30A Songwriters Festival 2020

Casey Kearney at the 30A Songwriters Festival

I applied for several years to play the 30A Songwriters Festival in South Walton with no success. I didn't actually know how hard it was to get into it, it is tough! A couple of years ago Russell Carter, producer of the festival, saw me playing one of my sets while they were eating dinner and invited me. I was SO excited.

I had a blast last year for my first time attending and my first time playing. Since this was my second year I had a better idea of how things go which was cool, I wasn't texting friends with a million questions!

The weekend started with playing a house concert and the artist party at Monet Monet, a beautiful event space in Grayton, Beach.

Casey Kearney House Concert — House Concert

Casey Kearney 30A Songwriters Festival — Monet Monet Grayton Beach

Casey Kearney at the 30A Songwriters Festival Grayton Beach — Artist Party for the 30A Songwriters Festival at Monet Monet in Grayton Beach

Casey Kearney 30A Songwriters Festival Brady Blake — Brady Blake played drums for the Indigo Girls this weekend and has played for so many artists.

I got to meet so many awesome artists who are genuinely friendly and kind. So many artists that BLOW my mind, inspire me to write, and captivate the entire audience every moment they were on stage- it facinates me.

Casey Kearney 30A Songwriters Festival Mac Powell — Me and my sister in law, Christy, were basically freaking out that we talked to Mac Powell from Third Day for a little bit. He was so nice.

Casey Kearney 30A Songwriters Festival Jimmy Robbins — Jimmy Robbins was one of my favorites all weekend long. If you have listened to the radio at all in the past 2 years you have heard multiple songs he wrote. My favorites are Thomas Rhett "Goes Like This" and "The Bones" Maren Morris.

Casey Kearney Canaan Smith 30A Songwriters Festival — Canaan Smith made you laugh and cry. He was so good. He was a writer and sang "Love You Like That" other ones too but the "I could never do it like a pretty city boy, I'm a fishing in the dark nitty gritty boy..." sticks out to me haha!!

Casey Kearney Chas Sanford 30A Songwriters Festival — Chas Sanford has recieved 12 "Most Performed Song" awards and written songs for Stevie Nicks, Alison Krauss, Brooks and Dunn, and soooo many more.

I met so many fans, new ones and old ones. People I have never met who keep up through social media. They knew all about me, my music, and my barn and live in states far, far away! It was awesome to get to talk to them. The whole weekend I got to hang out with friends who I don't get to see all the time. My mom even came down on Saturday to come see Tanya Tucker play. She was so excited to go and I was so excited to take her.

Casey Kearney 30A Songwriters Festival Tanya Tucker — My mom, me, Kelli, and Linda seeing Tanya Tucker in the artist tent.

Casey Kearney Tanya Tucker 30A Songwriters Festival — Tanya Tucker

Casey Kearney Justin Gaffery 30A Songwriters Festival — We had a front row seat to Justin Gaffery painting during the concerts at Grand Boulevard.

I loved getting to elaborate on stories behind the songs that I don't always get to do when I'm playing other types of shows. A Songwriters Festival is a listening room environment so people are quiet, they are there to hear the stories and songs, not eat dinner and chat. As a musician and writer it's honestly the best kind of audience to play for.

I played 2 of my 3 sets with Cat Ridgeway. She was fantastic, so talented and so sweet. Our final set closing the festival at Farm and Fire went out with a bang and I could not have been more happy to share the stage with her. We had lunch and colaborated a little, we hope to get together again soon.

Casey Kearney Cat Ridgeway 30A Songwriters Festival — I loved playing sets with Cat Ridgeway she is so talented.

If you are a music lover and have never attended the 30A Songwriters Festival let me tell you - you need to! You won't be disappointed. Even if you don't know who the artists are you will enjoy their sets and learn all about new ones. Some of them are the writers behind piles of #1 hits. These writers are the ones behind the scenes creating that magic you hear on the radio every day.

It's a fun, fun weekend.

Tip: When you see the early bird sale pop up later this year snag your tickets because the festival always sells out.