There hasn't so much been a war against artistic live popular music, but a slow-moving coup. It was started by the industry's business class, and has culminated in the ultimate evidence of commerce over creativity -- tribute acts. Disco created the initial class war by removing syncopation from funk and rock in the mid-to-late 1970s, leading to the plasticine music video era launched in the '80s. By the '90s, with the exception of a blip of grunge backlash, producers, studio technology and even deejays had largely usurped musicianship and authentic live performance.
And the 21st Century? Schizoid, man. Foreigner released a 2012 "best of" CD called [i]Jukebox Heroes[i], but what founding guitarist Mick Jones and the Sony Legacy label didn't want purchasers to notice was that the subtitled "digital recordings of Foreigner's greatest hits" was actually re-recordings of those songs by Jones and all the singers and musicians who'd replaced original Foreigner personnel. The album is by a famed tribute act to itself. Speaking of, Oasis is coming back. Yawn. The music biz has more than enough ego already. If Jefferson Starship hadn't punished us enough with "We Built This City," they must be very proud counting their earnings now that the song is being used for multiple toiletry themes in TV ads. And the "influencer" celebrity daughter of the man who cursed us with "Achy Breaky Heart" is one of the world's biggest stars.
Modern popular music is now a figuratively-orchestrated patchwork of metrically-perfected, synthesized electronic programming, sampling, auto-tuning, pitch correction, auto-harmonizing, and AI, the results of which are mostly streamed to cell phones, laptops and earbuds rather than stereo systems and speakers. As pointed out in the new documentary [i]How Music Got Free[i] on Paramount+, artists now only get paid substantially through soundtracks, ads, or tributes since LPs, tapes and CDs eventually turned into streaming, stunting creativity and dumbing everything down. How else can one explain the popularity of TV's [i]The Masked Singer[i]? Video indeed killed the radio star, and even nurtured the oxymoron known as smooth jazz, deservedly ignored here in that genre's season previews.
COVID-19 poured another bucket of dumb into the mix, and pushed already-exorbitant concert ticket prices, especially for festivals, even higher. All-night shows with all-star lineups once existed, with reasonable ticket prices and even people getting in for free, and well after Woodstock. No more under the Ticketmaster/Live Nation cartel. And South Florida's radio stations play self-tributing dinosaurs, not new artists. With a few exceptions, the 2024-2025 South Florida concert season is a blend of stylized hairdos, toothpaste models, retreads, "creators" and talent-optional celebrity tributes. Relevance is so 20th Century.

With name recognition and branding creeping from entertainment into national politics as outsized prerequisites, and a reality TV star born in Queens, New York having once grabbed its top rung, musical celebrities like rapper Nicki Minaj could probably make a deep political run (with an altered birth certificate). The 41-year-old, Trinidad-born artist formerly known as Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty moved to Queens with her family at age 5; attempted an acting career after graduating high school, and was fired from multiple waitressing jobs for her temperament. Minaj gained initial celebrity by releasing her first mixtape in 2007, leading to an official recording career bookended by her 2010 debut album [i]Pink Friday[i] and her latest, [i]Pink Friday 2[i] (2023). She's since gained all the prerequisites for hip-hop fame, including multiple videos and film roles, and public beefs with peers like Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion. And she'll appreciate your vote of confidence via a ticket purchase.
9 p.m. Oct. 6 at the Kaseya Center, 601 Biscayne Blvd., Miami (786-777-1000, $119 + up).

Will he show you to your seat? At least, in the era of nicknames, Usher Raymond IV chose his actual first name. The 46-year-old, Dallas-born R&B vocalist moved to Tennessee with his family as a child, showing early promise in a youth church choir. A move to Atlanta, Georgia, furthered that promise as Usher released his self-titled 1994 debut album while still in high school at age 15. And the "Past Present Future Tour" star hasn't needed to take any jobs in the service industry since. The path toward his latest album, this year's [i]Coming Home[i], included Usher becoming the best-selling R&B artist of the 2000s; multiple Grammy Awards, an acting career that includes more than a dozen films since the turn of the century, and headlining the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show last year in Las Vegas as well as being a contestant mentor on the TV show [i]American Idol[i], part owner of the NBA basketball team the Cleveland Cavaliers, a recording label founder, and a political activist.
8 p.m. Oct. 11, 12 & 14 at the Kaseya Center ($269 + up).

Listing concert ticket prices for Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour," which have likely gone up even from these bloated fees, is pointless because the shows will sell out regardless. Still, filling a stadium on three consecutive nights puts one in the rare air of solo artists like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson. Thankfully, Swift seems more grounded than those two enigmas, even if her boyfriend is fellow stadium-filling, all-pro NFL tight end Travis Kelce, who once had his own personal TV dating show and is further riding her coattails into Hollywood via the unnecessary [i]Happy Gilmore 2[i]. Swift is a 34-year-old Pennsylvania native who writes her own hit songs (she was named for a pretty fair singer/songwriter in James Taylor), and plays multiple instruments. Her latest album, the 2024 release [i]The Tortured Poets Department[i], has dominated the charts this year, and like Elvis, MJ and TK, she's appeared onscreen in comedies, dramas, musicals, and animated films as a voiceover artist.
7 p.m. Oct. 18-20 at Hard Rock Stadium, 347 Don Shula Dr., Miami Gardens (305-943-8000, $2,023 + up).

Tribute shows have become common cliches in South Florida. But when tribute is paid to rock's all-time visionary guitarist, and by a collective of guitarists including native Texas virtuoso Eric Johnson and the exceptional family legacy artist Dweezil Zappa, exceptions can be made. "Experience Hendrix" celebrates the legacy of singer, guitarist and songwriter Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970), the Seattle-born artist who recorded and toured with the Isley Brothers and Little Richard before practically inventing modern electric rock guitar playing with his own trio, the Jimi Hendrix Experience. Other participants are Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Zakk Wylde, Noah Hunt, Chuck Campbell & Calvin Cooke of the Slide Brothers, Mato Nanji of Indigenous, Dylan Triplett, Mathias Lattin, and Henri Brown. Fans can expect renditions of Hendrix classics like "Foxy Lady," "Manic Depression," "Are You Experienced," "Purple Haze," "Fire," "Little Wing," "Stone Free" and "Voodoo Child (Slight Return)."
8 p.m. Oct. 18 at Pompano Beach Ampitheater, 1806 N.E. 6th St., Pompano Beach (561-223-7231, $44.50-$69.50).

Sting will likely never admit it, but his current trio "3.0 Tour" with guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas might be an attempt to draw out fans of The Police, his extraordinary 1977-1986 pop trio with guitarist Andy Summers and drummer Stewart Copeland. Sure, the artist formerly known as Gordon Sumner has had the most commercially successful solo career of the three retired Police men, with a string of hit singles since 1985. But a solo career means getting to call all the shots rather than taking a few in the process like he did with The Police, particularly from Copeland, the result of which was creative tension that produced uncommon results. Miller is, like Summers, a textural minimalist who's worked with Sting since his third album [i]The Soul Cages[i] (1991). Maas could be the wild card, as Sting's recording career includes only top-shelf drummers, from Omar Hakim and Vinnie Colaiuta early to Manu Katche and Josh Freese on his latest release [i]The Bridge[i] (2021)..
8 p.m. Oct. 20-21 at the Fillmore Miami Beach at Jackie Gleason Theater, 1700 Washington Ave., Miami (305-673-7300, $174 + up).

Southern Hospitality is a regional all-star group, co-led by leaders of their own bands, that proves Florida can indeed provide blues authenticity. With a new album, [i]Yard Sale[i], the quintet consists of Sunshine State native Damon Fowler and longtime Boca Raton resident J.P. Soars on vocals and guitars, Savannah, GA native and Memphis, TN resident Victor Wainwright on vocals and keyboards, plus his own band's bassist (Terrence Grayson) and Soars' drummer (Chris Peet). Fowler's versatility as a slide and lap steel guitarist and dobro player is matched by Soars' own slide work, cigar box guitar prowess and Gypsy jazz nuances. Grayson and Peet provide rock-solid rhythms, and Wainwright effortlessly shifts between being part of that rhythmic foundation and taking the spotlight with his barrelhouse piano playing. The result is blues infused with swing and soul, a unique mix that Southern Hospitality has displayed since its Tab Benoit-produced 2013 debut album [i]Easy Livin'[i].
7 p.m. Nov. 2 at the Funky Biscuit, 303 S.E. Mizner Blvd., Boca Raton (561-395-2929, $40-$65).

Cue the drinking jokes. Before he recently became best-known for a driving under the influence arrest in Long Island, New York, 43-year-old pop vocalist Justin Timberlake had become one of the world's multi-media stars. And the Memphis-born artist did so from beginnings that might be proving questionable to the careers of his peers, like singer and former girlfriend Britney Spears. Timberlake competed on the TV show [i]Star Search[i] as a child; became a cast member of the Disney Channel's [i]Mickey Mouse Club[i], and was a member of the boy band NSYNC until starting his solo recording with the 2002 album [i]Justified[i]. Since then, he's only won 10 Grammy Awards; capably appeared in two-dozen films, co-starred with Janet Jackson in the 2004 Super Bowl XXXVIII "wardrobe malfunction" halftime show controversy, performed Memphis soul music for President Obama in the White House in 2013, and released his latest album, this year's [i]Everything I Thought It Was[i].
7:30 p.m. Nov. 8 at Amerant Bank Arena, 1 Panther Parkway, Sunrise (954-835-7000, $109 + up).

Numerous acts have emerged from Georgia to become stars, and Atlanta-formed band Blackberry Smoke has carved a niche for itself in the Southern rock and jam band circuits. But if they'd formed in the 1990s instead of 2000, and released their debut album in the 20th Century instead of when the major recording labels' influence was waning in 2003, they might've exploded internationally like fellow Georgians the Allman Brothers Band or the Black Crowes. Still, with two live albums and eight studio efforts including this year's [i]Be Right Here[i], lead-singing guitarist Charlie Starr, guitarist/vocalist Paul Jackson, bassist/vocalist Richard Turner, keyboardist Brandon Still, multi-stringed instrumentalist Benji Shanks, and drummer Kent Aberle make a joyful noise as favorites along the Southern touring corridor. Ever versatile, the sextet has landed albums on both Billboard's Country and Americana/Folk Album charts, the U.K. Rock chart, and the Independent Albums chart.
8:30 p.m. Nov. 10 at Pompano Beach Ampitheater ($34.50 + up).

Dwight Yoakam and The Mavericks.make quite a country double-billing, and beyond. Opening act The Mavericks blend roots and Latin music in a rare tale of Miami-based substance over programming and production value. The band formed in 1989, and still features original members in vocalist/bassist Raul Malo and drummer Paul Deakin. Guitarist Eddie Perez and keyboardist Jerry Dale McFadden complete the Grammy-winning quartet, which is likely to play material from its self-titled 1990 debut album through this year's [i]Moon & Stars[i]. Veteran headliner Yoakam is a Grammy-winning vocalist, guitarist and renowned songwriter whose signature stage leg-twitch maneuver is straight out of the Elvis Presley playbook. The Kentucky-born artist turns 67 years old in late October, and has as many recent film appearances as albums. That side hustle jump-started with him portyaying evil stepfather Doyle Hargraves in Billy Bob Thornton's classic 1996 vehicle [i]Sling Blade[i].
6:30 p.m. Nov. 15 at Pompano Beach Ampitheater ($59.50 + up).

Blues is a roots music genre that's become bastardized over generations, but the two-day Boca Blues Festival features both firepower and authenticity in headlining vocalist/guitarists Tab Benoit and Samantha Fish. Benoit is a Louisiana native whose soulful voice and no-frills guitar approach -- his effects pedal-free arsenal includes only the instrument, an amplifier and a cord -- cement his legitimacy. His new album [i]I Hear Thunder[i] is his first after a 13-year recording hiatus. Fish is the 35-year-old phenom from Kansas City, Missouri known for her screaming solos and pinup girl stage persona. Having started playing live as a teenager, she'll perform material from throughout her 15-year recording career. Also featured are guitarist/vocalists Tommy Castro & the Painkillers, Ray Fuller & the Bluesrockers, Ally Venable, John Primer, and Florida's own Selwyn Birchwood; saxophonists Vanessa Collier and Kimmy Carpenter, and blues icon Muddy Waters' son, singer Mud Morganfield.
Noon-9:30 p.m. Nov. 16-17 at Sunset Cove Ampitheater, 20405 Ampitheater Circle, Boca Raton (772-492-6105, $50 daily).

Bruce Springsteen they're not. Bon Jovi they're not. But yes, Blues Traveler formed in New Jersey (Princeton, specifically) in 1987 before becoming one of America's most popular 1990s bands. Its "30 Years of Four Tour 2024" might be more creative than the album title that inspired it, but the 1994 release [i]Four[i] spawned a hit single in "Run-Around" that reached the Billboard Top 10, and a tour that included a memorable stop at SunFest in West Palm Beach. The group's centerpiece remains John Popper, the expressive vocalist whose circular breathing technique on harmonica is akin to what titanic jazz saxophonist Charlie Parker might've sounded like on that instrument. Blues Traveler also introduced and starred in the multi-artist H.O.R.D.E. Tour starting in the mid-1990s. Its lineup is rounded out by original guitarist Chan Kinchla and drummer Brendan Hill, bassist/vocalist (and Chan's brother) Tad Kinchla since 1999, and keyboardist/vocalist Ben Wilson since 2000.
8 p.m. Nov. 16 at Revolution Live, 100 Nugent Ave., Fort Lauderdale (954-449-1025, $38.50-$45).

It's difficult to pinpoint the nucleus of the popular American folk-rock movement, but the Avett Brothers have certainly been a prime 21st Century practitioner. Lead-singing multi-instrumental siblings Scott Avett and Seth Avett launched the group from their native North Carolina in 2000, eventually recruiting fellow singing multi-instrumentalists Bob Crawford and Joe Kwon for explorations including guitars, cello, horns, musical saw, kazoos, and foot-played percussion. Touring drummer Mike Marsh, pianist Bonnie Avett-Rini and singing violinist Tania Elizabeth often join that quartet on stage. The result is a gumbo of not only folk and rock, but also elements of bluegrass, pop, and jug band music that have helped define the popular modern tag of Americana. Having received multiple Americana Music Awards and Grammy nominations, the roots music group has offered up a seemingly-backward recorded career of titles via its 2002 debut [i]Country Was[i] through this year's self-titled release.
7 p.m. Nov. 17 at Hard Rock Live, 1 Seminole Way, Hollywood (866-502-7529, $89-$289).

"Piano Man." Everyone knows who wrote the most obviously autobiographical hit song of all-time in 1973 without a mention of his name. And 75-year-old singer, pianist and songwriter Billy Joel has indeed carved out a lengthy, award-winning career of putting the spotlight on himself. The New York City native reportedly endlessly talked his way into early nightclub slots, perhaps wearing down owners and managers into hearing him sing to get him to stop speaking about his talents. Yet those proved impressive, from his high vocal range and piano expertise to his compositions, even the autobiographical ones. Like British artist Elton John, Joel peaked in the 1970s, and the two piano men engaged in hugely successful co-headlining nostalgia tours from the mid-1990s through 2010. Joel also recently completed a monthly 2014-2024 residency at Madison Square Garden in New York City, featuring songs from his best works, [i]Turnstiles[i] (1976) and [i]The Stranger[i] (1977).
8 p.m. Nov. 23 and Jan. 17 at Hard Rock Live ($499 + up).

Bonnie Raitt is the bright side of a cautionary tale, because she could've been her friend Lowell George (1945-1979). Both were born in California in the 1940s, and became brilliant and hard-partying singers, songwriters and guitarists, particularly slide guitarists. George cut his teeth playing in Frank Zappa's challenging ensembles before forming his inimitable band Little Feat in 1969, then simultaneously performing and recording with Raitt over the next 10 years before dying from a heroin-induced heart attack at age 34. Raitt started her solo career in 1970, and released a string of critically-acclaimed albums that nonetheless struggled to gain her mass appeal. Yet after another great guitarist, Stevie Ray Vaughan, helped inspire her to give up alcohol in 1987, Raitt's next album was the multi-Grammy Award-winning 1989 release [i]Nick of Time[i]. At age 74, the 2000 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee hasn't needed to cautiously look back into the dark rearview mirror since.
8 p.m. Nov. 25 at Dreyfoos Hall at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach (561-832-7469, $49.50 + up).

A 21st Century band that rose out of the Northern Florida swampland, JJ Grey & Mofro's "Olustee Tour" celebrates its first album in nine years, providing a bookend to its 2001 debut [i]Blackwater[i]. Equal parts blues, soul, rock and funk, the group first formed when Grey and singing guitarist Daryl Hance signed with a United Kingdom recording label and toured Europe as Mofro Magic. After shortening its name to just Mofro, Its initial releases were under only that band name before Grey and his gritty baritone voice and guitar, keyboard and harmonica playing took the lead in its moniker. With 10 total releases and a deserved reputation as a must-see live act, the group has wowed crowds at festivals like Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo. The band's lineup has shifted over the years, but now features guitarist Pete Winders, multi-instrumentalist Eric Brigmond, vocalist Katie Dutton, trumpeters Marcus Parsley and Dennis Marion, bassist Todd Smallie and drummer/percussionist Craig Barnette.
7 p.m. Dec. 6 at Revolution Live ($47.50).

Cheap Trick. The band name itself exemplifies truth in advertising. The 51-year-old quartet from Rockford, Illinois first paired two rock star-looking model types in lead vocalist/guitarist Robin Zander and bassist/vocalist Tom Petersson with two geeky-looking band members in lead guitarist/vocalist Rick Nielsen and drummer Bun E. Carlos. They've even put the models on their album cover art and relegated the geeks to back covers. Carlos retired in 2010, but made a one-off appearance for Cheap Tricks' long-overdue induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016 after Nielsen's son Daxx Nielsen had taken his place behind the drum kit. The group's breakout release was the 1979 live album [i]At Budokan[i], which was initially available only as a Japanese import but became a triple-platinum domestic LP. Many guitar picks will be thrown during sing-alongs of "Surrender," "Dream Police," "The Flame," "If You Want My Love," "Tonight It's You, and "I Want You To Want Me."
8 p.m. Dec. 18 at Hard Rock Live ($77.25-$205).

Perhaps not since Iron Butterfly's 1968 song "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" (a slurred attempt at "In the Garden of Eden") has a name been as misinterpreted. "Dawn of the Buffalo" was the suggestion to Donna the Buffalo, the roots music act that formed in upstate New York in 1989. By any other name, the 35-year-old group has shuffled members but gained a sizable audience. Nicknamed "The Herd," the band's followers display a Grateful Dead-like fervor, especially when it comes to outdoor festival settings, the quintet's specialty. Its nucleus remains lead singer and multi-instrumentalist Tara Nevins and guitarist/vocalist Jeb Puryear, its primary songwriters. Keyboardist David McCracken, bassist Ted Pecchio, and drummer Chris English round out the lineup. And like the Dead, Donna the Buffalo specializes in both original compositions and unique cover song renditions. Members of "The Herd" can catch them in consecutive indoor and outdoor tour stops in Boca Raton and Stuart, respectively.
7 p.m. Jan. 2 at the Funky Biscuit ($25-$40), 7 p.m. Jan. 3 at Terra Fermata, 26 S.E. 6th St., Stuart (772-286-5252, $25-$30).

Vocalist/keyboardist Marcia Ball defies blues stereotypes by being a star female artist who not only doesn't play guitar, but also doesn't fall into the genre's often-expected tales of pain and hardship. The 74-year-old has the goods, having been born in Texas and raised in Louisiana, and her 50-year recording career presents the blues as something to celebrate, not wallow in. Ball enlivens her blues piano playing with elements of zydeco and boogie woogie, and her often tongue-in-cheek vocal delivery adds character to her master story-telling. Jazzy tinges of the Big Easy have also crept into her catalog, which was primarily released on the historic label Rounder Records during the first half of her career and the iconic Chicago-based blues imprint Alligator Records since, including her latest release [i]Shine Bright[i] (2018). And kudos to Ball, and the South Florida venues presenting her, for keeping her ticket prices exactly the same as when she appeared in the pre-Covid-19 era of 2019.
9 p.m. Jan. 3 at the Funky Biscuit ($30-$50), 7 p.m. Jan. 4 at the Lyric Theatre, 59 S.W. Flagler Ave., Stuart (772-286-7827, $45).

He may not have the fame or the flame of his baby brother Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954-1990), but the native Texan and namesake leader of Jimmie Vaughan & the Tilt-a-Whirl Band has always delivered with his own special spin. The 73-year-old guitarist and vocalist was, after all, an opening act for the Jimi Hendrix Experience in Fort Worth in 1969, plus a major influence on his incendiary sibling and a founding 1974 member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, a group that achieved chart-topping success with him that it hasn't equaled since his 1990 departure. Vaughan left the band that year, in part, to record the album [i]Family Style[i] with his brother. It was released a month after the younger Vaughan died in a helicopter crash. A four-time Grammy Award winner, this Fender Stratocaster maestro started a lengthy solo recording career with the 1994 album [i]Strange Pleasure[i], and his six-piece band always includes the cream of the crop from within the Dallas-Fort Worth scene.
7 p.m. Jan. 11 at the Lyric Theatre ($65).

More performers with name recognition have emerged from Los Angeles than any other American city, and Los Lobos remains one of the best and most underrated. The band celebrated its 50th anniversary last year, and features original members in vocalist/guitarist David Hidalgo, guitarist/vocalist Cesar Rojas, bassist/vocalist Conrad Lozano and drummer/vocalist Louie Perez. Keyboardist and woodwinds player Steve Berlin has been on board since 1982, and drummer/percussionist Alfredo Ortiz is a recent addition for live shows. Los Lobos initially covered American Top 40 and traditional Mexican songs before its 1984 major label debut [i]How Will the Wolf Survive?[i] and its star-making cover version of the 1958 Ritchie Valens hit "La Bamba," from the 1987 film of the same name. Since then, the little East L.A. band survives and thrives, having won its fourth Grammy Award, a "Best Americana Album" nod, for its latest release [i]Native Sons[i] (2021).
8 p.m. Jan. 11 at Sunrise Theatre, 117 S. 2nd St., Fort Pierce (772-461-4775, $59.50-$86.50).

It's probably safe to say that the blues world never saw Samantha Fish (www.samanthafish.com) coming.
The 35-year-old emerged from the historic Kansas City, Missouri music scene 20 years ago with her ample vocal chops, heady songwriting and incendiary guitar playing, aided since by an attention-grabbing pinup gal sense of fashion. She's appeared on a dozen albums, most on the Ruf or Rounder recording imprints, and earned a Grammy nomination while racking up dozens of independent blues awards since 2017.
Along with keyboardist Mickey Finn, bassist Ron Johnson and drummer Jamie Douglass, Fish closes the two-day Boca Blues Festival at Sunset Cove Ampitheater in Boca Raton on Nov. 17. The Nov. 16 headliner is Louisiana-born fellow singing guitar firebrand Tab Benoit, and the event also features guitarist/vocalists in Tommy Castro & the Painkillers, Ray Fuller & the Bluesrockers, Ally Venable, John Primer, and Florida's own Selwyn Birchwood; saxophonists Vanessa Collier and Jimmy Carpenter, and blues icon Muddy Waters' son, singer Mud Morganfield.
Fish's performance follows a lengthy European tour, plus a handful of preceding shows to celebrate a leg of Ruf Records' 30th anniversary tour through Ohio, Illinois and Virginia.
"It's going really great," Fish said in mid-October as her European tour entered its final week. "We just completed the U.K. portion, and are now moving into the E.U. The vibe is always different, but appreciative and enthusiastic. It varies country to country. America varies as well. East Coast, West Coast, the South, Midwest, the mountains; big cities, small towns. This all factors into how an audience might engage. I feel like through whatever small or significant differences we might have, the audience wants to have an experience. They want to have fun. It's my job to figure out what that means."
It's not just a job, it's an adventure. Fish has been reading audiences, and blending blues, rock, and roots music influences, since her teenaged years in the Kansas City scene. A self-titled independent release at age 20 gained the attention of Thomas Ruf, who founded his self-titled German recording label 30 years ago with the motto of "where the blues crosses over."
"Thomas gave me my start in the recording industry," Fish says. "He gave me the freedom to find myself as an artist early on. I am just so happy to be able to honor the label and the artists that have flourished there."
Those artists include blues singer/guitarist Luther Allison (1939-1997), whose music Ruf founded the label to promote while managing him, and Canned Heat, the venerable roots-rockers accompanying Fish on the label's anniversary tour dates. She's come a long way since her first Ruf release, a 2011 compilation album called [i]Girls With Guitars[i] that also featured Cassie Taylor and Dani Wilde.
Buddy Guy, the 88-year-old singer/guitarist and blues icon who's influenced scores of roots music and rock guitarists, learned first-hand not to dismiss someone based on an album title stereotype. His skepticism of the youthful Fish got turned upside-down after he got talked into letting her sit in during one of his concerts in 2013.
"When this kind of shit happens," a beaming Guy declared over the microphone during their jam, "I'll play all night!"
Having recorded most recently for Rounder Records, Fish's three releases for the label are the bluesy [i]Kill or Be Kind[i] (2019), rocking [i]Faster[i] (2021), and rootsy, Grammy-nominated [i]Death Wish Blues[i] (2023) with fellow singing guitarist Jesse Dayton. That trio alone illustrates her open mind and dexterity.
"I see myself as an artist with a strong foundation in American roots, blues, and rock 'n' roll," says Fish, "but I am always evolving and changing. I'm looking for the next spark of inspiration. If I'm not challenging myself, then I'm not doing my job. I won't ever stop trying to push the boundaries of who I am and what I expect from myself."
Asked to name her prime songwriting influences, the rising star cites pop and folk wordsmiths Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan and Townes Van Zandt. Guitarists? Blues men Freddie King, Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside; rockers Keith Richards, Angus Young and Mike Campbell, unique instrumental voices all. Vocalists? Heartful soul icons Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, and Orlando-born Betty Harris. Fish indeed seems to have a soft spot for Florida, frequenting the state with tour dates that include a forthcoming New Year's Eve date at Bilheimer Capitol Theatre in Clearwater.
"It's a beautiful place," she says of the Sunshine State, "and the people that come to our shows are dedicated music fans. I'm happy to be wrapping the year with them."
So will Fish play her early or recent bluesy originals in Boca; rockers from [i]Faster[i], material from [i]Death Wish Blues[i], or perhaps her fiery recent cover of "I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins?
"Anything's possible," she says. "I'll have more of a plan the closer we get to the show."
No fish story there.

If You Go
Samantha Fish closes the second night of the two-day Boca Blues Festival at Sunset Cove Ampitheater, 20405 Ampitheater Circle, Boca Raton.
When: 8 p.m. Nov. 17
Tickets: $50
Info: 772-492-6105, www.bocabluesfest.com