30A Music

Can you hear it?

The Emerald Coast is a musical place. The beach communities along Highway 30A in Florida are home to major music festivals several times a year. Music lovers who time their stay at the Latitudes and Attitudes on 30A ultimate beach house to coincide with one of these events won’t be disappointed. Nationally and internationally known artists perform here in the 30A region of Florida, where our scenic beaches make the perfect backdrop.

Even outside of the major music festivals, live musical performances are part of the 30A experience. Local bars and restaurants feature frequent performances by local musical artists. If you don’t catch at least one or two live musical acts during your stay, you’re missing out.

Speaking of local artists, don’t be surprised if you spot some musical A-listers out and about while you’re visiting. Over the years, stars such as Blake Shelton, Dierks Bentley, Chris Stapleton, and Charles Kelley, lead singer of the band Lady A (formerly Lady Antebellum, which in 2017 headlined the first performance of the 30A Sessions Concert Series), have owned homes right in our neighborhood.

Country singer Luke Bryan, who listed his property in Santa Rosa Beach for sale at $18 million in 2022 (according to Taste of Country), co-owns Shore Thing Cigars at The Hub in Watersound Beach with Paul Copeland.

Country music stars flock to our little slice of paradise, just a short and comparably affordable flight from Nashville. While country music is certainly a big part of the music scene here in the Florida Panhandle, our major music festivals and frequent live performances include all genres and styles of music.

Whether you’re looking for music to soothe your soul or get you pumped up for your next adventure, the musical soundtrack of a 30A vacation truly includes something for everyone.  

30A Songwriters Festival

If there’s one music festival our region of Florida is known for, it’s the 30A Songwriters Festival. For more than a decade, this massive musical event has featured nationally and internationally known musical artists in a variety of genres. They all have one thing in common: writing their own exceptional songs.

“Every music-lover should plan to visit this event at least once in their life,” travel and tourism website FloridaPanhandle.com advised. “Attending will leave you with memories to last a lifetime.”

What Is the 30A Songwriters Festival?

The 30A Songwriters Festival is a multi-day live music event of unmatched proportions: four days, dozens of venues, and hundreds of musical performances.

Most music festivals are dedicated to a specific genre, like rock, rap, pop, and country. The 30A Songwriters Festival is unique, founded to “celebrate the art of songwriting.” Here, you’ll encounter performances by exceptionally talented singer-songwriters in a variety of genres, the Panama City News Herald reported.

The 30A Songwriters Festival features great music for a great cause. Year after year, 100% of the proceeds of the event go to funding the activities of the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County, a nonprofit organization that fosters creativity and supports local artists, businesses, and cultural and art events.

Cultural Arts Alliance Executive Director and Festival Co-Producer Jennifer Steele called the 30A Songwriters Festival “a unique cultural event like no other in this area,” South Walton’s Community Website SoWal reported.

Since the annual music festival’s debut in 2010, the event has grown in scale, with more performers and performances, more venues, a longer schedule, and larger crowds. The 30A music festival 2023 schedule included performances by headliners like Lyle Lovett, the Gin Blossoms, Rickie Lee Jones, Yola, Steve Earle, and Morgan Wade.

When Is the 30A Songwriters Festival?

The 30A Songwriters Festival takes place each year in January, during the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend. The four-day festival stretches from Friday to Monday, during which hundreds of exceptional singer-songwriters perform their own uniquely crafted music.

The dates for the 2024 30A Songwriters Festival are Friday, January 12-Monday, January 15.

The 30A Songwriters Festival 2023 was held from Friday, January 13-Monday, January 16, 2023.

The 2022 30A Songwriters Festival was held from Friday, January 14-Monday, January 17, 2022. 

Where Is the 30A Songwriters Festival?

The only way to pack so many outstanding performances into just four days is to hold events at multiple venues over the course of the festival.

All told, 30A Songwriters Festival performances are held across 30 different venues throughout the neighborhoods and beach communities that make up the 30A destination in the Florida Panhandle. Venues range from indoor to outdoor, from small and intimate rooms to the event’s mainstage at an outdoor amphitheater.

The main stage, where the major headliner acts perform, is the Grand Boulevard outdoor amphitheater in Miramar Beach, FL.

Venues used for the 30A Songwriters Festival include:

The Latitudes and Attitudes on 30A ultimate beach house rental is a great place to stay if you’re planning to attend the 30A Songwriters Festival. With our location on the eastern end of the 30A beach communities, we’re just minutes away from more than half a dozen venues and only a short, easy drive from the Grand Boulevard Amphitheatre.

Planning Your 30A Vacation to Attend the 30A Songwriters Festival

For the full experience of the largest and most well-known songwriters festival in the nation, you need to start planning in advance. Tickets are known to sell out long before the event weekend approaches, so purchase your tickets early to avoid being disappointed—especially if you want VIP passes. (We’re talking weeks or even months in advance.)

The 30A Songwriters Festival App, available on both Android Google Play
and Apple IOS iPhone, is s a must for the most up-to-date event schedule and information. Decide what performances you most want to see (it’s impossible to see them all since some acts run simultaneously), and be sure to arrive early to snag a seat.

Take advantage of the opportunity to drink and dine at our local bars and restaurants while soaking up the music.

Since many of the venues are outdoors, take all of the precautions you would take for other outdoor events.

  1. Wear sunscreen.
  2. Stay hydrated.
  3. Have a blanket or folding chair handy, especially if you’re attending any events at the main stage at Grand Boulevard.

Seabreeze Jazz Festival

Jazz lovers, take note—one of the best smooth jazz music festivals in the nation graces the Emerald Coast each year.

What Is the Seabreeze Jazz Festival?

The Seabreeze Jazz Festival is the premier jazz music event in 30A Florida.

For more than two decades, this can’t-miss festival has showcased the best contemporary jazz artists. Dozens of talented jazz musicians perform annually in an event that has been named a “Top 10 Jazz Festival in the USA” by JazzIZ Magazine and nominated as “Best Jazz Festival” at the Oasis Smooth Jazz Awards.

All told, the multi-day event attracts more than 20,000 jazz lovers worldwide each year.

Performers at the 2023 Seabreeze Jazz Festival included Boney James, George Benson, Norman Brown, KEM, Najee, The Jacksons, Peter White, Gerald Albright, Regina Belle, and Richard Elliot.

When Is the Seabreeze Jazz Festival?

Each year, the five-day festival takes place over a long weekend in April. The dates for the 2024 Seabreeze Jazz Festival are Wednesday, April 24-Sunday, April 28.

The Seabreeze Jazz Festival 2023 was held from Wednesday, April 19-Sunday, April 23, 2023.

The 2022 Seabreeze Jazz Festival was held from Wednesday, April 20-Sunday, April 24, 2022.

Where Is the Seabreeze Jazz Festival?

The festival is held each year in Panama City Beach at the Aaron Bessant Park Amphitheater.

The venue’s address is:

Aaron Bessant Park Amphitheater

600 S Pier Park Dr.

Panama City Beach, FL 32413

As many as 10,000 people can fit in the outdoor amphitheater located in the 70-acre Aaron Bessant Park.

The amphitheater is also home to a Summer Concert Series.

The Latitudes and Attitudes on 30A beach house is a short 15-minute drive from the venue. Our location in the hidden gem of Inlet Beach is perfectly situated for attending the Seabreeze Jazz Festival. We’re the closest of the 30A communities to Panama City Beach yet far enough from the hustle and bustle of PCB to get away from the crowds and traffic that beleaguer this major city.

Planning Your 30A Vacation to Attend the Seabreeze Jazz Festival

Jazz enthusiasts need to act early if they want to snag a ticket to this immensely popular event.

Seabreeze Jazz Festival ticket sales begin in the late spring for the following April’s event. For the 2024 Seabreeze Jazz Festival, for example, tickets were set to go on sale to the general public on June 1, 2023. Prior year ticket holders have the option to purchase Legacy tickets as early as May for the Seabreeze Jazz Festival to be held the following April.

Although the music itself may excel in improvisation and creative freedom, you can’t count on getting last-minute tickets to this event. Start planning to purchase your festival tickets, as well as booking your vacation rental home, as early as possible.

We highly recommend the dinner cruise and the after-party events, as well as attending the festival itself.

Be aware that the jazz festival is a long event—with the last show often ending 12 hours or more after admission starts—and plan accordingly. Comfy clothes and shoes suitable for a day spent outdoors are a must. Check the festival’s rules to make sure any bags and chairs you intend to bring are in accordance with festival policies. Don’t forget sunscreen and sunglasses. Consider bringing a clear water bottle so you can fill up and stay hydrated.

Gulf Coast Jam

This one’s for the country music lovers out there!

What Is Gulf Coast Jam?

Since 2013, the annual Gulf Coast Jam festival has brought together the biggest names in today’s country music scene for three days and nights of outstanding performances.

Headliners for the 2023 festival included HARDY, Miranda Lambert, Morgan Wallen, and Kane Brown.

When Is Gulf Coast Jam?

The Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam (sponsored by Pepsi, naturally) is held annually in early June.

The 2023 Gulf Coast Jam festival was scheduled for Thursday, June 1-Sunday, June 4, 2023.

The 2022 Gulf Coast Jam festival dates were Thursday, June 2-Sunday, June 5, 2022.

Where Is Gulf Coast Jam?

Gulf Coast Jam is held every year in Frank Brown Park in Panama City Beach.

The venue’s address is:

Frank Brown Park

16200 Panama City Beach Pkwy

Panama City Beach, FL 32413

Frank Brown Park is less than a 15-minute drive from the Latitudes and Attitudes on 30A ultimate beach house.

Planning Your 30A Vacation to Attend Gulf Coast Jam

Gulf Coast Jam is a popular event, and festival organizers warn concertgoers to arrive early if they don’t want to risk missing their most anticipated acts. Strolling into the venue at 7 p.m. means you may well miss the headliner.

Moon Crush Miramar Beach

Moon Crush is a newer addition to the 30A music scene, having first graced the Emerald Coast in 2021. Multiple evenings of music beneath the stars—and, naturally, the full moon—make up this popular country and Americana music festival.

What Is Moon Crush Miramar Beach?

Described as a “music Vacation – not just a festival,” Moon Crush is a musical experience for beach lovers.

“Music is a big part of it, but we’re trying to build something that uses this beautiful place for people to have really good moments together,” Moon Crush CEO and founder Andy Levine was quoted as saying in a 2021 article published in the Northwest Florida Daily News.

Past Moon Crush shows have included performances by such well-known artists as The Black Crowes (2023), Fitz and the Tantrums (2023), My Morning Jacket (2022), Grace Potter (2021), Sheryl Crow (2021), Jason Isbell and The 400 Unit (2021 and 2023), JJ Grey & Mofro (2022 and 2023), and Lake Street Drive (2021 and 2022).

When Is Moon Crush Miramar Beach?

This concert is scheduled to coincide with the full moon—not just any full moon, but particular full moons.

The Pink Moon concert in the spring is named for, and scheduled around, the “pink moon” that occurs annually in April.

The 2023 Moon Crush Pink Moon festival was scheduled for Thursday, April 20–Sunday, April 23.

The Moon Crush Pink Moon 2022 festival was held in the evenings of Thursday, April 21, 2022, through Sunday, April 24, 2022. In 2021, the Moon Crush Pink Moon festival took place on the evenings of Sunday, April 25, 2021, through Friday, April 30, 2021.

Moon Crush festival organizers also now plan a fall event around the harvest moon. The Moon Crush Blue Moon festival for 2023 is planned for Labor Day Weekend: Friday, September 1–Sunday, September 3, 2023.

Where Is Moon Crush Miramar Beach?

The Moon Crush music festival in Miramar Beach, FL, is only a short trip from the Latitudes and Attitudes on 30A beach house.

Because of its location along Highway 98, as opposed to Highway 30A, purists consider this part of the Emerald Coast to be technically separate from the 30A communities like Inlet Beach and Rosemary Beach.

Still, Miramar Beach is a part of South Walton County, and you can drive there from our Inlet Beach location in just a little over an hour.

Seascape Resort serves as the venue for the Moon Crush music festivals. The venue’s address is:

Seascape Resort

100 Seascape Dr

Miramar Beach, FL 32550

From the Latitudes and Attitudes ultimate vacation rental home, you can get to the venue in under 40 minutes.

Planning Your 30A Vacation to Attend Moon Crush Miramar Beach

The purpose of the Moon Crush festival is to enhance, not take over, your vacation. Still, if you want to make the most of the festival, a little advance planning is a must.

Festival tickets go on sale early and often sell out. For example, ticket sales for the September 2023 Blue Moon festival began in March, and most options were already sold out well before the official start of summer.  

If you know you want to go, be ready to purchase tickets promptly.

There are numerous types of passes. You could choose to attend just one evening of the concert or purchase a four-day pass. Groups purchase “cove passes” that reserve a cove from which to view the show, complete with a chair for every ticketholder and restroom access. If you can’t get close enough to the stage, splurge for “The Sound Pass” add-on, which will land you a spot in the front rows of the venue. Don’t forget to buy a festival parking pass, so once you get to the venue, you’ll be all set to enjoy the show.

30A Live Music

The major music festivals draw the most attention, but there are plenty of live music performances going on all season.

For example, music by local and regional performers sets the tone for the annual Sandestin Wine Festival. Live music is also part of numerous activities held during the Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton County’s Art Month Walton event in May.

At some of our favorite places to grab a bite or kick back with a drink, live musical performances make moments more memorable. Regular performances at these bars and restaurants feature the unique talents of local artists. If at any point during your stay you find yourself wondering, “Where can I find live music on 30A tonight?”—there’s a good chance you’re in luck.

30A Restaurants With Live Music

Throughout the summer, 30Avenue live music performances occur multiple times a week. To catch a live performance, visit the 30Avenue shopping center’s 30A live music calendar.

Pescado Seafood Grill & Rooftop Bar in Rosemary Beach may be best known for its combination of cocktails and scenic views, but if it’s live music you’re after, you’ll find it at The Courtyard at Pescado every evening.

Live musical acts are common in Peddlers Pavilion, as well. For more information about Peddlers 30A live music, check out the 30A music schedule available on the Peddlers bike shop’s Facebook page.

The NEAT tasting room in Alys Beach sometimes features live music, most recently its Wine & Song Tuesday evening events. 

The Big Chill 30A in Inlet Beach—just minutes away from the Latitudes and Attitudes on 30A ultimate beach house—holds live musical performances a couple of nights per week, plus frequent DJ dance parties. For more about The Hub 30A live music performances, visit the Big Chill’s 30A music calendar.

Live music is such an important part of the experience at Old Florida Fish House that the restaurant has its own list of resident artists, including Dueling Pianos performances. During peak season, the restaurant holds live musical performances daily (see the Upcoming Entertainment calendar on the restaurant’s website for details).

Music is such a big part of the ambiance at AJ’s Grayton Beach that the bar and restaurant was
“voted one of 30A’s Hottest Spots for Live Music.” The main stage features live music every night, and the secondary Courtyard Stage expands the restaurant’s capacity for live performances. In addition to live performances by favorite local artists, AJ’s Grayton Beach frequently hosts other musical entertainment, including DJs and karaoke nights. 

The iconic Red Bar in Grayton Beach hosts live music seven days a week. In fact, music is such a part of the scene here that, in addition to the other talent the restaurant features, the Red Bar Jazz Band plays here almost every evening.

Another place to enjoy some live music is Chiringo, a laid-back, casual beachside bar and restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach.

For live music on the beach, look no further than The Bay Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach, which in 2020 earned the distinction of being named the Perfect in South Walton  Diamond Award Winner in the category of Best Live Music Venue in South Walton.

Nightly live musical performances liven up the delicious Tex-Mex fare and cocktails at Red Fish Taco in Santa Rosa Beach.

Not to be confused with the Red Bar, Redd’s Pub (formerly Redd’s Fueling Station) in Santa Rosa Beach is home to Redd the Singing Bartender. On select nights, Redd sings requests (for tips) from a song list of over 400 popular tunes. If “delicious dive bar” food is your thing, make a reservation to make sure you snag a spot during performance nights.

Local Catch Bar & Grill in Santa Rosa Beach often features live music events, including a Sunday Funday series and weeknight performances. For details on the dates, times, and lineups of 30A music events at Local Catch, check out the restaurant’s Facebook page. 

Growler Garage in Santa Rosa Beach is a craft beer garden that serves up regular live musical performances alongside a menu of local and Florida microbrews.

At Skunk Gully Oyster Bar in Santa Rosa Beach, nearly every day during the season has some sort of musical performance or other event scheduled.

The live musical performances at Down Island Gulf Seafood Restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach fit in perfectly with the restaurant’s creative atmosphere, which includes original art by Gulf Coast artists, concert and band memorabilia, and hand-thrown glasses and dinnerware. Check out the restaurant’s Facebook page for details on when you can catch live music there.

Both Stinky’s Fish Campcasual seafood restaurant and Stinky’s Bait Shack fishing store (next door) host live music in Santa Rosa Beach.

Louis Louis, an American restaurant in Santa Rosa Beach, is the sister restaurant of the Red Bar in Grayton Beach that serves up live music performances alongside a menu that features nightly specials and plenty of fresh seafood.

Local Musical Acts and Artists on 30A

Who are you likely to see at the assorted bars, restaurants, and shopping centers that most commonly plan 30A live music events? Examples of our favorite local talents and musical artists that play in our area regularly include:

If you’re all about the music, 30A is the place to be. Whether you’re planning your trip around a major 30A Florida music festival or just looking to spice up your dinner one evening with the sounds of live performances by local artists, you’re sure to enjoy the unique sound of music in 30A Florida.

Note: Dates, times, and lineups are subject to change, especially from season to season or year to year. We recommend checking with the venue where you plan to see live music to make sure that performances aren’t changed, canceled, or rescheduled.

Latitudes and Attitudes
Latitudes and Attitudes 30A
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