Top 8 concerts this week in Sarasota, Bradenton, Palmetto, Punta Gorda

This week will see us bidding farewell to March and welcoming April and its new lineup of local events, with both months represented in this concert pick's installment. We kick off this week with a Blues Music Award-winning singer who could win two more at this year's upcoming ceremony, and end with a double-bill of rap pioneers who've been inducted into the Grammy and Rock & Roll hall of fames and earned Rolling Stone's top two picks for the greatest hip-hop songs of all time to their name.

There'll be plenty of other genres represented as well, including Americana, punk, metalcore, "uncut ukulele funk" and "Siberian surf rock." Here are this week's highlights. Event details are subject to change.

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Billy Price

Bradenton restaurant Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, also one of the top spots locally to see touring blues artists, will kick off this weekend's live music lineup with Blues Music Award-winning Pittsburgh singer Billy Price. He won the Soul Blues Album Blues Music Award for his 2015 collaboration "This Time for Real" with the late Blues Hall of Fame inductee Otis Clay, along with nominations in the same category for 2018's "Reckoning" and 2019's "Dog Eat Dog." He's also been nominated for Soul Blues Male Artist multiple times, including this year, where he's up for Best Instrumentalist — Vocals as well. 7 p.m. Friday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $25 advance, $30 day of; 941-243-3735; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul

Caleb Caudle

Fogartyville in Sarasota, meanwhile, will kick off its weekend in live music with Americana artist Caleb Caudle. He recorded his 2022 full-length "Forsythia" at Johnny Cash's Cash Cabin, with John Carter Cash producing and Carlene Carter among the album's guest musicians, along with bluegrass icons Jerry Douglas and Sam Bush and the Wildwood, Florida-born country singer Elizabeth Cook. Caudle, who also released the EP "Live from Cash Cabin" earlier this year, will perform with Lakeland-based indie-Americana artist and multi-instrumentalist Van Plating. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Friday; Fogartyville Community Media and Arts Center, 525 Kumquat Court, Sarasota; $22, $18 members, $11 students ages 13 and up; 941-894-6469; fogartyville.org

Covers are F---in' Dead

Bradenton's Oscura will host this show featuring multiple Florida punk bands playing cover sets. St. Pete's Wolf-Face, which takes inspiration from the Michael J. Fox film "Teen Wolf" including dressing in costume, will cover Swedish punk band Refused, best known for their influential 1998 album "The Shape of Punk to Come" (which features a song called "Refused are F---in' Dead," in case the concert's name confused you.) They'll be joined by Gainesville's You Vandal, who will play the music of Taking Back Sunday, and Bradenton's Suburban Wasteland, who'll perform various punk and emo covers. 7 p.m. doors, 8 p.m. show Saturday; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; $15 advance, $20 day of; 941-201-4950; oscura.live

Applebutter Express Duo

Waypoint Bar & Grill in Palmetto will welcome back "uncut ukulele funk" band The Applebutter Express, performing as a duo, this weekend. Though the group is based in Tampa, it has ties to Sarasota-Manatee, with band member Kyle Biss meeting his future bandmate and wife Shannon while working at a record store in Bradenton. The Applebutter Express has since gone on to perform at massive music festival Bonnaroo and have their song "Hey My Brotha" appear in the 2014 Reese Witherspoon film "The Good Lie." 5 p.m. Saturday; Waypoint Bar & Grill, 11000 U.S. Highway 41 N., Palmetto; 941-212-6600; waypoint27north.com

Igor & Red Elvises

"Siberian surf rock" band Igor & Red Elvises will return to our area this week for shows at Bradenton's Birdrock Taco Shack and Punta Gorda's Celtic Ray Public House. The group is fronted by Igor Yuzov, who grew up in the former Soviet Union, seeking out the forbidden sounds of rock 'n' roll. He later moved to America and formed the Red Elvises, which has released albums including 1996's "Grooving to the Moscow Beat" and 1997's "Surfing in Siberia," and is still going strong today. 7 p.m. Saturday; Birdrock Taco Shack, 1213 13th Ave. W., Bradenton; $10; 941-545-9966; facebook.com/birdrocktaco; 4 p.m. Sunday; Celtic Ray Public House, 145 E. Marion Ave., Punta Gorda; 941-916-9115; celticray.net

For the Fallen Dreams

This weekend will also see Oscura welcome Michigan metalcore band For the Fallen Dreams. The group, which still features founding member and lead guitarist Jim Hocking, released their latest, self-titled album on the label Arising Empire last year. However, they were signed to well-known heavy music label Rise Records for most of their releases, including 2014's "Heavy Hearts" and 2011's "Back Burner," both of which charted on the Billboard 200 and reached No. 3 and 4, respectively, on Billboard's Heatseekers Albums chart. Elijah, Versus Me, downpour. and Chasing Airplanes will also perform. 6:30 p.m. doors, 7 p.m. show Sunday; Oscura, 816 Manatee Ave. E., Bradenton; $16 advance, $20 day of; 941-201-4950; oscura.live

J.P. Soars' Gypsy Blue Revue with Anne Harris

Cottonmouth's live music lineup this week will also include the return of J.P. Soars' Gypsy Blue Revue with Anne Harris. South Florida guitarist and singer-songwriter Soars and his group the Red Hots earned four Blues Music Awards nominations in 2022, including Band of the Year and B.B. King Entertainer and Instrumentalist — Guitar for Soars. Violinist and singer-songwriter Harris, meanwhile, has performed both as a solo musician, most recently releasing 2019's "Roots," and alongside other artists including Blues Music Award winner Otis Taylor. 7 p.m. Wednesday; Cottonmouth Southern Soul Kitchen, 1114 12th St. W., Bradenton; $30; 941-243-3735; facebook.com/cottonmouthsoul

The Sugarhill Gang/Melle Mel and Scorpio

Rap pioneers The Sugarhill Gang and Melle Mel and Scorpio of the Furious Five will return to Big Top for two shows — first with a DJ, then backed by a live band. Sugarhill Gang's "Rapper's Delight" was the first rap single to be a Billboard Top 40 hit in 1979, and has since been inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame and Library of Congress' National Recording Registry. Melle Mel and Scorpio are both Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees with Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, whose 1982 track "The Message" was named the greatest hip-hop song of all time by Rolling Stone (with "Rapper's Delight" coming in at No. 2.) Undr8ed performs both nights, with Big Top releasing a Rapper's Delight Vanilla Milkshake IPA. 6 p.m. Thursday, April 4-5; Big Top Brewing Company, 975 Cattlemen Road, Sarasota; $38-$40 per night, $70 both nights, VIP options also available; 941-371-2939; bigtopbrewing.com

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Email entertainment reporter Jimmy Geurts at jimmy.geurts@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism by  subscribing.

This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Top 8 concerts this week in Sarasota Bradenton Palmetto Punta Gorda