for King & Country Credit: Photo via forkingandcountry/Facebook

Before they return next year for the Florida Strawberry Festival, Australian brothers Joel and Luke Smallbone—aka for King & Country, which plays Amalie Arena in Tampa on Friday, Dec. 9—stage their annual “Drummer Boy Christmas” spectacular.

The duo is a very common presence on contemporary Christian radio, but its melodies don’t sound over-manufactured, and lyrics go outside your typical Sunday morning sermon.

Josh Bradley is Creative Loafing Tampa Bay's calendar editor. He started as a freelance music writer in 2020 at the age of 18, and after spending years covering, announcing, and previewing concerts in...