Celebrating our 13th anniversary in 2023, Florida’s Gulf Coast will play host to a group of talented musicians and songwriters direct from the streets of Nashville. Festival performances will consist of musicians who collectively have written hundreds of hit songs from Faith Hill and George Strait to Jason Aldean and Garth Brooks. Many songwriters from past events will be returning for another great weekend of music and storytelling, in addition, guests can count on several new faces at this year’s “Blast.” Said best by one of our founding writers during an interview in the Port St. Joe Star Newspaper: A songwriters’ festival, Nashville songwriter Will Rambeaux said, is a chance to “reconnect to that skinny 18-year-old who wanted to be a rock star.” “Port St. Joe is what I’d call a boutique festival. It is not Key West, where they have something like 300 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 annual event continues to deliver on the promise of an incredible time for anyone who appreciates great music. If you spend one weekend a year in the area, make it October 19-22nd, 2023 at the 13th annual Blast on the Bay Songwriters’ Festival. Please check back for updates to the schedule and the artist lineup as we grow closer to the event date.

To accommodate our growth, we now feature over 30 prolific songwriters giving more performances at numerous venues. Our goal is to continue offering this great festival we have all come to expect and enjoy each year. Thus, Blast on the Bay 2023 is a ticketed event. Proceeds from this event benefit the Coastal Songwriters Education Coalition Inc., a 501c3 not-for-profit. We also partner with several other civic and non-profit groups in the area, including the Gulf Alliance for Local Arts, the Florida Restaurant and Lodging Association, and our local grade schools through songwriting workshops, performances, and educational opportunities surrounding this event and others throughout the year.