This is going to be a very cool event. A lot of great writers and musicians will be coming down to Key West for this.
I’m really excited to get to be a part of the festival this year. If you love good music, come down to Key West at the beginning of May. I hope to see you there!
BMI Announces the 18th Annual
Key West Songwriters Festival May 1-5
— 2013 Lineup Includes Familiar Faces and New Voices —
NASHVILLE, February 12, 2013 – Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI), the leading global music rights organization, and the Smokin’ Tuna Saloon will once again join forces to present the Key West Songwriters Festival from May 1-5, 2013. Featuring many of the most beloved songwriters, the event has become an annual pilgrimage south for country and pop music heroes for 18 consecutive years.
“BMI’s support of the Key West Songwriters Festival illustrates the commitment to our songwriters to put them in front of meaningful audiences to further expose their music,” said BMI’s Executive Director of Writer/Publisher Relations Mark Mason.
The 2013 list of performers features country hit-writers Jeffrey Steele, Paul Overstreet, Bob DiPiero, Lori McKenna, Bobby Pinson, Chuck Cannon, Keith Stegall, Liz Rose, Paul Jenkins, James Slater, Doug Johnson and Even Stevens; icon Steve Cropper; power-trio the World Famous Headliners, made up of chart topping writers and virtuosic musicians Pat McLaughlin, Shawn Camp and Al Anderson; revered Texas singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen; critically acclaimed young blues journeyman Gary Clark, Jr.; top-flight guitarist and songwriter Guthrie Trapp; and many more, to be announced in the coming weeks.
This year, Gary Clark, Jr. will headline the festival’s official kick-off party, sponsored by the National Recording Academy on Wednesday, May 1 at 6 p.m. on the Sunset Pier at the Ocean Key Resort. Five days and nights of more than 30 free shows at favorite island venues will follow, featuring uniquely diverse lineups in Nashville’s signature in-the-round setting. A free street concert on Saturday, May 4, will be a highlight of the festival with a full-band and a Key West-style throwdown, featuring exciting new Sony recording artists Bush Hawg, Joanna Smith and X-Factor winner Tate Stevens. The Key West Songwriters Festival is presented in association with the Tourist Development Council of the Florida Keys and Key West.
Proceeds from the Key West Songwriters Festival will benefit SHARE Military Initiative at Shepherd Center, a comprehensive rehabilitation program that focuses on assessment and treatment for service men and women who have sustained a mild to moderate traumatic brain injury and PTSD from the Afghanistan and Iraqi conflicts.
Looking for more info? Visit www.keywestsongwritersfestival.com.
About the Key West Songwriters Festival
The Key West Songwriters Festival is the largest festival of its kind in the world. The event’s 1995 debut was small but memorable, featuring Mickey Newbury and Shel Silverstein. BMI stepped in as a partner and sponsor in 1996 and has helped it grow into both a tourist attraction and favorite of island locals. The festival revolves around five days and nights of more than 30 free shows, staged at an array of the island’s most popular drinking holes and hot spots, where live music introduces crowds to the faces, voices and stories behind the songs. Diverse lineups featuring more than 100 top songwriters deliver rare, “Key West-only” moments.
About BMI
Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) is a global leader in music rights management, serving as an advocate for the value of music. BMI represents the public performance rights in more than 7.5 million musical works created and owned by more than 550,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers. The Company negotiates music license agreements and distributes the fees it generates as royalties to its affiliated writers and publishers when their songs are performed in public. In 1939, BMI created a groundbreaking open-door policy becoming the only performing rights organization to welcome and represent the creators of blues, jazz, country, and American roots music. Today, the musical compositions in BMI’s repertoire, from chart toppers to perennial favorites span all genres of music and are consistently among the most-performed hits of the year. For additional information and the latest BMI news, visit bmi.com, follow us on Twitter @BMI or stay connected through Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) Facebook page.