30A Songwriters Festival kicks off growing list of Florida Panhandle music festivals | Keith Spera

The Florida Panhandle’s scenic Emerald Coast is not just about beaches anymore.

The stretch of south Walton County between Miramar Beach and Rosemary Beach, a popular summertime getaway for New Orleanians, is home to an ever-growing list of boutique music festivals.

The combination of sound and sand is not necessarily new. Since 2010, the Hangout Music Festival has attracted tens of thousands of fans to Gulf Shores, Alabama, in May.

But a slate of smaller festivals further east in Florida, including this weekend’s 15th annual 30A Songwriters Festival, puts a more curated spin on the festival experience.

The 2024 30A Songwriters Festival, which opens Friday and runs through Monday, presents more than 175 artists at 30 venues near the coast. Many of those venues are along Scenic Highway 30A, the two-lane ribbon of a road that traces the beach from Blue Mountain Beach through Grayton Beach, Seaside and Alys Beach to Rosemary Beach.

Headliners this year include Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, Elvis Costello & the Imposters — who will continue onto New Orleans for a Tuesday gig at the Orpheum Theater — Rosanne Cash, Grace Potter, Matthew Sweet, Steve Earle, Rodney Crowell, KT Tunstall, John Oates and many more.

New Orleans singer-songwriter Joy Clark, who will release her first album on Ani DiFranco’s Righteous Babe Records this year, and Mississippi-born, New Orleans-based country trio Chapel Hart are slated to perform multiple times throughout the weekend.

The sprawling 30A Songwriters Festival unites traditional and nontraditional venues in resorts, restaurants and clubs along several miles of South Walton’s coast to form one of the most prestigious showcases of songwriting anywhere in the country. Those venues include Central Square Records in Seaside, AJ’s in Grayton Beach, the Rosemary Beach Town Hall and the main, outdoor stage at Miramar Beach’s Grand Boulevard Town Center.

The festival is co-produced by Atlanta-based music manager Russell Carter and the nonprofit Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County. That partnership aligns someone with deep music industry connections to an organization that advocates for the host region. The marriage results in a festival lineup that punches well above its weight.

Weekend passes are $425 plus fees. Saturday or Sunday passes are $190 plus fees. 

Net proceeds support the Cultural Arts Alliance’s mission of fostering the arts throughout the Florida Panhandle.

In the wake of the 30A Songwriters Festival’s success, several other events have popped up in recent years in the same area.

A company called Topeka is pushing the “music vacation” concept along the Emerald Coast via springtime happenings in Miramar Beach. They boast limited capacities, numerous amenities, upscale pricing and no shortage of artists with Louisiana ties.

The 2024 Moon Crush Pink Moon in Miramar Beach is April 18-21. The headliners on Saturday, April 20 are New Orleans’ own the Revivalists and Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue. Other nights at Moon Crush feature Lake Street Dive, Dawes, the Head and the Heart, Charley Crockett and Marcus King.

Topeka is also producing Lafayette native Lauren Daigle’s Kaleidoscope Beach Weekend in Miramar Beach from April 25-27. In addition to different nightly sets by Daigle, the roster includes Kenner native Jon Batiste on Saturday, April 27.

The featured act for the Sun Sand & Soul festival May 2-4 is the Tedeschi Trucks Band. JJ Grey & Mofro, the Teskey Brothers, St. Paul & the Broken Bones and Blackberry Smoke are also on the bill.

Topeka caps off its springtime festival season with Brandi Carlile’s Mothership Weekend from May 10-12. Carlile is joined by Bonnie Raitt, Black Pumas, Sara Bareilles, Nickel Creek and more.