Jumpin' Johnny Sansone, the saxophone-and-accordion-wielding bluesman out of New Orleans, is heading back to Petaluma for a fully seated show at the Mystic Theatre on Sunday, November 22, 2026. The concert at 23 N. Petaluma Blvd. doubles as a benefit for the Petaluma-based nonprofit Global Healing, with proceeds going toward the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic on the Honduran island of Roatán, where public health services are scarce.
According to The Press Democrat, Sansone will perform with his All Star Louisiana Band, marking a return visit for the musician, who played Petaluma several years ago while touring with the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars. Doors open at 6 p.m. with the show starting at 7 p.m., and tickets run $55 general admission plus an $11.75 service fee, or $85 for a VIP ticket plus a $13.84 service fee that includes an artist meet and greet. The Mystic Theatre's own calendar lists the night as Merging Music and Humanity: A Benefit for Global Healing, billed as fully seated.
Sansone, reached while traveling in Belgium and heading to Brussels, told the Press Democrat he would jump at the chance to support Global Healing's work. He said he hopes people attend both to support the cause and to hear his original songs.
From New Jersey Sax Player to New Orleans Blues Fixture
Sansone was born in New Jersey and started playing saxophone at age 8, per the Press Democrat's reporting. He committed to a life playing blues after seeing Howlin' Wolf perform when he was just 12 years old — a moment his own biography describes as the point he knew blues would be his lifetime vocation, according to johnnysansone.com.
In the 1980s he toured with Ronnie Earl, John Lee Hooker, Jimmy Rodgers and Robert Lockwood Jr., the same biography notes. He settled in New Orleans in the early 1990s and eventually founded Jumpin' Johnny & the Blues Party, picking up his nickname while in college. Sansone also added accordion to his instruments after attending a wake for Zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, the biography states. Today he's known as a multi-instrumentalist and longtime New Orleans resident whose sound blends blues with Louisiana roots music.
Why Roatán's Only Public Hospital Still Matters
The cause behind the concert traces back to 2024, when a fire destroyed Roatán's only public hospital, prompting Global Healing to shift its focus toward the island and efforts to reestablish a working hospital. The Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic, founded in 2003 as a joint project between Global Healing and Public Hospital Roatán, was created to provide medical care to children on the island, according to globalhealing.org. The clinic, housed at the public hospital, typically sees 25 to 30 children a day as outpatients, per the clinic's own account of its work.
The strain on local care became clear in the fire's aftermath. Direct Relief reported that the nearby Clinica Esperanza saw its daily patient count jump from roughly 150 before the fire to about 650 in the following month, before settling to a level still about 50 patients a day higher than before, according to Direct Relief. Building a replacement hospital structure was expected to take 18 months, the same report noted.
Eric Scher, a Petaluma pediatrician and Global Healing board member, has produced fundraising shows in the Bay Area in support of the cause, the Press Democrat reported. Global Healing's history with benefit events stretches back to its earliest days — its first fundraiser was a Mardi Gras-themed party in 2003 that raised money and awareness for the organization and for Roatán, according to globalhealing.org.
Tickets for the November 22 show are available through the Mystic Theatre, with proceeds directed to the Roatán Volunteer Pediatric Clinic's continuing work on the island.
