16-05-2025
Top 5 concerts this week in Sarasota, Bradenton, Englewood
Despite it being May and after the Sarasota area's snowbird and tourist season, this week's concert picks installment still features Grammy, Juno (Canada's equivalent of the Grammys), and Blues Music Award-winning or nominated musicians. Those include a Grammy-nominated Brazilian jazz guitarist, whom local music fans may have already seen play at Sarasota Jazz Festival or other past shows, returning for a headlining concert at Fogartyville.
Like most weeks in the Sarasota area, it's also a good place to be a blues music lover, with numerous acclaimed acts in the genre in town, some coming off wins and nominations at this year's Blues Music Awards ceremony held last week. Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.
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South Florida blues guitarist and singer-songwriter J.P. Soars and his band the Red Hots will play Bradenton's Cottonmouth this weekend, as well as Sarasota's Big Top Live for its Sunday Blues & Brews concert series. The group 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, who scored another nomination in the same category this year. Soars also plays in the supergroup Southern Hospitality with Grammy-nominated pianist Victor Wainwright and fellow Floridian Damon Fowler. 7 p.m. Friday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $10 advance, $15 day of; 941-243-3735; 4 p.m. Sunday; Big Top Live, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; free; 941-371-2939;
Also playing multiple shows in Sarasota and Bradenton this week will be Cincinnati blues singer-songwriter John Ford. His sound is described as a blend of "the blues of Robert Johnson and Son House, a bit of 1940s country and a pinch of gospel rhythm." He released his latest album "Rollin' On" earlier this year under the name The John Ford Blues Society, with Grammy-nominated bluesman John Primer as a guest. 5:30 p.m. Friday; Cortez Clam Factory, 10104 Cortez Road W., Bradenton; 941-798-9898; 5 p.m. Monday; Stottlemyer's Smokehouse, 19 East Road, Sarasota; 941-312-5969; 6 p.m. Wednesday; JR's Old Packinghouse Cafe, 987 S. Packinghouse Road, Sarasota; 941-371-9358;
Cottonmouth's live music lineup this weekend will also include Greenville, Mississippi blues singer-songwriter and boogie-woogie pianist Eden Brent. She won her latest Blues Music Award this year out of four overall nominations: Traditional Blues Album for last year's "Getaway Blues," Song of the Year for "Watch the World Go By," Traditional Blues Female Artist (Koko Taylor Award) and Instrumentalist — Piano (Pinetop Perkins Piano Player), winning the last award. She's won in the same category before, as well as Acoustic Blues Album and Acoustic Blues Artist, and won the International Blues Challenge in the solo/duo category in 2006. 7 p.m. Saturday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $20 advance, $25 day of; 941-243-3735;
Grammy-nominated Brazilian jazz guitarist Diego Figueiredo will return to Sarasota this week for a show at Fogartyville. Area residents may already recognize Figueiredo from his previous performances at Sarasota Jazz Festival and other local venues, performing by himself or with other musicians, including Italian singer Chiara Izzi. It was one such collaboration that earned Figueiredo his Grammy nomination, in the Best Arrangement, Instruments and Vocals category, for a rendition of "Marry Me a Little" with French singer Cyrille Aimée. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Thursday, May 22; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $35, $30 members, $15 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469;
Sarasota County restaurant and blues venue Englewoods on Dearborn will host Canadian musician Crystal Shawanda this week. Shawanda started out in country music, landing on both Billboard's country albums chart and the Billboard 200 with her 2008 debut studio album "Dawn of a New Day," before switching to the blues with 2014's "The Whole World's Got the Blues." She won one of her two Juno Awards (Canada's equivalent of the Grammys) for Blues Album of the Year for her 2020 full-length "Church House Blues," and was nominated in the same category for her 2022 album "Midnight Blues." 6:30 p.m. Thursday; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $7; 941-475-7501;
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This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top 5 concerts this week near me in Sarasota, Bradenton, Englewood
