Photo by Kamran Malik
Brad Paisley at MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre in 2017.
Tampa Pig Jig has already cemented its reputation as one of the biggest barbeque and music festivals in Florida, and it continues the trend this fall when Grammy-winning country superstars Brad Paisley and Amanda Shires come to Julian B. Lane Park.
The lineup also includes another country household names like “There Was This Girl” songwriter Riley Green, plus indie-Americana favorites The Head and the Heart and Shovels & Rope.
Tickets to see Brad Paisley, Amanda Shires and more play Tampa Pig Jig 2023 on Saturday, Oct. 21 go on sale this Friday, May 19 at 10 a.m. EDT and start at $125.
Per usual, there are upgrades including some that grant ticket holders access to the giant pit BBQ competition that’s been a hallmark of Tampa Pig Jig since 2021 when it started as a backyard get together where friends raised money to help their buddy pay for his treatment for the rare and debilitating kidney disease Focal Segmental Glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). To date, according to a press release, the nonprofit has raised more than $5 million dollars for NephCure Kidney International, the only nonprofit organization supporting research, improving treatment and finding a cure for FSGS.
Three-time Grammy-winner Paisley is a guitar-slinger (and Nationwide pitchman) who’s been outspoken about his support for Ukraine and performed at the inaugural ball for President Barack Obama in 2013, the same year his LL Cool J collaboration “Accidental Racist” created ripples across country and pop music for its well-meaning, but somewhat jumbled, attempt at talking to country music fans about the complicated history of the South.
Shires, a fan of Tampa Bay who usually plays Clearwater as headliner or opener for the late John Prine, is a Nashville songwriter and fiddle player whose supergroup The Highwomen includes, but is not limited to, Brandi Carlile, Marren Morris Natalie Hemby and Yola. Last year, the Grammy-winner released a gallant, cutting, soulful pop-country crossover album, Take It Like A Man. She already has plans to release an album she recorded with the late Bobbie Nelson (Willie Nelson’s sister), and will presumably see her husband, four-time Grammy-winner, Jason Isbell tag along and play guitar in her band.
Green, for his part, has been re-recording songs with Luke Combs and 86-ing “Bud Light” from his lyrics after conservatives started shitting on the beer brand after it teamed up with transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney.
Pig Jig has evolved from a backyard barbecue to one that graduated to Curtis Hixon Waterfront Park where it’s welcomed other arena-level headliners like Darius Rucker.