W. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda; 941-505-2489; facebook.com/leroyspg
Have Gun, Will Travel
One of Sarasota-Manatee’s most successful musical acts, Bradenton alt-Americana band Have Gun, Will Travel will play Celtic Ray in Punta Gorda this week. The group’s music has appeared on the television shows “The Good Wife” and “The Ranch,” and been covered by outlets including NPR and No Depression. In 2022, the band released the EP “Silver Sounds” featuring songs including “Our Fair City,” which pays tribute to Bradenton with lyrical references to the Riverwalk, Village of the Arts and other local landmarks. 8 p.m. Friday; Celtic Ray Public House, 145 E. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda; 941-916-9115; celticray.net
Bradenton Cigar Box Guitar Festival
Bradenton’s Village of the Arts neighborhood will host this festival celebrating the namesake instrument. The lineup features musicians such as alt-Americana act Hymn for Her, whose repertoire of instruments includes the cigar box guitar and who’ve played England’s massive music festival Glastonbury and been covered by Rolling Stone. Other performers will include Bradenton-based bluesman and skilled cigar box guitarist Steve Arvey and one-man-band Ben Prestage, who plays instruments including the cigar box guitar and diddley bow, earning a Blues Music Award nomination for Instrumentalist — Other in 2012. for the latter. (Prestage will also play 2 p.m. Saturday at Celtic Ray.) Friday-Sunday; Village of the Arts, 1227 12th St. W., Bradenton; villageofthearts.org
Englewood Seafood & Music Festival
Another three-day music festival will take this place this weekend with the return of Englewood Seafood & Music Festival. Notable performers will include singer Annika Chambers, a two-time winner of the Soul Blues Female Artist Blues Music Award who’s nominated in the same category again this year, and her husband/guitarist Paul DesLauriers, a two-time Maple Blues Awards (Canada’s equivalent of the BMAs) Entertainer of the Year. They’ll play Saturday, with other performers including K-Luv and the United Funk Foundation, Kara Nally Band, Maiden Cane, 22N, Gas House Gorillas and Kettle of Fish. 4-10 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m.-6 p.m. Sunday; Pioneer Park, 348 W. Green St., Englewood; free admission; 941-487-8061; paragonfestivals.com
Susan Werner
Fogartyville’s live music lineup this weekend will also feature returning folk singer-songwriter Susan Werner. Her albums include 2007’s “The Gospel Truth,” with its track “Did Trouble Me” later recorded by Tom Jones, and 2011’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.” She’ll turn to another state, Texas, for her upcoming release “Halfway to Houston.” 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Saturday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $30, $27 members, $15 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Johnny Rawls
Soul-blues singer-songwriter and guitarist Johnny Rawls will continue a string of local dates this week with shows at J.R.’s Old Packinghouse Cafe and Cottonmouth. Rawls has won two Soul Blues Album Blues Music Awards, for 2018’s “I’m Still Around” and 2009’s “Ace of Spades,” and has been nominated several other times in the same category and for Soul Blues Male Artist. He’s nominated again in both categories at this year’s Blues Music Awards after releasing his latest album “Walking Heart Attack” last year. 7 p.m. Saturday; J.R.’s Old Packinghouse Cafe, 987 S. Packinghouse Road, Sarasota; 941-371-9358; packinghousecafe.com; Noon Sunday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $5; 941-243-3735; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
Twisted Pine
Fogartyville’s live music lineup this weekend will be rounded out by Twisted Pine. The Boston-based band’s sound blends bluegrass with a variety of other genres. That mixture of influences can be heard on the group’s 2020 album “Right Now,” which along with originals features side-by-side covers of sardonic indie-rocker Father John Misty’s “Well, You Can Do It Without Me” and bluegrass fiddler Tex Logan’s “Come Along Jody.” 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Sunday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $24, $20 members, $12 students ages 13 and up (sold out as of press time); 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
One of the biggest names in blues-rock, guitarist and songwriter Kenny Wayne Shepherd will play Van Wezel in what the venue says will be his debut performance there. Shepherd rose to fame with albums such as his 1995 debut “Ledbetter Heights” and 1997’s “Trouble Is…,” both of which went platinum, with the latter album’s title track earning Shepherd the first of his five Grammy nominations. (His most recent nomination was for his live album “Live! in Chicago” that saw him joined by other musicians including Hubert Sumlin, Willie “Big Eyes” Smith and the late Bradenton resident Bryan “Braille Blues Daddy” Lee.) Shepherd’s latest releases include last year’s “Dirt on My Diamonds Vol. 1” and 2022’s “Trouble Is… 25.” 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 8; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; $52-$92; 941-263-6799; vanwezel.org
Ghost Town Blues Band
Memphis blues-rockers Ghost Town Blues Band will return to Englewoods on Dearborn this week. The group topped the Billboard blues album chart with their 2019 full-length “Shine,” but draw their sound from a variety of genres fitting their home city’s rich musical history, including a “hip-hop trombone player.” One of the group’s self-professed influences is the Allman Brothers Band, with their 2018 live album “Backstage Pass” featuring a cover of the ABB classic “Whipping Post” as well as the Beatles’ “Come Together.” Can’t make this show? They’re also set to play Cottonmouth on Feb. 9 and Big Top Brewing Company on Feb. 16. 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $10; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
Matt Woods
Also visiting Cottonmouth will be Tennessee singer-songwriter Matt Woods. He regularly visits Florida, playing The BASH music festival in Gainesville alongside artists such as Mavis Staples and Drive-By Truckers in 2022 and multiple years of that same city’s annual punk extravaganza Fest, with his sound blending the Americana and roots music of The BASH’s lineup with a punk sensibility. In 2021, he released a 10th anniversary edition of his album “The Matt Woods Manifesto,” including the song “Port St. Lucie” about the Florida city. 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $10; 941-243-3735; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
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