Kid Royal Band

Chris "Kid" Royal started playing blues guitar at 15 alongside Chicago veterans, and by 16 had impressed Clifford Antone — the man who ran the Austin club where Stevie Ray Vaughan lived — enough to be told to stay and learn. Thirty years on, that education shows every time he plugs in.

He's played the Montreal Jazz Festival and Norway's Notodden Blues Festival, opened for Eric Burdon and Peter Frampton, and traded licks with Jeff Healey, Eric Gales, Sue Foley, and his hero Ronnie Earl.

Now based in St. Petersburg, the Kid Royal Band is a fixture of the local scene — searing guitar, soulful vocals, and a rotating cast of Tampa Bay's best, with an EP of originals cut live at Big3 Studios.