J. Roddy Walston opens his run in a 75-seat room at Jax Beach, Wednesday, Nov. 4

The former frontman of The Business starts eight Southern dates with The Automatic Band at Blue Jay Listening Room, where you'll be close enough to see the piano keys.

Not many rooms put you within arm's reach of a rock piano player, but Blue Jay Listening Room does. On Wednesday, Nov. 4, J. Roddy Walston plays the 75-capacity room at 2457 3rd St. S. in Jacksonville Beach. Music is listed for 7 p.m.

It is the first stop of his run. The Jax Beach show opens eight listed dates, with Tampa–St. Petersburg on Nov. 6, Fort Myers–Naples on Nov. 7, then Birmingham, Athens and Chattanooga the following week and Richmond on Nov. 28. As far as our records go, he hasn't played Jacksonville before. A second night at Blue Jay on Thursday, Nov. 5 is listed on the venue's ticketing page and billed as Night 2.

If you know the name, you probably know it from J. Roddy Walston & The Business, the band behind *Essential Tremors* (2013) and *Destroyers of the Soft Life* (2017), records with Walston's pounding piano and big voice at the front. Walston and The Business split in 2019. In July 2025 he played his first show backed by a new group, The Automatic Band, and some ticket pages for this run use that full name. Nashville Scene described those sets as mostly drawn from the Business years, with newer material mixed in. Expect the songs people came for, plus a few they haven't heard.

A barroom-sized voice in a room built for whispers.

The room changes the show. Blue Jay is a listening room, not a bar with a stage in the corner. According to the OpenDate event page, it's 18 and up, seating is first come, first served, and ticket prices go up $10 on the day of the show. Buy ahead and get there early if you want a good seat. With 75 people and no balcony, there isn't a bad one, but there are better ones.

Tickets are on OpenDate through the link on this page. Our listing has the music at 7 p.m.; check the ticket page for door times before you go, because in a room this small arriving late means standing at the back.

A rock-and-roll piano in a small beach-town room on a weeknight is the kind of show people bring up for years. Go on Wednesday and you'll be one of the 75.

Sources: OpenDate: Night 1, J. Roddy Walston at Blue Jay Listening Room, November 04, 2026 (app.opendate.io); OpenDate: Night 2, J. Roddy Walston at Blue Jay Listening Room, November 05, 2026 (app.opendate.io); Nashville Scene: Critic's Pick: J. Roddy Walston and The Automatic Band (nashvillescene.com); NPR Music: J. Roddy Walston & The Business (npr.org); BroadwayWorld: J. Roddy Walston & The Business release Destroyers of the Soft Life (sf.broadwayworld.com)