The Stray Cats
There should be a pronounced air of celebration when The Stray Cats perform Sunday at The Sound, the same Del Mar venue where the veteran rockabilly trio was scheduled to perform last November.
That concert was canceled at the last minute — along with the 47-year-old band’s entire 2025 tour — eight months after guitarist and lead singer Brian Setzer was diagnosed with a career-halting autoimmune condition.
“Towards the end of the last Stray Cats tour, I noticed that my hands were cramping up. I’ve since discovered that I have an autoimmune disease. I cannot play guitar. There is no pain, but it feels like I am wearing a pair of gloves when I try to play,” the Minnesota-based Setzer wrote in a February 2025 social media post.
“I have seen some progress in that I can hold a pen and tie my shoes. I know this sounds ridiculous, but I was at a point where I couldn’t even do that. Luckily, I have the best hospital in the world down the block from me. It’s called the Mayo Clinic. I know I will beat this, it will just take some time.”
In a subsequent post in late March last year, Setzer wrote that he was making “excellent” progress. Alas, last October — on the eve of the band’s 20-city national concert trek — his condition had regressed to the point that all dates on the tour were scratched.
Setzer, 67, has not disclosed what his specific condition is, although he described it last year as a “serious illness.”
Given his exacting musical standards, one wouldn’t expect Setzer to return to the road until he is fully ready to rock this town — and all of the others on his band’s rescheduled tour — with his customary verve.
Setzer is a longtime solo recording artist for Surfdog, the Encinitas-based label that in 2019 released The Stray Cats’ 40th anniversary album, “40.” Late last year, The Stray Cats released their first new song in six years, the snappy, Setzer-penned “Stampede,” and a cover version of Eddie Cochran’s 1959 chestnut, “Teenage Heaven.”
Two months ago, Surfdog put out “Rumble In Brixton,” a live album that the band recorded in England in 2004. And just last week, The Stray Cats announced that its 2026 summer tour, which opens tonight in Las Vegas, will be followed by a 19-city fall tour that runs Nov. 9 through Dec. 6. Welcome, guys. It’s nice to have you back.
8 p.m. Sunday, July 26. The Sound, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar. $151.45. ticketmaster.com
Grammy Award-winning English R&B singer Ella Mai will perform at The Shell on Wednesday. (Drew A. Kelley, Contributing Photographer)
Ella Mai, with Ama and Girlfriend
Named after jazz vocal icon Ella Fitzgerald, London-born singer Ella Mai specializes in a silky, often-understated brand of 1990s-tinged R&B that is vulnerable but still packs an emotional punch.
Her intoxicating 2018 love song, “Boo’d Up,” made her the first artist from the UK to top the American R&B charts since Lisa Stansfield’s “All Woman” in 1992. “Boo’d Up” was matched by the lovestruck slow jam “Trip,” an equally inviting song from Mai’s self-titled debut album.
The Grammy-winner is now on tour to promote her third album, the 14-song “Do You Still Love Me?” Rather than engage in shallow vocal acrobatics and glitzy stage shows, Mai, 31, digs into the emotional essence of her lyrics. It’s a wise choice.
7 p.m. Wednesday, July 29. The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park, 222 Marina PArk Way, downtown. $66.40-$111.80. tickemaster.com
Dailey & Vincent, with Graham Nancarrow
In 2009, a concert commitment in Boston kept Jamie Dailey and Darrin Vincent from being present when the then-two-year-old duo won top honors in six of the nine categories it was nominated in at that year’s Society for the Preservation of Bluegrass Music of America’s Convention and Awards Show.
Dailey & Vincent now have enough additional awards to fill a room. The plucky duo has also earned three Grammy Award nominations, become members of the Grand Ole Opry and has hosted the weekly Dailey & Vincent Show on RFD-TV since 2015.
With 10 albums to their credit, Dailey and Vincent have amassed a wealth of memorable songs that range from the duo’s high-octane hit, “Ruby,” to their achingly tender version of Gillian Welch and David Rawlings’ “By The Mark.”
Daily & Vincent’s heady track record makes it all the more surprising the two have never performed in San Diego together, although I recall Darrin Vincent having passed through here at least once as a member of Ricky Skaggs’ Kentucky Thunder band.
For anyone craving high-lonesome vocal harmonies and supple picking, Daily & Vincent’s long overdue area debut should be a must.
7:30 p.m. Wednesday, July 29. Belly Up, 143 South Cedros Ave., Solana Beach. $35 (general admission), $62 (reserved); must be 21 or older to attend. bellyup.com