By Will Estell
If you consider yourself a fan of great music and the talented songwriters who make the songs you love possible, you will definitely want to make plans to attend the 16th Annual 30A Songwriters Festival—especially since it is now considered the top-rated songwriters’ festival in America—happening along our beautiful beach communities of South Walton and the white sands of Northwest Florida’s Gulf Coast.
The renowned festival is celebrating its 16th year of Hooks, Lines and Singers January 16 – 20, 2025, with performances on presenting sponsor Grand Boulevard’s main stage in beautiful Miramar Beach, as well as more than 30 other popular venues dotting the map of World Famous 30A.
This year’s rendition of the popular festival includes headline performances by Grammy award winning rocker Melissa Etheridge; the acoustic Americana sound of Amos Lee; the masterful harmonies and arrangements of The Jayhawks; the blues infused Southern rock of The Devon Allman Project, and the multi-genre sound of Maggie Rose and Secret Sisters.
The long winter weekend of music and fun has now become the most celebrated songwriters’ festival in the entire country and is revered by artists and music lovers around the globe. With more than 175 artists, encompassing over 225 performances at 30 plus venues, the 16th annual 30A Songwriters Festival most definitely has something for everyone. Whether you’re a fan of folk music, rock, soul, country or anything in between, this festival covers it all and does so with some of the best writers and performers to ever grace the stages of these South Walton coastal venues.
The 2025 lineup is chock-full of phenomenal artists like Holly Williams, Charlie Mars, Shawn Mullins, Mary Gauthier, Jeffrey Steele, Hayes Carll, Lilly Hiatt, Tommy Prine, Grayson Capps, Chuck Cannon, Jeff Black, Randall Bramblett, Kelly Willis, Bob Schneider, Steve Politz, Adam Hood, John Driskell-Hopkins, Dan Bern, Will Kimbrough, Lilly Winwood, Ellis Paul, Darrel Scott, Livingston Taylor, Griffin House, David Ryan Harris, Emerson Hart, Certainly So, Abe Partridge, Chris Stills, Will Hoge, Chastity Brown, Vicki Peterson, Jennifer Lynn Simpson, Sara Hells, Jack Barksdale, Cat Ridgeway, Caitlin Cannon, Bradley Cole Smith, Nelson Nolan, Mike Whitty with The Sand Ole Opry, Cousin Curtis, Ryan Hood, John Cowsill, John Paul White, Ruthie Foster, Black Opry Revue, John Fullbright and numerous others.
Additionally, some top-notch writers and performers making their first trip to our beautiful beaches to perform include: Charlie Starr and Benji Shanks of Blackberry Smoke, country sensation Brandy Clark, Chuck Prophet, Josh Joplin Group, Willi Carlisle, Bee Taylor Band, Langhorne Slim, Josh Rouse, Chris Knight, Jontavious Willis, as well as Josh Rouse, Paul McDonald, Jill Sobule, Kyle Davis, Tyler Ramsey, David Borne’, Andrea Von Kampen, Beth Bombara, Anna Grace, Mallory Johnson, and one of my personal favorite new country artists, Jada Cato.
The popular festival takes place at venues spread across a span of slightly over 30 miles of South Walton beach communities, including the large outdoor main stage facility at Grand Boulevard in Miramar Beach. These live music hotspots include well-known restaurants, entertainment venues, hotel lobbies and cafés dotting the two-lane Scenic Hwy. 30A. And one thing is for sure, if you’re hanging in places like these, near beaches like these, listening to artists like this festival brings, you are most definitely sure to have a fabulous time, that will undoubtedly find you hitting spot after spot for more music and fun.
I asked multi-hit Nashville songwriter Jeffrey Steele what keeps him coming back year-after-year: He simply lamented, “I always look forward to 30A Songwriters Festival, not only as another opportunity to do what I love, singing and entertaining, but also seeing the fans, my writer friends I don’t see often, and catching up and hangin’ at the beach.”
From the main stage at Grand Boulevard, featuring Saturday and Sunday’s headliners to popular spots like AJ’s Grayton Beach, Bud & Ally’s, Water Color’s Fish Out of Water, Boat House and Lake House to 30A Café to Rosemary Beach Town Hall, and Old Florida Fish House there is certainly no shortage of venues hosting great songwriters and musicians for this event. Since its inception in 2010, 30A Songwriters Festival has grown year after year, and is one of many endeavors made possible by Walton County Cultural Arts Alliance (CAA), a remarkable organization that adds so much to our coastal community through its artistic and philanthropic endeavors.
The festival is co-produced by Russell Carter Artist Management, which has been the driving force behind the talent booking since the festival began in 2010. Additionally, 100% of 30A Songwriters Festival’s net profits benefit CAA’s mission to advance the arts in Walton County through education, leadership, advocacy and the funding of special arts related programs within the community.
Festival Co-Producer, Russell Carter, President of Russell Carter Artist Management, has good reason to be immensely proud of the festival he helped to create.
“This festival began as a small event and grew quickly into a premier one-of-a-kind musical showcase for world-class songwriters. Our goal is to curate a festival that presents the absolute best in touring songwriters and performers. We want our audiences to experience musicians representing diverse genres of music – jazz, blues, country, folk, Americana, and rock, with just two stipulations – they have to write their own music and they have to be really great at it!” said Carter.
Grab Your Festival Tickets Today!
Full weekend passes start at only $445, and premium seating VIP passes at just $1,225. per person, and Premiere VIP passes, with special front row seating at the Grand Boulevard Headliners Stage for only $1,600 pp. (Visit www.30asongwritersfestival.com to buy.) All of these ticket packages come in at quite the bargain considering you have the ability to see and hear so many remarkable songwriters and artists across your four days along the idyllic beach communities of South Walton. In addition to the weekend packages, concert goers can also purchase a limited number of daily headliners, one day and one night, and VIP transportation offerings. In other words, there are a lot of ways to put this year’s 30A Songwriters Festival passes on your short list by visiting their site at 30ASongwritersFestival.com. I hope to see you there. I’ll be the guy in the ball cap and vest with a beer in his hand, his dancing wife by his side and music in his heart!
Writer Bio: Will Estell is a writer, editor, and Northwest Florida media guru with over 700 published magazine features in an array of genres, including tourism, music, real estate, and automobile editorials. Will has penned one-on-one cover interview features with such well-known artists as Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Buffett, Alan Jackson, Darius Rucker, Styx, Amy Grant, Sara Evans and numerous others. He is the chief creative officer of Estell Hussey Media, LLC, and over the past 26 years has been instrumental in co-founding twelve new magazine titles from concept to fruition –both for other publishers and himself– as well as serving as editor in chief for numerous others nationally. Originally from the backwoods of rural Mississippi, Will Estell is a father of three who splits his time between Destin and Navarre Beach, along with his wife, ABC 3 Florida news anchor, Laura Hussey-Estell. Will is a regular contributor to Life Media’s family of publications.
