Skipper’s Smokehouse Announces Programming Partnership with Straz Center | August 6, 2025
TAMPA — Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa’s venerable, nationally recognized restaurant and music mecca, announces a programming partnership with Straz Center. Under the agreement, Straz will help research, suggest and secure acts to perform at Skipper’s.
“As we celebrate Skipper’s 45th anniversary in September, this partnership provides an important step for the future,” said Cricket Larson, Skipper’s managing partner and “head mullet.” “We’re still fiercely independent and have 100 percent final say on all bookings. The Straz Center will use its greater resources and industry contacts to locate and suggest performers to play the Skipperdome. And, of course, Skipper’s will continue to support local acts and fundraisers – just as we always have. We treasure those relationships.”
Larson promised no significant changes in programming philosophy and said Straz’s firepower and national profile will attract even more performers. “More of what we love,” she said.
“I’m so appreciative of Straz Center’s interest,” Larson said. “I’m overjoyed that they want to work with us, because this is another one of those instances where we’re better together.”
Far more than a nationally recognized restaurant, Skipper’s stage and faithful regulars launch national musical careers and welcome home veteran performers.
Once named Best Blues Club in America, over its 45-year history Skipper’s has showcased such stars as Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Sunny Landreth and R.L. Burnside as well as The Blind Boys of Alabama.
But there’s far more than blues; Skipper’s has showcased zydeco, reggae, Americana, roots rock and performers such as Buckwheat Zydeco, The Hip Abduction, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, Paul Thorn and Donna The Buffalo.
“There’s no single genre, except talent,” Larson said.
Skipper’s flexible and spacious layout under a canopy of stunning 100-year-old live oaks allows for various configurations as needed – from just under 1,000 standing and seated to a more intimate all-seated layout. Construction has started on a separate VIP fan section, sometimes requested by performers for meet-and-greet events, for example.
Strategically located in vibrant Tampa near the University of South Florida and its near-50,000-student base, Skipper’s also is within a one hour’s drive of 3.3 million residents in a three-county area.
Skipper’s eccentric architecture adds to the experience with a smorgasbord of “cracker” and Key West styles, vintage posters, murals and art installations.
Skipper’s Smokehouse Announces Programming Partnership with Straz Center | August 6, 2025
TAMPA — Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa’s venerable, nationally recognized restaurant and music mecca, announces a programming partnership with Straz Center. Under the agreement, Straz will help research, suggest and secure acts to perform at Skipper’s.
“As we celebrate Skipper’s 45th anniversary in September, this partnership provides an important step for the future,” said Cricket Larson, Skipper’s managing partner and “head mullet.” “We’re still fiercely independent and have 100 percent final say on all bookings. The Straz Center will use its greater resources and industry contacts to locate and suggest performers to play the Skipperdome. And, of course, Skipper’s will continue to support local acts and fundraisers – just as we always have. We treasure those relationships.”
Larson promised no significant changes in programming philosophy and said Straz’s firepower and national profile will attract even more performers. “More of what we love,” she said.
“I’m so appreciative of Straz Center’s interest,” Larson said. “I’m overjoyed that they want to work with us, because this is another one of those instances where we’re better together.”
Far more than a nationally recognized restaurant, Skipper’s stage and faithful regulars launch national musical careers and welcome home veteran performers.
Once named Best Blues Club in America, over its 45-year history Skipper’s has showcased such stars as Buddy Guy, Koko Taylor, Albert Collins, Sunny Landreth and R.L. Burnside as well as The Blind Boys of Alabama.
But there’s far more than blues; Skipper’s has showcased zydeco, reggae, Americana, roots rock and performers such as Buckwheat Zydeco, The Hip Abduction, Ray Wylie Hubbard, Hayes Carll, Paul Thorn and Donna The Buffalo.
“There’s no single genre, except talent,” Larson said.
Skipper’s flexible and spacious layout under a canopy of stunning 100-year-old live oaks allows for various configurations as needed – from just under 1,000 standing and seated to a more intimate all-seated layout. Construction has started on a separate VIP fan section, sometimes requested by performers for meet-and-greet events, for example.
Strategically located in vibrant Tampa near the University of South Florida and its near-50,000-student base, Skipper’s also is within a one hour’s drive of 3.3 million residents in a three-county area.
Skipper’s eccentric architecture adds to the experience with a smorgasbord of “cracker” and Key West styles, vintage posters, murals and art installations.
