September 9, 2026- 30A Songwriters Festival 2027: the quick version
- When is the 30A Songwriters Festival in 2027?
- Who is playing the 30A Songwriters Festival in 2027?
- More confirmed 2027 artists
- So how does this festival actually work?
- Where are the 30A Songwriters Festival venues?
- Where should you stay for the 30A Songwriters Festival?
- The easiest way to choose a festival rental
- Should you book before the full schedule comes out?
- Do you need a car for the festival?
- Are there festival shuttles?
- Why a vacation rental works especially well for this weekend
- A first-timer’s plan that actually works
- What should you pack?
- Tickets for the 2027 festival
- One more reason this festival matters locally
- What is the best area to stay in for the 30A Songwriters Festival?
- Need help deciding where to stay?
January on 30A is usually the quieter side of the beach.
Then Songwriters Festival weekend arrives.
For four days, restaurants become listening rooms, town halls turn into stages, patios fill with live music, and the communities along Scenic Highway 30A feel completely different. Some shows are intimate enough to feel like you stumbled into a private performance. Others bring thousands of people together outdoors.
The 2027 30A Songwriters Festival takes place January 15–18, 2027, with 30 venues, more than 160 songwriters, and more than 300 performances planned across South Walton. The festival is celebrating its 18th year.
And if you’re planning a trip around it, there’s one thing worth knowing before almost anything else:
The festival does not happen in one place.
It stretches for more than 20 miles through the beach communities of South Walton, which means where you stay can make a very real difference to how your weekend feels.
This guide covers what has been confirmed for 2027 so far, where the festival happens, how to think about transportation, and which parts of 30A make the most sense as a home base.
30A Songwriters Festival 2027: the quick version
| What to know | 2027 details |
|---|---|
| Dates | January 15–18, 2027 |
| Festival year | 18th annual |
| Location | Scenic Highway 30A and South Walton, Florida |
| Venues | 30 |
| Songwriters | 160+ |
| Performances | 300+ |
| Friday headline location | SEASIDE® Amphitheater |
| Saturday & Sunday main stage | Grand Boulevard Town Center, Miramar Beach |
| Full lineup | Still being announced |
| Full daily schedule | Not yet released |
| Tickets | On sale |
| Official festival airport | Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport (ECP) |
If you’re already looking at homes, you can browse all Oversee vacation rentals on 30A. If you’re not sure which community makes sense, call our Guest Ambassadors at 888-290-3489 and tell us which shows or parts of the festival matter most to you. We’ll help narrow down the location before you start comparing bedrooms and amenities.
When is the 30A Songwriters Festival in 2027?
The 2027 festival runs from Friday, January 15 through Monday, January 18.
The biggest confirmed stage plans currently look like this:
Friday: The festival kickoff takes place at the SEASIDE® Amphitheater, with Dawes, S.G. Goodman, and Paul McDonald & The Mourning Doves.
Saturday and Sunday: The main-stage program moves to Grand Boulevard Town Center in Miramar Beach.
The complete artist-by-artist schedule for the weekend has not been released yet, so we would not plan every hour of the trip just yet.
Booking the right general area early is reasonable.
Building a minute-by-minute festival schedule now is not.
Who is playing the 30A Songwriters Festival in 2027?
The first 2027 lineup announcement is already strong.
Friday at SEASIDE® Amphitheater
- Dawes
- S.G. Goodman
- Paul McDonald & The Mourning Doves
Saturday and Sunday at Grand Boulevard
The festival has announced the following artists for the Saturday/Sunday headline program:
- Gillian Welch & David Rawlings
- St. Paul & The Broken Bones
- Larkin Poe
- Booker T. Jones
- Tommy Emmanuel, CGP
The festival has not yet assigned every one of those artists to a specific Saturday or Sunday slot publicly, so we wouldn’t assume a day until the official schedule is released.
More confirmed 2027 artists
The initial announcement also includes:
Robyn Hitchcock with band, Rainbow Girls, Shawn Mullins, Gary Louris, Raye Zaragoza, Steve Poltz, Kim Richey, Rhett Miller, Mary Gauthier, Jaimee Harris, Jeffrey Steele, Murray Attaway, Don Dixon, Bob Schneider, The Mammals, Danny Schmidt, Cat Ridgeway, Eliot Bronson, Jennifer Lynn Simpson, Erin McKeown, Gurufish, and more.
And this is not the final lineup.
The festival says more artists will be announced as they are confirmed over the coming weeks.
For the most current lineup, use the official 30A Songwriters Festival website.
So how does this festival actually work?
If you’ve never been, this is the part that matters most.
30A Songwriters Festival is not a single fenced-in music festival where you park once and spend the rest of the day walking between stages.
Instead, it takes over the area.
Shows happen in amphitheaters, restaurants, bars, town halls, hotels, patios, and small gathering spaces across South Walton. The festival describes more than 20 miles of activity across the corridor.
That means you can experience it in two very different ways.
You can spend the weekend chasing artists from one side of 30A to the other.
Or you can choose a few communities and venue clusters you care about, stay nearby, and build each day around them.
We’d recommend the second approach for most people.
The festival is much more enjoyable when the day doesn’t become a transportation puzzle.
Where are the 30A Songwriters Festival venues?
The festival’s current venue directory includes everything from large outdoor stages to small indoor spaces. Among the listed venues are Grand Boulevard, SEASIDE® Amphitheater, Seaside Lyceum, Bud & Alley’s, WaterColor LakeHouse, Fish Out of Water, AJ’s Grayton Beach, Old Florida Fish House, The Big Chill, Rosemary Beach Town Hall, Havana Beach Bar & Grill, 30Avenue, and others.
A useful way to think about them is by community.
| Area | Current festival venues listed |
|---|---|
| Miramar Beach / Grand Boulevard | Grand Boulevard, Courtyard Marriott Lobby Bar, Hilton Sandestin, Hotel Effie – The Lobby Bar, Hyatt Place – The Placery |
| Grayton Beach | AJ’s Grayton Beach Main Stage, AJ’s Round Room, Raw & Juicy Grayton at Hibiscus |
| WaterColor | Fish Out of Water, Marina Park Stage at Headquarters, WaterColor LakeHouse |
| Seaside | SEASIDE® Amphitheater, Seaside Lyceum, Bud & Alley’s, Central Square Records, Pickle’s |
| Seagrove | Old Florida Fish House Bar Stage, Old Florida Fish House Porch Stage |
| Watersound / Camp Creek | The Big Chill, ANR at Camp Creek Inn |
| Alys Beach | Caliza, Fonville Press |
| Seacrest | LaCo, Peddlers 30A |
| Rosemary Beach | Rosemary Beach Town Hall, Havana Beach Bar & Grill at The Pearl |
| Inlet Beach | 30Avenue |
| Bayside / Highway 331 | The Bay, North Beach Social |
You can see the festival’s current venue directory here.
One important note: the festival has confirmed 30 venues for 2027, but the public venue directory is not yet a final 2027 artist-by-artist schedule.
So use it to understand the geography of the festival.
Don’t use it yet to assume that a specific artist will be playing a specific smaller venue.
Where should you stay for the 30A Songwriters Festival?
There isn’t one answer.
It depends on the shows you care about most.
If Friday at Seaside is your big night
Stay in Seaside or WaterColor.
Friday’s confirmed kickoff is at the SEASIDE® Amphitheater, and the current venue directory also includes several other Seaside locations.
For a group of up to eight, Son Worshipers is a strong fit. It’s in Seaside, sleeps eight, includes four bikes, and Oversee describes it as just two streets from the town square.
For a bigger group, The Poppy House sleeps 14 and includes five bikes, community pool access, and pet-friendly accommodations.
If you want Seaside access but prefer WaterColor
WaterColor is one of the easiest communities to recommend for this particular weekend.
The current festival directory includes Fish Out of Water, Marina Park Stage at Headquarters, and WaterColor LakeHouse, and Seaside sits right next door.
Blue Oyster Cottage sleeps 12, includes a six-seat golf cart and four bikes, and Oversee’s listing puts Seaside Town Center at roughly a five-minute walk.
If Grayton’s smaller venues are the draw
Grayton currently has several festival venues clustered in one community, including both AJ’s stages and Raw & Juicy Grayton at Hibiscus.
This can be a very good choice if you like the idea of spending more time in one neighborhood instead of commuting around the festival.
For larger groups, look closely at homes with multiple gathering spaces, private pools, or enough bedrooms that everyone can actually unwind between shows.
If you want a central 30A base
Consider Seagrove.
It’s between Seaside and the communities farther east, and the current festival directory includes both stages at Old Florida Fish House.
Seagrove also gives you far more rental choice than some of the smaller communities.
Browse Seagrove vacation rentals
If The Big Chill, Alys, Seacrest, or Rosemary shows are your priority
Stay toward the east-central or east end of 30A.
Watersound works well for the Big Chill and Camp Creek area.
Seacrest puts you near LaCo and Peddlers 30A while keeping Alys Beach and Rosemary Beach close.
Rosemary Beach makes sense if Rosemary Beach Town Hall or Havana Beach Bar & Grill are high on your list.
Inlet Beach is particularly useful if 30Avenue becomes part of your schedule.
If Saturday and Sunday at Grand Boulevard matter most
Look west.
Grand Boulevard is in Miramar Beach and is the confirmed Saturday/Sunday main-stage location.
If you still want the 30A rental experience rather than staying directly in Miramar Beach, Dune Allen Beach and Gulf Place are sensible areas to compare.
Just be clear about what you’re choosing: these are western 30A bases, not walk-to-Grand-Boulevard rentals.
The easiest way to choose a festival rental
Don’t start by opening 100 homes.
Start here:
| If this matters most… | Start your search here |
|---|---|
| Friday Seaside show | Seaside |
| Seaside + WaterColor venues | WaterColor |
| Grayton venues | Grayton Beach |
| Flexible central location | Seagrove |
| Big Chill / Camp Creek | Watersound |
| Seacrest + Alys | Seacrest |
| Rosemary venues | Rosemary Beach |
| 30Avenue / east end | Inlet Beach |
| Grand Boulevard main stage | Dune Allen / Gulf Place |
Then narrow down the home based on:
- group size
- number of bedrooms
- heated pool
- bikes
- golf cart
- pet-friendly needs
- how much time you actually expect to spend at the rental
If you want help with that part, call us at 888-290-3489.
This is exactly the kind of trip where knowing the geography first can save you from booking a beautiful home in the wrong part of 30A.
Should you book before the full schedule comes out?
If you already know your general priorities, yes.
You don’t need the complete schedule to know that Friday’s headline show is in Seaside and the weekend main stage is at Grand Boulevard.
And winter trips to Walton County tend to be planned earlier than people sometimes assume.
Walton County’s Winter 2026 Visitor Tracking Study found that more than two-thirds of winter visitors plan at least three months ahead, with the typical trip planning cycle beginning 97 days before arrival.
So if you need:
- a very large home
- a specific community
- a heated pool
- pet-friendly accommodations
- multiple homes near one another
we wouldn’t necessarily wait for every set time to be published.
Do you need a car for the festival?
For most visitors, yes.
Within Seaside, WaterColor, Rosemary Beach, or another compact community, walking or biking can absolutely be part of the weekend.
But the festival as a whole spans more than 20 miles.
That makes a car useful if your must-see shows are spread across multiple parts of 30A or if you’re heading to Grand Boulevard.
The best strategy is usually:
walk locally, drive strategically.
A golf cart or bikes that come with your rental can be useful within the appropriate community, but they are not a replacement for transportation across the entire festival corridor.
Are there festival shuttles?
The festival’s current venue page lists two shuttle setups.
A Seaside shuttle runs from a reserved lot off Highway 331 South to the center of Seaside.
A Grand Boulevard main-stage shuttle is listed from Silver Sands Premium Outlets to Grand Boulevard on Saturday and Sunday.
The current venue page lists operating hours, but we would still re-check the final transportation information closer to January before building plans around those exact times.
The festival site has already shown some older information on other pages while 2027 updates are being rolled out, so transportation details are one of the things worth verifying again immediately before the event.
Check official festival transportation updates
Why a vacation rental works especially well for this weekend
A festival trip has a strange rhythm.
You’re out for a show.
Back home for two hours.
Out again.
Someone wants dinner. Someone else wants to change. Half the group wants the next show. The other half needs a break.
That’s where having an actual home base becomes useful.
A vacation rental can give a group:
- separate bedrooms
- shared living space
- a kitchen
- more than one bathroom
- room to regroup between performances
- bikes at many Oversee homes
- golf carts at select homes
- heated-pool options for January
- large-group and pet-friendly options
And professionally managed vacation rentals are already a major part of how winter visitors stay in Walton County.
The Winter 2026 Visitor Tracking Study found that 51% of surveyed winter visitors booked accommodations through a vacation rental company, compared with 11% through Airbnb and 8% through Vrbo.
But for Songwriters Festival weekend, we would still choose location before amenities.
A heated pool is great.
A heated pool 40 minutes from the shows you most want to see may not be.
A first-timer’s plan that actually works
Pick three or four must-see artists
Not 20.
With 300+ performances, trying to “do everything” is the quickest way to spend the weekend watching the clock.
Wait for the final schedule before planning every hour
Book the trip.
Choose the right community.
Then let the final performance schedule fill in the details.
Group shows geographically
If you already have two performances near Rosemary Beach, look at what else is happening around Seacrest, Alys, or Inlet Beach.
Don’t automatically drive to Grayton and back between them.
Leave room between shows
30A is scenic.
It’s also not an interstate.
A schedule that looks easy on a map can feel very different when everyone is moving between venues at the same time.
Have a second choice
One of the best things about this festival is that there is usually something else worth hearing nearby.
You don’t need a weekend with zero flexibility.
Leave some room for 30A itself
You’re still at the beach in January.
Make time for coffee, a walk, a good lunch, and an hour when no one is racing to the next thing.
What should you pack?
January on 30A can require a little more thought than a summer beach trip.
Some festival venues are outdoors, while others are indoors. Grand Boulevard itself is an outdoor venue, and the Friday kickoff takes place at the outdoor Seaside Amphitheater.
We’d bring:
- layers
- a jacket
- comfortable shoes
- rain protection
- a portable phone charger
- your ticket/pass information
- anything you need for a long day away from the rental
Then check the actual forecast shortly before the trip.
Don’t pack for a January average.
Pack for the January weekend you’re actually getting.
Tickets for the 2027 festival
Tickets are already on sale.
The initial 2027 announcement mentions multiple Festival Weekend Pass options, including VIP Mainstage tickets and transportation-package options for groups.
We aren’t listing static ticket prices here because availability and packages can change.
Use the official 30A Songwriters Festival site for the current ticket options.
One more reason this festival matters locally
30A Songwriters Festival isn’t just a January entertainment event.
It is a major fundraiser for the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County, with proceeds supporting the organization’s arts and cultural mission in the community.
That connection to the place is part of what makes the weekend feel different from a touring festival dropped into a destination for a few days.
The festival belongs here.
What is the best area to stay in for the 30A Songwriters Festival?
It depends on your priority shows. Seaside and WaterColor are strong choices for the Friday kickoff and central venues. Grayton and Seagrove work well for central 30A. Watersound, Seacrest, Rosemary Beach, and Inlet Beach are better positioned for east-end venues. Dune Allen and Gulf Place are worth comparing if the Saturday/Sunday Grand Boulevard main stage matters most.
Is Seaside a good place to stay?
Yes, particularly if Friday’s headline program and the Seaside venue cluster are high priorities.
Is WaterColor a good place to stay?
Yes. WaterColor has festival venues of its own and sits immediately next to Seaside.
Do I need a car?
For most visitors, yes. Walking and biking can work within individual communities, but the full festival stretches across more than 20 miles.
Does the festival have shuttles?
Yes. The current festival venue page lists shuttle service for Seaside and for Grand Boulevard main-stage performances. Re-check the final 2027 hours closer to the festival.
What airport should I use?
Northwest Florida Beaches International Airport, ECP, is identified by the festival as its official airport.
Can I book my rental before the full schedule is released?
Yes. If you already know which part of the festival matters most to you, you can choose the right general area now and finalize the daily schedule later.
Are there rentals for large festival groups?
Yes. Oversee has homes ranging from smaller couple-friendly properties to large homes and multi-home setups. For example, Mystic Hideaway in Inlet Beach combines two homes on one property for a large group that wants shared space without everyone staying under one roof.
Need help deciding where to stay?
You can absolutely plan this trip on your own.
But if you’re staring at a map of 30A, a list of 30 venues, and 20 different homes you like, call us.
Tell us:
- how many people are coming
- which artists matter most
- whether Seaside Friday is a must
- whether you’re planning on the Grand Boulevard main stage
- whether you want to stay central or keep to one end of 30A
- whether you need a heated pool
- a golf cart
- pet-friendly accommodations
- or enough room for a big group
We’ll help you narrow it down.
Browse all Oversee 30A vacation rentals
Call Oversee Guest Ambassadors: 888-290-3489
The best rental for Songwriters Festival weekend isn’t automatically the biggest house or the one with the longest amenity list.
It’s the one that makes your weekend easier.
Last updated: September 9, 2026
The festival is still releasing 2027 information. We’ll update this guide as the remaining artists, daily schedule, artist-to-venue assignments, and final transportation details are confirmed.
For official festival announcements, visit 30ASongwritersFestival.com.
