Sgt. Splendor, which plays two Tampa Bay area shows this weekend. Credit: Photo via SgtSplendor/Facebook
Two Tampa Bay bars will be get drenched in splendor this weekend.

While there’s no lack of bona fide blues music in New York, we’re wishing that Sgt. Splendor’s live schedule would bring them down here more often.

This duo consisting of gritty, “junkyard folk” vocalist Kate Vargas and the powerful licks of guitarist Eric McFadden (whose resume unsurprisingly includes time playing for George Clinton) gives the band’s sound a more soulful twist on its latest album Death of the Hoochie Coo (the record also features heavier presence of an organ, while also “striking the perfect balance between imaginative merrymaking and change-evoking calls to action”).

There is no cover for Geri X and Sgt. Splendor at Tampa’s Independent Bar on Friday, May 15 and St. Petersburg’s Bayboro Brewing on Sunday, May 18.

YouTube video
Readers are invited to submit their own events to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay’s things to do calendar.

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.
 
Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky

This article appears in May 15-21, 2025.

Josh Bradley is Creative Loafing Tampa's resident live music freak. He started freelancing with the paper in 2020 at the age of 18, and has since covered, announced, and previewed numerous live shows in...