Dolly Parton So, OK, maybe you listen to some crossover country or the odd country artist here and there (hey, I'll shake it to Luke Bryan any ol' time), but to truly appreciate the breadth of country music, you have to dig back deeper into the genre's roots. Long before Brandy Clark gave her guy hell in "Girl Next Door" and even before Wynonna Judd celebrated with "Girls With Guitars," a class of country ladies existed who still reign supreme: Loretta Lynn, Tammy Wynette (RIP) and Dolly Parton. Unfortunately, Loretta Lynn had to cancel her upcoming show due to an injury, but this Saturday night you can see Dolly Parton. She's 70 but you can't tell it from her voice, which remains true with a hint of her trademark vibrato. She'll combine her classics with songs from her new LP, Pure & Simple, but either way, expect plenty of Dolly. Read Jim Cole's extended preview of tonight's show here. —Cathy Salustri (Amalie Arena, Tampa) INFO
Ben Prestage It’s been a good minute since CL checked in with Indiantown songwriter Ben Prestage who leans hard on his family’s Sunshine State heritage (great-grandma was a Vaudeville musician who toured with Al Jolson and also participated in medicine shows, according to him) as he continues to employ foot drums, harmonica, diddley bow, dobro, fiddles, banjo and steel guitar in his own explorations of Florida’s rich musical history. Expect this set to pay homage to the Mississippi blues and old school Americana, but know that it’ll be rooted in the sounds of swamp and deep south all the way through. (The Ale & the Witch, St. Petersburg) INFO
4B w/$mgglr/Winta These days, a co-sign from EDM royalty like Diplo, DJ Snake, Tiesto, Steve Aoki and Afrojack isn’t always enough to earn a producer fans, but Staten Island knob turner 4B will take the endorsements and run with them as he comes out from his Jersey club cocoon to bring the infamous remixes of Fetty Wap, DJ Snake and Congorock to the dance music loving masses of Tampa Bay. (The Ritz, Ybor City) INFO
Stitches CL contributor Michael Fritz put it best when he declared, “this guy is scary to me, but I would love to cover this show.” Phillip Nickolas Katsabanis could have chosen to just be another anonymous kid running wild on the streets of Miami, but the 21-year-old currently enjoys a healthy level of fame thanks in part to some erratic behavior, gnarly face tattoos (which made for some great Halloween costumes from fans, complete with #fuckajob and #ijustpoppedamolly hashtags) and a highly questionable way of moving through life. Katsabanis — formerly known as Lil’ Phil and best known as Stitches — has been known to punch fans during his concerts and has also been criticized for perpetuating the white male fantasy of black violence in his songs, and while the video for “Brick In Yo Face” won’t do anything to put that argument to rest, expect Stitches to give close to zero shits when he hits Local 662 in support of a new album, Tales Of A Drug Lord, which he released this year. (Local 662, St. Petersburg) INFO
Sesame Street Live: Elmo Makes Music Sorry, not sorry for this one. Clearly these performances are for the kids, but the little kid in us can’t get Elmo’s sweet little singing voice out of our heads. This particular production follows the little red cutie pie through an adventure where he and friends like Big Bird and Abby Cadabby try to find some of their music teacher’s missing instruments. There will be three performances over the course of two days and more information is available on strazcenter.org. (David A. Straz Jr. Center For The Performing Arts , Tampa) INFO
ALSO PLAYING
Danielle DeCosmo Quartet w/Amber Lynn Nicol (Hideaway Cafe, St. Petersburg) INFO
Holey Miss Moley (Dunedin Brewery, Dunedin) INFO
Trinity 7 (Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa) INFO
Dead Dove w/J. Klein (Green Bench Brewing Co., St. Petersburg) INFO
Fear & Loathing in the New World w/Pete Bones/Neil Cave (New World Brewery, Ybor City) INFO
Meatwagon Reunion Show w/Low Season (Fubar, St. Petersburg) INFO
The Soil and the Sun w/Owel/Goodnight Neverland/Fistful (Crowbar, Ybor City) INFO
The Only Daddys (Crooked Thumb Brewery, Safety Harbor) INFO
Neutral Nights w/Betty Dawl/Dessasore/Lil Scumbag/She.Go Indigo/KaySmoov (The Venture Compound, St. Petersburg) INFO
Fat Sun w/Johnny Mile/Solution#9 (The Bends, St. Petersburg) INFO
This article appears in Nov 24 – Dec 1, 2016.