Ah, the fruits of the sold-out Outlaw Country Cruise leaving from Port Tampa are falling all over the Bay area during the next week or so, and this bill put together by community radio station WMNF 88.5-FM is definitely a beneficiary.
Orlando outfit the Oak Hill Drifters is the only band on this bill not setting sail, and while Idaho country-rock (Reckless Kelly), Arkansas-born boogie (Jason D. Williams) and Texas “Ameripolitan” (Dale Watson) are all intriguing, we’re most hyped up about the arrival of Nashville songwriter Nikki Lane. The 35-year-old probably made her Tampa debut at a 2014 Americana Fest, but her Bay area coming-out party happened one year ago at Gasparilla Music Festival.
It’ll be a treat to get up close and personal with the honky-tonk highway queen under the lights of the Skipperdome.
WMNF Alt Country Hoedown. Sat. Jan. 26, 6 p.m. $30-$35. Reckless Kelly w/Nikki Lane/Dale Watson and his Lone Stars/Jason D. Williams/Oak Hill Drifters. Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Rd., Tampa. wmnf.org.
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This article appears in Jan 24-31, 2019.