Music lovers, this is one festival you should not miss! Back for its sixth season, the Blast on the Bay Songwriters’ Festival, held October 16-19, just keeps getting better and better. Straight from the streets of Nashville, more than thirty of the most talented musicians and songwriters will be heading south to the Unforgettable Coast and performing at nearly a dozen venues located in Mexico Beach, Port St. Joe, and Indian Pass.
“We’re very excited about this year’s schedule of awesome performers! Many songwriters from years past will be returning for another great weekend of music and storytelling—but you can also count on several new faces at this year’s ‘Blast,’ which will make for a great festival,” expressed Kimberly Shoaf, president of the Mexico Beach Community Development Council.
Collectively, these multitalented entertainers have written hundreds of hit songs for some of Nashville’s biggest stars, such as Blake Shelton, Faith Hill, Garth Brooks, George Strait, The Florida-Georgia Line, Jason Aldean, and many more.
According to returning songwriter Will Rambeaux, who among his many other hits wrote Faith Hill’s record-setting number one song “Wild Card,” said, “[Blast on the Bay] is what I’d call a boutique festival. It is not Key West, where they have something like three hundred songwriters and which is the granddaddy of them all. But we keep it small because we like it that way. The community and the venues have their charms. We love it.”
This year’s festival kicks off Thursday evening, Oct. 16 with a V.I.P. Reception held on the beach and continues with afternoon and evening performances through Sunday’s grand finale held at the famous Indian Pass Raw Bar. Unlike other songwriter festivals held in Florida, all of the shows are FREE of charge or request only a minimal donation for attendance. Proceeds benefit the Coastal Songwriters Education Coalition Inc., a nonprofit organization which also partners with several other civic and nonprofit groups in the area.
For a complete schedule of performance times and venues, or for more information about the Sixth Annual Blast on the Bay Songwriter Festival, visit BlastontheBay.com.
