Island Time Trevor Bystrom Band

Location: Blue Marlin; bluemarlinami.com

We’re seated at a cozy table on the back deck at Blue Marlin AMI, feasting on fresh stone crab claws dipped in hot butter and a sweet tangy mustard sauce. Wind gusts between the buildings cause twinkling strands of light to ripple overhead.

The Trevor Bystrom Band is playing one of their original songs, the Afro-Cuban and reggae-influenced anthem “Together As One” that warms the cold night with a call for peaceful coexistence. Zen Seraphine is playing the violin with her back to us, her flowing white wrap moving like a cresting wave, as the music crescendos and ebbs. The overall effect is hypnotic and nautical.

I have to remind myself several times that we’re not actually floating out to sea on the deck of a houseboat with its own band, bar, and street food kitchen.

There’s something magical happening here and it has a lot to do with Trevor himself. Trevor was born and raised on Anna Maria Island, he owns and operates the Island’s only public recording studio, and Holmes Beach is named for his maternal great-grandfather, Jack Holmes. He’s a legacy working on forging his own legacy.

Trevor is a magnetic performer, at once focused and generous. The band is seamless and they appear to be playing for themselves and for each other as much as for the crowd. James Hershey plays the drums with joyous abandon, singing along even though he doesn’t have a mic; Pedro Arevalo dances and works his guitar with the ease of the international touring musician that he is, while “Kenny Bobby” Hughes on bass keeps a tight rhythm.

Our server arrives bearing garlicky Shrimp Ajillo and fragrant Cortez Chowder (grouper cheeks and shrimp in a tomato saffron broth). We’re enjoying the best of both worlds at Blue Marlin tonight: We’ve ordered from the main restaurant but we’re also treating ourselves to what’s on offer at the tiny “Street Food” kitchen, located next to the stage. We take turns heading to the outside bar, cash in hand, and ordering from tonight’s street food menu, which features a Blackened Grouper Taco (Trevor lauds the Blue Marlin taco as “my favorite fish taco”) and the Sambal Shrimp (which Trevor told me packs an addictive spicy kick).

An affable man in an apron strikes up a conversation with the table next to ours; he sings the praises of tonight’s Cream of Stone Crab Soup in such convincing tones that we resolve to make room for a cup of that before we try one of the house-made dessert specials.

I ask Trevor what he likes about playing at Blue Marlin and he mentions that they tend to book bands that are unique, not merely the ubiquitous cover bands that seem to dominate the restaurant music scene. Not to knock a good cover—at one point the band launches into Bob Marley’s “Girl, I Want to Make You Sweat” and the arrangement of the music and Trevor’s distinctive smoky voice give it a grittier, more sensual feeling than the playful original.

Check Trevor’s Facebook page or website (trevorbystrom.com) for more info on the band; samples of the music; and upcoming gigs. And the next time the Trevor Bystrom Band plays Blue Marlin AMI, Come for the atmosphere, stay for the food, linger for the music.

Blue Marlin: 121 Bridge St, Bradenton Beach; 941-896-9737; bluemarlinami.com