This week will mark the return of some of October's biggest events in the Sarasota area, including the live music calendar, which will feature multiple big-name shows.
Iconic singer-songwriter and inaugural Selby Gardens artist in residence Patti Smith will return to the gardens' Historic Spanish Point campus for another performance, this one celebrating the upcoming exhibition "New Feet Within My Garden Go: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson." Van Wezel will also host the first big concert of its 2026-27 season with Boz Scaggs of "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle" fame.
Then, like many weeks in the Sarasota area, blues music fans have plenty of choices with Blues Music Award and Juno-winning artists at Cottonmouth and Englewoods on Dearborn back from its
annual vacation. Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.
The Lee Boys featuring Roosevelt Collier
Sarasota's Fogartyville, in partnership with TBP Quantum Entertainment, will host this show featuring Miami-based sacred steel group The Lee Boys and South Florida steel guitarist Roosevelt Collier. The Lee Boys are one of the best-known acts in the sacred steel genre, which originates from church services featuring steel guitar and blends gospel with blues in its sound.
Collier is known for performing with artists such as country music star Jelly Roll and in world music supergroup Bokanté, scoring Best Global Music Album and Best World Music Album Grammy nominations with the latter. Tony Tyler will open. 6 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Friday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $35, $30 members, $17 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org
Burke Brothers & Friends
Along with a lineup of national and international blues acts, Bradenton's Cottonmouth will also host one of the Friendly City's best musicians this week: Matt Burke, frontman and chief songwriter for alt-Americana band Have Gun, Will Travel, which also features his brother Danny Burke. That group has had their music appear on TV shows such as CBS' "The Good Wife" and Netflix's "The Ranch," and been covered by outlets such as NPR and No Depression.
The band paid homage to its Bradenton home on its song "Our Fair City," which references local landmarks such as Village of the Arts, where Cottonmouth was formerly located. 7 p.m. Friday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen at Flamingo Bay Brewing Company, 1910 14th St. W., Bradenton; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
J.P. Soars and the Red Hots
Boca Raton blues guitarist and singer-songwriter J.P. Soars and his band the Red Hots will play Celtic Ray and Englewoods on Dearborn this week. The group was nominated for four Blues Music Awards in 2022: Band of the Year, B.B. King Entertainer and Instrumentalist — Guitar for Soars, and Instrumentalist — Drums for his bandmate Chris Peet, who scored another nomination in the same category this year.
Soars also plays in Southern Hospitality with Grammy-nominated pianist Victor Wainwright and fellow Floridian Damon Fowler, and Gypsy Blue Revue with violinist Anne Harris. 8 p.m. Saturday; Celtic Ray Public House, 145 E. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda; 941-916-9115; celticray.net; 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15; Englewoods on Dearborn, 362 W. Dearborn St., Englewood; $7; 941-475-7501; englewoodsondearborn.com
Boz Scaggs
Van Wezel will host the first big concert of its 2026-27 season when it welcomes singer-songwriter and guitarist Boz Scaggs on Sunday. After playing with the Steve Miller Band, Scaggs went on to a successful solo career, scoring hit singles with “Lowdown” and “Lido Shuffle” off his five-times-platinum 1976 album “Silk Degrees."
"Lowdown" won a Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Song, and "Silk Degrees" earned other Grammy nominations including Album of the Year. More recently, Scaggs earned a Best Contemporary Blues Album Grammy nomination for 2018's "Out of the Blues" and released 2025's "Detour," featuring covers including of his own song "I'll Be Long Gone." 7 p.m. Sunday; Van Wezel Performing Arts Hall, 777 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota; sold out as of press time; 941-263-6799; vanwezel.org
Crystal Shawanda
Canadian blues musician Crystal Shawanda will perform at Cottonmouth on Sunday, a little over a month since releasing her new album "Homesick Indian Blues." Shawanda started out in country music, landing on both Billboard's country albums chart and the Billboard 200 with her 2008 debut studio album "Dawn of a New Day," before switching to the blues with 2014's "The Whole World's Got the Blues."
She won one of her two Juno Awards, Canada's equivalent of the Grammys, for Blues Album of the Year for her 2020 full-length "Church House Blues," the same year she was nominated for Indigenous Artist or Group of the Year. 5 p.m. Sunday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen at Flamingo Bay Brewing Company, 1910 14th St. W., Bradenton; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
Stick to Your Guns
Bradenton's Oscura, which hosted two big names in hardcore punk last weekend with Angel Du$t and Agnostic Front, will host another in Stick to Your Guns. The Orange County metalcore group formed in 2003 and rose to prominence in the late '00s, making Billboard's Heatseekers chart with their 2008 sophomore album "Comes from the Heart" and playing Warped Tour the same year.
Still featuring founding frontman Jesse Barnett, Stick to Your Guns released their latest album "Keep Planting Flowers" last year. Birmingham, Alabama's No Cure and Pittsfield, Massachusetts' Vomit Forth will also perform. 7 p.m. doors, 7:30 p.m. show Monday; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; $25 advance, $30 day of (plus fees); oscura.live
Patti Smith
Singer-songwriter and Selby Gardens artist-in-residence Patti Smith will return to the Historic Spanish Point campus for a performance celebrating the exhibition "New Feet Within My Garden Go: The Poetry of Emily Dickinson" that opens Nov. 21 (and Smith narrates). Smith is known for albums including her 1975 debut "Horses," named the 26th greatest album of all time by Rolling Stone and inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and songs such as 1978's "Because the Night," co-written with Bruce Springsteen, which reached No. 13 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was named one of the best songs of all time by Rolling Stone.
Smith's other accolades include being inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and named the 47th greatest musical artist of all time by, again, Rolling Stone. 7 p.m. Tuesday; Marie Selby Botanical Gardens Historic Spanish Point Campus, 401 N. Tamiami Trail, Osprey; $175; 941-366-5731; selby.org
John Németh
Cottonmouth will round out this week's live music lineup with Memphis harmonica player and singer-songwriter, John Németh. He was nominated for four Blues Music Awards earlier this year: Band of the Year with his group the Blue Dreamers, Instrumentalist — Harmonica, Vocals, and Soul Blues Male Artist.
Németh has won six Blues Music Awards in the latter three categories, as well as Soul Blues Album and Traditional Blues Album, and been nominated several more times. 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen at Flamingo Bay Brewing Company, 1910 14th St. W., Bradenton; $25-$30; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul
Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by subscribing.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top Sarasota area concerts this week include big-name returns
