The top concerts taking place this week in Sarasota and Manatee counties.
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As we said in last week’s concert picks, the Sarasota area is a good place to be a blues music fan, and that remains true this week, even as we get further from snowbird and tourist season. This week features multiple Blues Music Awards-nominated artists — one of whom was just up for two nominations at this year’s awards ceremony held earlier this month — as well as a past Blues Album of the Year winner at the Juno Awards, Canada’s equivalent of the Grammys.
If you’re not a blues music lover, we also have two folk/Americana shows at the same Sarasota venue: one featuring a locally based, but nationally and even internationally touring band, and another featuring a New York-based duo in the latest edition of a listening concert series. Here are this week’s highlights. Event details are subject to change.
Damon Fowler
Guitarist, singer-songwriter and former Anna Maria Island resident Damon Fowler will return to Manatee County this weekend for a show at Bradenton restaurant and venue Cottonmouth. Fowler’s releases include last year’s “Barnyard Smile” and 2021’s “Alafia Moon,” which topped Billboard’s blues albums chart and earned a Blues Music Award nomination for Blues Rock Album. Besides his solo work, Fowler has also played in the groups of the late Allman Brothers Band founding members Dickey Betts and Butch Trucks, and in the supergroup Southern Hospitality with Grammy-nominated pianist Victor Wainwright and fellow Floridian J.P. Soars. 7:30 p.m. Friday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $20; 941-243-3735; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
Hymn for Her
Sarasota alt-Americana act and road warriors Hymn for Her will play a hometown show this weekend at Fogartyville. Featuring husband and wife Wayne Waxing and Lucy Tight — and recently expanding the lineup to include their daughter, Diver — the group is based in Sarasota but is no stranger to performing nationally or even abroad, playing England’s massive music festival Glastonbury in 2017. Their other accomplishments include Rolling Stone naming the track “Blue Balloons” from their 2018 album “Pop-n-Downers” one of the 10 best country and Americana songs of the week. Local Honey will open. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Saturday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $25, $20 members, $13 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Kat Riggins and Her Blues Revival
Sarasota County restaurant and blues venue Englewoods on Dearborn will feature the Miami-born Kat Riggins and Her Blues Revival, with the band’s name reflecting Riggins’ desire “to help preserve this endangered species called the blues.” Riggins is coming off two nominations at this year’s Blues Music Awards: Soul Blues Female Artist and Soul Blues Album for her 2024 full-length “Revival.” She’s been nominated in both categories before — Soul Blues Female Artist for four consecutive years now — as well as Contemporary Blues Album for 2020’s “Cry Out.” 6:30 p.m. Thursday, May 29; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $10; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
Crystal Shawanda
Cottonmouth’s live music lineup this week will also include Canadian blues musician Crystal Shawanda, performing again in our area a week after a show at Englewoods on Dearborn. 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; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $5; 941-243-3735; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
Deni Bonet & Chris Flynn
Fogartyville’s live music lineup this week will also include the latest edition of its “Discovery Road Live!” series. Named after Louise Coogan’s show of the same name on local radio station WSLR 96.5, “Discovery Road Live!” offers the opportunity to attend a listening room-style concert that will be simulcast on WSLR and YouTube. May’s edition will feature the New York-based Americana/folk rock duo Deni Bonet and Chris Flynn, with Bonet playing violin and Flynn playing guitar, and both sharing vocal duties. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show (no entry after 6:50 p.m. due to live broadcast) Thursday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $20, $15 members, $12 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
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