Kristopher James, who plays Crowbar in Ybor City, Florida on Dec. 20, 2024. Credit: Photo via kristopherjames/Bandcamp
At this point, you’re no fan of the Tampa Bay Americana scene if you’ve never experienced the rich vocal of Kristopher James, who plays the Arts Club at the Tampa Edition hotel (stylized “EDITION”) on Thursday, Dec. 22.

James’ cover of Donny Hathaway’s “This Christmas” treads into Doobie-levels of soul, and this is a chance to see the songwriter sing it, along with other of his songs, and covers, inside one of the best new (and extremely intimate) venues in downtown Tampa.

Take your eyes off James for a few songs, too, and revel in the sumptuous backing laid down by drummer Tucker Sody, bassist Vinny Svoboda, keyboardist Levi Foe and the rest of the band.

This article appears in Dec 15-21, 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...