The headliners have been announced for the 17th annual 30A Songwriters Festival. The event will take place scheduled for January 16–19, 2026, at various resort towns on Florida’s Gulf Coast. Among the well-known artists scheduled to perform on the festival’s main stage in Miramar Beach, Florida, are Mavis Staples, Toad the Wet Sprocket, 10,000 Maniacs, and I’m with Her.
Videos by American Songwriter
The festival is named for Scenic Highway 30A in Florida’s Walton County, where the event takes place. This year’s extravaganza will feature more than 125 songwriters, and 300-plus performances by various solo artists and bands. There will be about 30 participating venues, including amphitheaters, bars, theaters, town halls, restaurants, covered patios, and more. Capacities of these performance spaces range from 100 to 6,000 people.
Also confirmed to play headlining sets at the festival are Nikki Lane and Paul McDonald & The Mourning Doves. A full lineup of performers will be revealed in the coming weeks.
The main-stage performances by the announced headliners will take place on Saturday, January 17, and Sunday, January 18.
Festival Weekend Passes and VIP tickets are on sale now at 30ASongwritersFestival.com. VIP passes include premium seats and complimentary food and beverages in the VIP tent on Saturday and Sunday afternoon. Visit the festival website for further details.
Nashville-based public radio station WMOT will be interviewing and recording select artists during the festival. The performances and interviews will then air throughout the coming year on the station’s World Cafe sessions in conjunction with Philadelphia-based station WXPN.
Comments from 30A Songwriters Festival Producers
Speaking about some of the 2026 headlining acts, festival co-producer Russell Carter said in a statement, “Mavis Staples brings her 70 years of performing brilliance back to 30A, Toad the Wet Sprocket and 10,000 Maniacs are seminal alternative rock bands that emerged from the [1990s] and rose to the top of the charts with multiple hits. Nikki Lane and Paul McDonald have both developed critically acclaimed careers as they have built regional followings. … It all adds up to two afternoons of very exciting live music.”
Festival co-producer Jennifer Steele, meanwhile, shared her excitement about female Americana supergroup I’m with Her performing at the 2026 event.
“The 30A Songwriters Festival is renowned for its signature ‘in-the-round’ performances, and having Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins—three of my personal favorites—share the stage is a dream lineup,” Steele said. “Thankfully, they’ve already made that dream a reality with the creation of the powerhouse trio, I’m With Her, and we’re thrilled to welcome them to the main stage, where their masterful songwriting and gorgeous harmonies can shine.”
More About Mavis Staples Upcoming Performance Plans
Staples currently is in European for a brief series of shows that wrap up with an August 7 performance at the Way Out West Festival in Gothenburg, Sweden. The 86-year-old gospel/soul legend also has about a dozen U.S. concerts on her schedule. Those are mapped out from an August 10 gig at the San Jose Jazz Summer Fest in San Jose, California, through a November 6 show in Ridgefield, Connecticut.
(Photo by Rick Kern/Getty Images)
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