2022 30A Songwriters Festival Headliners Announcement

The Cultural Arts Alliance of Walton is very pleased to announce the initial round of confirmed artists for the 13th Annual 2022 30A Songwriters Festival!

Headliners will feature iconic artists BROTHERS OF A FEATHER feat. CHRIS & RICH ROBINSON OF THE BLACK CROWES, DAWES, MAVIS STAPLES, JENNY LEWIS, EMMYLOU HARRIS, and RICKIE LEE JONES

For the past 12 years, the 30A Songwriters Festival has attracted thousands of die-hard live music fans from around the country to hear original songwriters spanning many genres of music perform their songs. The beach resort towns along Highway 30A on the Gulf of Mexico feature 30 venues presenting over 230 songwriters and 300+ solo, band and in-the-round performances throughout the weekend of January 14 – 17, 2022.
Dueling rockstar brothers Chris and Rich Robinson formed The Black Crowes in 1984, penning several hit songs and becoming renowned on the live music circuit all before the age of 23.  But over a storied career that saw the release of eight studio albums, four live albums, and over 35 million records sold, the brothers continuously butted heads, calling it quits forever in 2013; each brother vowed to never play or speak again. This January, Chris and Rich will reunite on the mainstage at Grand Boulevard as Brothers of a Feather, an acoustic duo, and perform their classic hits from “She Talks to Angels” and “Twice as Hard” to “Remedy.”

Mavis Staples is the kind of once-in-a-generation artist whose impact on music and culture would be difficult to overstate. She’s both a Blues and a Rock and Roll Hall of Famer; a civil rights icon; a Grammy Award winner; a chart-topping soul/gospel/R&B pioneer; a National Arts Awards Lifetime Achievement recipient; and a Kennedy Center honoree. She’s collaborated with everyone from Prince to Bob Dylan. A legendary live performer, she will treat the 30A audience to a string of The Staples Singers’ classics in addition to selections from her recent trio of acclaimed albums made with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy.

Dawes will showcase songs from their latest critically acclaimed album Good Luck With Whatever (recorded at the historic RCA studios in Nashville Tennessee with six time Grammy award winning producer Dave Cobb). The Los Angeles based group is one of the finest new folk rock bands of the modern era—just ask their forebears. Studio collaborators include Jackson Browne and Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers). Signature songs “Time Spent in Los Angeles” and “All Your Favorite Bands” evoke a classic Laurel Canyon sound for the new millennia.

Jenny Lewis established herself as indie rock royalty as the frontwoman of Rilo Kiley, but as a solo artist she’s blossomed into a singular, contemporary singer-songwriter. The New York Times calls her “a stylish performer who defies genre and salts her songs with a sly and off-kilter intelligence.” Her latest record On the Line features performances from Ringo Starr, Beck, and Don Was (The Rolling Stones).

Emmylou Harris returns to serenade the 30A mainstage with her incomparably expressive voice and eloquent, straightforward songs that first shook up country radio in the 1970s and cemented her as the premiere songwriter of a generation selling more than 15 million records and garnering 14 Grammy Awards, three CMA Awards, and four Americana Awards in the process.

Rickie Lee Jones will make her 30A debut fresh off the release of her memoir Last Chance Texaco, released in the spring of 2021. Her chronicles are “as rich and colorful as Jones’s best lyrics,” writes The New York Times. The two-time Grammy winner, known for her haunting voice that ranges from deep yearning to late-night sultry, first appeared on the Los Angeles scene in the mid-1970s penning instant classics like “Chuck E.’s In Love,” “Danny’s All-Star Joint,” and the pivotal breakup album Pirates.

Returning to perform two shows each throughout the weekend are songwriting legends AMY GRANT, RODNEY CROWELL, PATTY GRIFFIN, STEVE EARLE, JOHN PAUL WHITE (The Civil Wars), and SHAWN MULLINS!

OVER THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS WE WILL ANNOUNCE OVER 150 NEWLY CONFIRMED ARTISTS TO ROUND OUT THE 2022 LINEUP

Today we announce with pleasure: Dar Williams, Marc Broussard, Carlene Carter, Robyn Hitchcock, Sierra Hull, James McMurtry, Liz Longley, Dan Navarro, Sarah Lee Guthrie, Jeffrey Steele, Kalen & Aslyn, Peter Bradley Adams, Kyshona Armstrong, Jeff Black, Mary Gauthier, Alex Guthrie, Toby Lightman, Charlie Mars, Michael McDermott, Leigh Nash, Abe Partridge, Alice Peacock, Darden Smith, J Barnaby Bright, Meaghan Farrell, Jesse Terry, The Young Fables, and many more!

Buy tickets now!