Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival 2026: Dates, Schedule, Venues and What to Know
BEACH EQUIPMENT DELIVERY
Skip the hassle with GoBeachDay. Beach chairs, umbrellas, kayaks, paddleboards, and more delivered to your beach access, hotel, condo, vacation rental, or beachfront home.
One of Pensacola’s biggest fall music events is spreading across downtown and Pensacola Beach for nearly two weeks this October.
The 2026 Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival runs October 1 through 11, bringing dozens of songwriters to restaurants, bars, listening rooms and waterfront venues across the area. Most performances are free, with a smaller selection of ticketed listening room experiences and special events.
This is not a traditional music festival with one main stage.
Instead, songwriters perform in small groups at venues across Pensacola, telling the stories behind their songs and giving audiences a chance to hear the music in a much more intimate setting.
Here is what to know about the 2026 Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival.
When Is the Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival?
October 1 through October 11, 2026
Pensacola and Pensacola Beach
The festival expanded its format after adding a downtown Pensacola week in 2025.
For 2026, the first portion of the festival focuses heavily on Historic Downtown Pensacola, followed by the traditional Pensacola Beach portion during the second weekend.
There is also an early Open Mic Showcase on Tuesday, September 29 at From the Ground Up Community Garden before the official October 1 festival start.
How the Songwriters Festival Works
One of the best parts of the festival is that you do not necessarily need to buy a ticket or commit to an entire day of music.
Performances happen throughout the area at different times and venues.
Many shows feature several songwriters sitting together and taking turns performing original songs. In between songs, they often share how the music was written, where the idea came from or what happened behind the scenes before the song was recorded.
Most festival shows are free unless the schedule specifically identifies them as ticketed.
That makes it easy to build your own festival schedule, whether you want to spend an entire weekend following performances or just catch a few songwriter rounds around dinner and drinks.
Downtown Pensacola Weekend
Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 4
The first major weekend centers around downtown Pensacola and nearby venues.
Participating locations include The Fish House, The District, Calvert’s, Seville Quarter, Lucy’s in the Square, 511 Palafox, Hellcat Hangar, RadioLive and From the Ground Up Community Garden.
Thursday, October 1
The downtown schedule begins Thursday with performances at The Fish House and The District.
The Fish House starts at 5 PM with Tris Weeks, Katie Dineen and Greg Mihaly, followed by Sugarcane Jane at 6 PM and Woody Bradshaw at 7 PM.
The District hosts a ticketed songwriter night beginning at 5 PM, with performances continuing through the evening.
Friday, October 2
Friday is one of the busiest days of the downtown portion of the festival.
Calvert’s hosts free performances beginning at 6 PM, while The Fish House starts its schedule at 6 PM.
Hellcat Hangar hosts Let Freedom Sing beginning around midday, featuring veteran songwriters and performers.
The District has another ticketed evening featuring multiple songwriter rounds, while Wings & Strings at 511 Palafox combines dinner with performances for a ticketed event.
Saturday, October 3
Saturday brings another night of performances at Calvert’s and The Fish House.
Calvert’s starts at 6 PM, while The Fish House also begins at 6 PM and features several rounds throughout the evening.
Sunday, October 4
Sunday wraps up the downtown portion of the festival at Seville Quarter.
Songs of Worship begins at 10 AM at End O’ the Alley, followed by a free Songwriter Sunday Brunch beginning at 11 AM.
The Downtown Finale starts at Apple Annie’s at 1 PM and continues through the afternoon, with performers including Sugarcane Jane, Rick Huckaby, Mark Nesler, CJ Solar, Anthony Smith, Jamie Floyd and others.
Pensacola Beach Festival Weekend
Wednesday, October 7 through Sunday, October 11
The second half of the festival moves primarily to Pensacola Beach.
Venues include Bamboo Willie’s, Flounder’s Chowder House, Paradise Bar & Grill, Holiday Inn Beach Resort, The Pensacola Beach Resort, Hilton Pensacola Beach, The Sandbar Sunset Bar and Grill, Native Café, The Landing at Red Fish Blue Fish, ARC Music and Sound and The Sandshaker.
Wednesday, October 7
The Sandshaker starts the beach portion with a Local Legends Open Mic at 7 PM.
Another open mic follows Thursday night at 7 PM.
Thursday, October 8
Thursday is when the Pensacola Beach schedule really gets moving.
Paradise Bar & Grill begins performances at 4:30 PM, Holiday Inn Beach Resort starts at 4 PM, and shows at Flounder’s and Bamboo Willie’s begin at 7 PM.
Country Strong at The Sandbar is one of the evening’s ticketed events, with performances beginning at 5:15 PM and continuing into the night. The lineup includes Dylan Altman, Mitch Rossell, Ray Scott, Karen Staley, Brice Long, Mark Nesler, Casey James, Jeffrey Steele and Anthony Smith.
Tickets for Country Strong are listed at $30.
Friday, October 9
Friday has performances spread across nearly every major festival venue on Pensacola Beach.
Holiday Inn Beach Resort begins at 3 PM.
Paradise Bar & Grill starts its scheduled performances at 4 PM with the festival’s awards ceremony.
The Pensacola Beach Resort begins at 5 PM, The Sandbar starts at 6 PM, and performances at Flounder’s continue into the night.
Hilton Pensacola Beach also hosts its Three Rooms of Song listening room experience, with multiple ticketed songwriter rounds happening in separate rooms. Individual listening room tickets are listed at $35, with a Hilton weekend pass available for $120.
Saturday, October 10
Saturday is arguably the biggest day of the Pensacola Beach portion.
The Pensacola Beach Resort has performances beginning at noon and continuing into the evening.
Paradise Bar & Grill starts with an open mic from 2 PM to 5 PM before additional songwriter rounds later in the day.
Holiday Inn Beach Resort begins at 3 PM, while Bamboo Willie’s, Flounder’s and The Sandbar all have nighttime performances.
The Landing at Red Fish Blue Fish also hosts Sunset & Songwriters beginning at 6:30 PM, featuring Mitch Rossell, Josiah Siska, Lance Miller, Jamie O’Neal, Andy Griggs, Rodney Good and Carolyn Dawn Johnson.
Sunday, October 11
The final day begins at The Beach Church at 9 AM before additional performances at The Pensacola Beach Resort.
The festival then closes with the Beach Grand Finale at Bamboo Willie’s beginning at 2 PM.
The finale includes Jessie G, Matt Wynn, Anthony Smith, Brian Davis, Josiah Siska, Elisha Hoffman, Rebecca Lynn Howard, Jamie O’Neal, Rodney Good, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, The Band Loula and Gary Nichols.
The Beach Grand Finale is a ticketed event, with tickets listed at $30.
Most Shows Are Free
You do not need to buy a festival pass to enjoy most of the Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival.
The official festival schedule states that shows are free unless otherwise indicated.
That means you can move between restaurants, bars and waterfront venues and catch multiple performances without buying tickets.
Ticketed events are generally the smaller listening room experiences and specialty performances where seating and capacity are more limited.
Current ticket prices range from $20 for some Native Café listening room performances to $120 for the Hilton Three Rooms of Song weekend pass.
Songwriters to Look For
The lineup includes a combination of local performers, independent artists and professional Nashville songwriters whose songs have been recorded by major artists.
Anthony Smith is among the featured writers and has songwriting credits connected to artists including George Strait, Tim McGraw, Blake Shelton, Chris Stapleton, Faith Hill, Kenny Chesney and others.
Coley McCabe Shepherd is a platinum selling songwriter whose credits include the SheDAISY hit “Lucky 4 U,” along with a song recorded by Loretta Lynn.
The festival also includes performers such as Jamie O’Neal, Andy Griggs, Jeffrey Steele, Mitch Rossell, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Rebecca Lynn Howard, CJ Solar, Rick Huckaby, Mark Nesler, Cecilia Castleman and dozens more throughout the two weekends.
Make a Weekend Out of It
The festival format makes it easy to combine live music with a full day around Pensacola.
For the downtown weekend, spend the afternoon exploring Palafox Street, grab dinner downtown and then move between songwriter performances at The Fish House, The District, Calvert’s and Seville Quarter.
The second weekend is even easier to turn into a Pensacola Beach day.
Spend the morning on the beach, go parasailing or rent a jet ski during the afternoon, then start moving between songwriter venues as the performances begin.
Book Pensacola Beach parasailing
Book a Pensacola Beach jet ski
If you would rather spend the afternoon sightseeing, you can also get on Pensacola Bay for a dolphin cruise before the evening shows begin.
Book a Frisky Mermaid dolphin cruise
What to Know Before You Go
The Pensacola Beach Songwriters Festival runs October 1 through 11.
The first weekend is centered primarily around downtown Pensacola, while the second major weekend shifts to Pensacola Beach.
Most performances are free.
Some listening rooms, specialty performances and finale events require tickets.
The festival also notes that schedules are subject to change, so it is worth checking the current schedule before heading to a specific performance.
The festival offers an official app along with downloadable downtown Pensacola and Pensacola Beach schedules to help visitors keep track of performers and venues.
For more concerts, festivals and local events happening around Pensacola, check the Must Do Pensacola Events Calendar.
Looking for more things to do while you are here? Browse our Best Things to Do in Pensacola guide.
If this guide helped you plan your trip, you can support Must Do Pensacola by grabbing a sticker.
Buy sticker