THURS 14
Natasha Bedingfield Known for belting out infectious pop anthems, Grammy-nominated British songstress Natasha Bedingfield is bringing her "Less is More" tour to Tampa and treating fans to a more stripped down and intimate musical experience in support of her 2011 album, Strip Me Away. Bedingfeld — who first enjoyed major U.S. success and hit platinum status with her Billboard Top 10 hit "Unwritten" — will be joined by singer-songwriter-actress Kate Voegele (One Tree Hill), and up-and-coming artist Andy Grammer. (The RITZ Ybor, Ybor City) —Melanie Wiesen
Grateful Dead Nite Deluxe: Uncle John's Band w/Funky Seeds Uncle John's Band embraces everything that constitutes the Grateful Dead: funky grooves, long jam sessions and a sonic atmosphere that would inspire any square within earshot to kick off his or her shoes and vibe out. UJB has been tearing up the Thursday night stage at Skipper's Smokehouse in Tampa for 13 years now. With that type of commitment, it's easy to imagine that Jerry Garcia is smiling down from hippie heaven, delighted by the diligent weekly tributes. Funky Seeds, with their organ-driven funk blues, will also be performing. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa) —Adam Richards
FRI 15
Ronnie Burrage's Third Kind of Blue Virtuoso jazz drummer and percussionist Burrage (who's well-versed in vibes and marimba) draws on the styles of bop, bebop, funk, soul and R&B with ease, and has performed with the likes of Pat Metheny and Jaco Pastorius in addition to appearing on more than 100 recordings in his more than three-decade career. Burrage plays dates in the midst of a busy schedule leading one of the country's leading jazz performance programs at Penn State University. (Palladium Theater, St. Petersburg)
Christie Lenée Project w/Infinite Groove Orchestra/Rob Peniak Lenée is a Tampa Bay native singer, songwriter and fiery finger-licking guitarist with a percussive acoustic flair who's been plying her prog-jazz-folk rock trade in Philadelphia for the past few years. Lenée hits her hometown every month or so, and this stop, she's joined by a TBD backing band of local players. Jazz-funkadelic space explorers Infinite Groove Orchestra (their new LP, People Music, is among the best this year) open along with Buffalo Strange frontman Rob Peniak doing his solo acoustic thing. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
Six Feet Under Among Tampa's treasure trove of death metal makers is groove-leaning Six Feet Under, originally established in 1993 as the side project of Cannibal Corpse vocalist Chris Barnes and Obituary guitarist Allen West, who left in 1998 and was replaced by Steve Swanson (formerly of Massacre). Six Feet Under is now Barnes' main (and only) project, and the current five-piece features three new members, all welcomed to the fold in 2011 — guitarist Rob Arnold and bassist Matt DeVries, both of Chimaira, and drummer Kevin Talley (Nothnegal, DÅÅTH). Their last LP was 2010's Graveyard Classics III, the third in a series of cover albums. This show kicks off their national "Summer Slaughter" tour. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Mike Pachelli A choppy blues singer-guitarist from Nashville who infuses his sound with gospel-soul and funk-jazz flavors. He's released 16 CDs in his career, and this tour celebrates the latest, Meeting Point, which features the traditional shuffle of "How Come I Always Got the Blues" and the slow burning R&B stride of "My Guitar Will Say It For Me." (Dave's Aqua Lounge, St Petersburg)
Jason Aldean w/Chris Young and Thompson Square With songs like "Big Green Tractor" and "She's Country," it'd be understandable to assume that Jason Aldean was a one-dimensional country star. But you know what they say about assuming things … At the end of the 2011 CMT Music Awards, Aldean took the stage with hip hop megastar Ludacris to perform "Dirt Road Anthem." The match-up shed new light on Aldean, and the way he rapped the verses suggested he listened to more Snoop Dogg than Hank Williams Jr. when he was growing up. Does this mean that Aldean plans to venture into new genres? Probably not. But the song is catchy and a standout on Aldean's 2010 release, My Kinda Party. (1-800-Ask-Gary-Amp, Tampa) —AR
Framing Hanley w/State Your Cause/3 Pill Morning/Sunshine & Bullets/Variance/Airsickness Tennessee alt-rock/post-hardcore quintet Framing Hanley hits town on the next round of touring in support of their sophomore LP, 2010's A Promise to Burn. (State Theatre, St. Petersburg)
SAT 16
Vodkanauts w/Stolen Idols Surf rock mainstay the V-nauts play their official last show with drummer Tom Staley (NRBQ), who's leaving the Sunshine State for Northern (landlocked) Georgia. See him off and enjoy an opening set by tropical exotica/lounge jazz ensemble, Stolen Idols. (Yeoman's Road Pub, Tampa)
Significant Records presents Scene Unity w/Axis/Cellgraft/Escapist/Bible Dinosaurs/God Harvest/Slow Burn/Christbreaker With guttural screams and jolting guitars, post-hardcore outfitband Axis is the perfect excuse for pit action. You name it — circle pit, hardcore pit, break-stuff-pit — Axis can deliver. Hailing from Daytona Beach, Axis is reminiscent of a time when bands like Shai Hulud, Remembering Never and Poison the Well ruled Florida's underground hardcore scene. Their latest release, Rites of Passage, boasts angry songs like "OC80" that lead up to a break-neck breakdown with tumultuous lyrics to match: "This time you'll pull the trigger, no one will care." Local like acts round out the bill. (Transitions Art Gallery @ Skatepark of Tampa) —AR
SUN 17
Sade w/John Legend The group named for their British Nigerian vocalist, Sade Adu of the renowned sultry-smoky caressing tone, returned this year with their first new album of soul-phisticated AC jazz-pop-lovers rock in 10 years, Soldier of Love, which went platinum in the U.S. with more than 1 million copies sold. Along with cuts from the new album, the current concert tour draws on their collection of hits ("Smooth Operator," "Sweetest Taboo," "No Ordinary Love") and is visually embellished with a stage-spanning high resolution LED screen and adjacent projection screens all playing stunning imagery with the music. Acclaimed Grammy-winning alterna-R&B singer, songwriter and pianist John Legend kicks off the evening with his usual classy showmanship. Definitely worth the drive. (Amway Center, Orlando)
NPG A new jazz fusion trio featuring guitarist LaRue Nickelson, sax master Jeremy Powell (Infinite Groove Orchestra, Swamp Logic) taking a turn on keys, and drummer Ian Goodman, who daylights as a jazz drum instructor at USF. (Ella's Americana Folk Art Café, Tampa)
Chris Thomas King The bluesman has played bluesmen in three films — Tommy Johnson in O Brother Where Art Thou? (2000), Blind Willie Johnson in The Soul of a Man (2003) and Lowell Fulson in Ray (2004) — and he's also tried his hand at scoring, most recently in the 2011 action flick, The Mechanic. Thomas King's playing style is soaked in the swampy sounds of his native New Orleans home, with some modern R&B and dirty south hip hop mixed in for good measure. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
TUE 19
The Happy Together Tour w/The Turtles featuring Flo & Eddie/The Grass Roots feat. Rob Grill/The Association/The Buckinghams/Mark Lindsay Flo & Eddie (Mark Volman and Howard Kaylan) enjoyed their heyday in the 1960s as The Turtles, 1967's "Happy Together" and various other lesser known hit singles propelling them into a stint traveling as "The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie" with Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention. Likely the duo picked up their penchant for satire and stage antics from that period. Psyche-folk rock outfit The Grass Roots set a record with 307 weeks straight on the Billboard charts with 14 Top 40 singles ("Midnight Confessions" and "I'd Wait a Million Years" among them). Also performing as part of the tour is The Association ("Cherish," "Never My Love"), The Buckinghams ("Kind Of A Drag") and Mark Lindsay, former lead singer of Paul Revere & the Raiders ("Kicks"). (Ruth Eckerd Hall, Clearwater)
Ocean Grove A new pop-fused alt-rock quartet from L.A. reminiscent of Gin Blossoms but with more percussive textures, a little wah-wah guitar, and vocals that are hopeful and sweet rather than jaded and bleak. All four musicians — lead singer/guitarist John Lloyd Taylor, bassist/singer Greg Garbowsky, keyboardist/singer Ryan Liestman and drummer Jack Lawless — are players in the Jonas Brothers' back-up band who formed Ocean Grove as their own side project early this year and released their first recording, the Little Record EP, in February. (Orpheum, Ybor City)
Hayes Carll w/Scott Miller His 2008 LP, Trouble in Mind, debuted at No. 18 on the Billboard Heatseekers charts and put Hayes Carll on the country-Americana map. WMNF welcomes the Texas singer-songwriter to town in honor of his 2011 release, KMAG YOYO (& Other American Stories), which he's described as "a layman's take on our country — a snapshot of America in some small way." His second on Lost Highway and fourth overall, KMAG YOYO — named for a military acronym that means "Kiss My Ass Guys, You're on Your Own" — delivers moments of barn-burning rock, honky-tonkin' country, twangy folk introspection and even a touch of gospel and shuffling blues. Carll's warm and drawling vocals offer up clever narratives about characters like the young Army foot soldier in the title track who becomes a Pentagon guinea pig, or the hard-drinking Democrat and brash young Republican in "Another Like You," where Carll trades insults with guest singer Cary Ann Hearst in an opposites attract "he said/she said" duet that eventually finds them boozed up and in bed. Good stuff. (Skipper's Smokehouse, Tampa)
Helios Jazz Orchestra The next EMIT Series concert features the 18-piece jazz orchestra with guest singers Andrea Moraes Manson (O Som Do Jazz) and David Thut sitting in for a program of big band music, swing dancing and an open jazz jam session. (NOVA 535 Lounge, St. Petersburg)
WED 20
Britney Spears Yet another giant pop tour that avoids Tampa Bay area arenas for Orlando's greener Amway Center pastures. If you want to see Miss Britney on her "Femme Fetale Tour," and catch her new hits ("Hold It Against Me") and old ("…Baby One More Time," "Oops! … I Did It Again," "Toxic"), factor in the price of a tank of gas along with your ticket prices. (Amway Center, Orlando)
Tribal Seeds w/Tribal Style/Seedless San Diego dub-roots reggae sextet Trial Seeds bring their positive swaying vibes and funky wet grooves to town for a Wednesday night reggae party immediately following the July 19 release of their new Soundwaves EP. Tribal Seeds are supported by the electro rock-fused island sounds of fellow West Coasters Seedless, and Tribal Style, the Bay area's mainstay reggae quintet. (Crowbar, Ybor City)
Click here to visit our Music Events Listings and get a complete schedule of concert offerings for this week and beyond.
This article appears in Jul 14-20, 2011.