Bluesman Popa Chubby plays at Ace’s Live in Bradenton

Maybe Ted Horowitz isn’t the ideal name for a blues musician, but you have to believe that some of his friends rolled their eyes when he announced that he was going to call himself Popa Chubby.

It apparently turned out to be a good career move, though.

Popa Chubby has been a force in the national blues scene for a quarter of a century, releasing about one album per year on average, including some on the prestigious blues label Blind Pig. His albums are popular, but he’s especially known all over the world for his ferocious live shows.

He’ll be in town Thursday for a concert at Ace’s Live in Bradenton.

Popa Chubby is a fiery blues-rock guitarist and vocalist whose style owes as much to punk music as to traditional blues. In fact, he describes his music as “the Stooges meet Buddy Guy, Motorhead meets Muddy Waters, and Jimi Hendrix meets Robert Johnson.”

He played some of his earliest gigs at the famed New York punk club CBGB in its heyday, alongside the Ramones, the Cramps and Richard Hell. (Popa Chubby, using his birth name, actually played bass in Hell’s band the Voidoids for a spell.) He has been quoted as saying the blues and punk music and musicians share a sense of danger that appeals to him.

Details: 8 p.m. April 27, Ace’s Live, 4343 Palma Sola Blvd., Bradenton. $15 advance, $20 at the door: 941-795-3886, aceslivemusic.com.

This story was originally published April 26, 2017 at 4:03 PM with the headline "Bluesman Popa Chubby plays at Ace’s Live in Bradenton."