The 17th Annual 30A Songwriters Festival Brings Top-Notch Talent and Music Lovers from Around the Globe
By Will Estell
If you consider yourself a fan of great music and the talented songwriters who make the music you love come to life, you definitely want to make plans to attend the 17th Annual 30A Songwriters Festival. Ranked as one of the top three songwriter festivals in the entire country, there are plenty of reasons to make this your first musical event of the new year: over 125 reasons in fact—and that’s just the number of artists playing it!
The renowned festival of music and fun celebrates its 17th year, January 16 – 19, 2026, with four days of performances, including two days of headliners on presenting sponsor Grand Boulevard’s main stage in beautiful Miramar Beach. The winter weekend of music and fun is celebrated by music lovers around the globe and somehow seems to get better every single year. That’s something I can attest to, as I attended the very first one! With performances at more than 30 venues, spanning over 30 miles of South Walton’s beach communities, this year’s festival offers something for everyone. Whether you’re a fan of Americana, rock, folk, country or jazz, the popular festival brings some of the best songwriters to ever grace any stage: all converging on our beautiful, NWFL beaches.
This year’s lineup is another assortment of phenomenal artists, from Saturday’s Grand Boulevard main stage headliners Paul McDonald & The Mourning Doves, I’m With Her, and 10,000 Maniacs to Sunday’s headliners, Nikki Lane, Toad The Wet Sprocket, and the iconic Mavis Staples. Additionally, 2026’s lineup includes such well known lyrical masters as Abe Partridge, Charlie Starr of Blackberry Smoke, Benji Shanks, Shawn Mullins, Jeffrey Steele, Paul Thorn, David Ryan Harris, Murray Attaway, Dan Navarro, Brian White, Charlie Mars, Jesse Lynn Madera, and a plethora of both first timers and returning 30A SWF favorites.
When I asked multi-hitmaker and award-winning songwriter Jeffrey Steele what keeps him coming back to perform year-after-year, he said, “I always look forward to 30A Songwriter’s Festival, not only as another opportunity to do what I love: singing and entertaining, but also seeing the fans and many of my writer friends I don’t see often. Just catching up and hangin’ at the beach.”
Another returning favorite, Baton Rouge native CJ Solar tells me, “I’ve been going to 30A Songwriters Fest on and off since its first year. I drove over from Baton Rouge my senior year of high school to see my hero Jeffrey Steele in person for the first time. Jump ahead and I’ve been invited to play the ASCAP stage a handful of times over the years and am so excited to be back again as a performer! There’s nothing like starting the year off in my favorite part of Florida, doing my favorite thing: playing songs for people who love them!”
Since its inception in 2010, 30A Songwriter’s 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 Northwest Florida’s coastal community through numerous artistic and philanthropic endeavors. 30A Songwriters Festival is co-produced by Russell Carter Artist Management who has been the driving force behind booking the talent since the festival began in 2010. With 100% of the festival’s net profits going toward supporting the 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 goers are not only having a great time, they are also making a positive difference in the lives of so many that CAA serves.
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. Carter tells me, “This festival began as a small event and grew quickly into a premier one-of-a-kind showcase for world-class songwriters. Our goal was to curate a festival that presents the absolute best in touring songwriters and performers. We always 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!”
I asked Carter about some of the aspects of the 2026 festival that he’s most excited about. He said, “We’re excited to add a new headline show on Friday, January 16th at Seaside Amphitheater, featuring 2026 Grammy Nominee Margo Price with her full band. She will feature songs from her catalog, including the just released deluxe album version of ‘Hard Headed Woman.’ We pride ourselves on supporting emerging artists on the verge of mainstream success. I highly encourage everyone to take this opportunity to see Nikki Lane and Paul McDonald & The Mourning Doves. Both have opening sets on the mainstage, as well as late night club sets at various 30A area venues, and both have critically acclaimed new albums and that are poised to break big, commercially, sooner than later.”
Grab Your Festival Passes Fast!
Full weekend passes start at only $395.00, premium seating VIP passes are just $1,040, and Premiere VIP passes, with special front row seating at the Grand Boulevard Headliners Stage are only $1,385. All of these ticket packages come in at quite the bargain considering you have the ability to see and hear so many remarkable songwriters across four days along the idyllic beach communities that have become a favorite vacation destination around the world.
For a full menu of performers, venues and showtimes, as well as grabbing those limited passes while you still can, visit: 30ASongwritersFestival.com and join us for the festival of music and fun!
Will Estell is a writer, editor, and multimedia consultant with more than 750 published features across travel, music, real estate, and automotive genres. He has conducted one-on-one interviews with a wide range of notable artists, including Kenny Chesney, Jimmy Buffett, Alan Jackson, Darius Rucker, Lyle Lovett, Amy Grant, Sara Evans, Brian Kelly, Styx, Eli Young Band, Drake White, and many others.
Will Estell is the chief creative officer of Estell Hussey Media and has co-founded 12 magazines from concept to launch, while also serving as editor for numerous additional titles. His newest media venture, HIM Magazine—a lifestyle publication for men—is slated to debut on newsstands nationwide in the third quarter of 2026.
Originally from rural Mississippi, Estell is a father of three who now lives in Destin and Navarre Beach with his wife, WEAR ABC 3 news anchor Laura Hussey-Estell. He is a longtime regular contributor to Life Media’s family of publications.
