Damien Escobar Credit: Photo via dameesco/Facebook
On the surface, this Damien Escobar’s Friday, Aug. 26 gig at Tampa’s Straz Center looks like a violin concert, but Escobar’s been through a lot on his road to the Bay area.

After finding success on “America’s Got Talent” and with his Nuttin’ but Stringz duo, he lost all momentum and looked like a forgotten star. In the time since, however, the Jamaican-born instrumentalist found a second wind, earned a NAACP Image Award nomination and saw his first album gain a loyal audience that’s fallen in love with his story of perseverance and Sensual Melodies.

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This article appears in Aug 18-24, 2022.

Read his 2016 intro letter and disclosures from 2022 and 2021. Ray Roa started freelancing for Creative Loafing Tampa in January 2011 and was hired as music editor in August 2016. He became Editor-In-Chief...