Singers, Songwriters, and Stages

I love live music as much as the next person. But let’s be real. In an era of dynamic pricing tactics and endless added fees gouging our wallets, it can feel impossible to enjoy more than one festival or major concert per year. 

Still, a string of festivals across the Emerald Coast have caught my attention with fair pricing and promising lineups. This festival season, I resolved to tour the scene. Along the way, I stopped to chat with a few singer-songwriters. 

Photo courtesy of Foo Foo Festival 2025/Arts, Culture, and Entertainment, Inc.

Pensacola: The Panhandle’s Portland

At Night Moves Music Festival in Pensacola, indie rock enthusiasts have welcomed headliners like Soccer Mommy, Manchester Orchestra, Alvvays, Silversun Pickups, and Beach Fossils. In 2025, Japanese Breakfast, Dashboard Confessional, and Joyce Manor were at the center of attention for this one-day festival in October. 

The outdoor location at the Pensacola Maritime Park felt more like a downtown market in how it offered a seamless flow between locations of interest: food vendors, the Discovery Stage on the grassy lawn, and the adjacent semicircle of local craft vendors. The main stage lawn, merch vendors, and beverage vendors were just a short sidewalk stroll away. No two performances happened simultaneously, allowing time for festivalgoers to move between stages without missing a single set.  

Pensacola singer-songwriter Katie Dineen says, in its third year, the festival has planning down to a science. 

“Because I’ve been connected to the festival the past two years, it made me really proud to see how it’s grown,” says Dineen. “In my mind, this festival just keeps getting better.”

On the Discovery Stage, Dineen delivered a highlight performance that felt like meeting a new friend. Her bandmates, which include her fiancé, felt part of the story. 

Dineen’s musical story is a dramatic one. For instance, while Dineen performed the brand-new track “Money Do,” an upbeat, folksy tune about loss of nature and self in a world of constant urbanization, Dineen threw out dollar bills hidden in her shirt. 

“I’ve been playing around with stage presence,” Dineen says. “It’s a theatrical thing, and it’s fun to run around,” Dineen says. “My favorite part was looking out and seeing people dancing along and having a good time …  It gives me a sense of pride.”

Other performers on the discovery stage opted for performative acts, too. Ego Death, a local garage-core indie rock group, delivered wild and weird vibes, complete with a playful poem recitation. 

A longtime local, Dineen says Pensacola has a unique character that fosters the creativity required to create something like Night Moves. The festival, a brainchild of local entrepreneur Robert Goodspeed, began as a music venue at a strip mall with a 75-person capacity. He later helped reopen The Handlebar, previously a popular dive bar, after which Night Moves transitioned into an event. 

“This is a place where you can experiment and grow,” says Dineen. “I was playing by myself and to my friends before the open mic scene, and where I am right now is the direct result of the evolution of this community that I’ve tapped into and felt supported by.”

Later in the evening, the whole crowd—myself included—sang along to Dashboard Confessional’s iconic tracks like “Hands Down,” “Screaming Infidelities,” and “Vindicated,” plus newer tracks. Introducing a new, unreleased song to the crowd, lead vocalist Chris Carrabba guided fans through call-and-return lyrics. We all shouted, “No More Bad Days,” as Carrabba’s echo, which he said would be sampled on the band’s forthcoming album. 

Japanese Breakfast closed the night with a melodic dream sequence of the band’s latest album, For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women), and other hits like “Be Sweet” and “Posing for Cars.” Lead vocalist Michelle Zauner invited Dashboard Confessional’s Carrabba back out to the stage to duet the band’s track “Men in Bars,” while seated together at her oversized clamshell throne. 

Photo by by Nish Sanders

Crushing on Moon Crush

In Miramar Beach, the Moon Crush series rebrands music festivals as laid-back getaways traversed via sauntering from condo to beach to stage-side seats. Each festival in the series is themed around a “host” headliner. I attended the October 2025 Avett Moon event, hosted by the Avett Brothers.

As a first-time Moon Crush attendee, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Festival and concert culture had instilled in me the need to arrive as early as an airport dad. But I was pleased to find a breezy entrance with almost no line on each performance night. Once inside, you’re encapsulated in a snow globe of festivity. 

The grounds feel open and free without being too widespread. Walking from front-stage seating to the restroom to vendors takes minutes. 

What few lines you do encounter are brief and often result in new friendships. Face painting, hair wraps, and custom hat stations elicit essential festival whimsy.

Event organizer Andy Levine conceptualized a beach vacation festival during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’d had success organizing cruise festivals as founder of the Sixthman series. The idea of marrying vacation with music clearly appealed to the public as much as it did to him. But faced with pandemic restrictions, Levine conjured up a new approach.

Settling in at a Moon Crush festival, I found, is like setting up post at the beach. You stroll in, assess the crowd, pick up your cooler, fill up your water bottles, and seek out your spot. But rather than having to squeeze in between beach blankets, you find your reserved space right in front of the stage—your Cove. 

Moon Crush Coves designate space with a roped off area for each grouping of two or four tickets purchased together. It gives you room to sprawl, dance, stash drinks, and stretch your legs. And vendor delivery means food and drink come straight to you—trust me; it’s simple, fast, and lets the margaritas flow.

The Cove model was established for safety, but festivalgoers enjoy the ease. Paired with the convenience of the location at Seascape’s driving range field, attendees roll their vacation and festival experience into one. Performances start around 3 p.m. each day, giving time for relaxing mornings, festival-hosted fun, and early afternoons on the beach. 

On Saturday, I found myself Moon Crushing on two bold and inspiring opening acts, Sierra Ferrell and Molly Tuttle. Tuttle delivered her indie-alt flair with folk roots. Between blue grass licks and wig-tossing anthems like “Old Me,” Tuttle connected with the crowd via raw insights into her lyricism. Following Tuttle, Ferrell brought an ethereal, dream-like forest scene to the stage and dressed in her signature prairie-meets-Southern belle style. Ferrell performed her Americana music like a prayer—passionate, purposeful, and sacred—with songs like “American Dreaming,” “In Dreams,” and “Dollar Bill Bar,” set to her signature acoustic fiddle arrangements.    

As a casual Avett Brothers fan, I wasn’t sure what to expect of the headlining act. What I found was a fandom as passionate as any Swiftie. For all of the laid-back experiences of the night, it was clear that the headliners were not only the main attraction but the ultimate experience for these fans. Moon Crush Avett Moon, for the Avett Nation fandom, was their Eras Tour.

Ahead of their Saturday night performance, The Avett Brothers team announced some major milestones in the crowd: A handful of fans surpassed their 100th and even 300th Avett Brothers live show. And, in similar fashion to major pop fandoms, there were traditions, rituals, and lively crowd interactions—notable lyric callbacks, chants, and even explosions of glowsticks.

Photo by Nathan Zucker

Swapping Songs and Stories on 30A

In Santa Rosa Beach, the 30A Songwriters Festival offers an approachable entrance into the music scene for new artists, an opportunity for seasoned artists to connect, and a platform for the resurgence of beloved favorites. 

Past headliners have included Melissa Etheridge, Elvis Costello & the Imposters, Lyle Lovett, and 17 years’ worth of others. 

The event encourages exploration across the 30A; amphitheater and small-stage venues are dotted across our Scenic Highway. More than 175 singer-songwriters from all over the country perform at these locations each year. The main stage and full festival experience are seated in the neighboring Grand Boulevard at Sandestin, about 20 minutes northwest of 30A.

This year, the once-upon-a-time pop star and current proponent of all things love and light, Paul McDonald, made his way from listening room venues to the main stage as a 2026 headliner. 

McDonald launched into the industry at breakneck speed in 2005 after coming in eighth place in the reality TV competition American Idol. All of a sudden, he was part of pop culture. He recalls losing sight of what music meant to him. 

“You walk into a room with a producer with tons of trophies on the wall, and they’ve made these huge hit records and they say, ‘I’m going to turn you into a star,’” he says. “It was like ‘how do we get here, here, here, and here’ versus ‘how do I make music that feels like breathing?’”

Returning to music after a seven-year hiatus, his new album So Long to the Dark Side is an exhalation for McDonald, who has moved away from heartbreak pop hits and sad anthems. His latest genre, he says, is nothing new. It’s a return to his roots—stripped-down Americana and folk rock ’n’ roll.

“I quit worrying about if this record is going to put us on a late-night TV show or if it’s going to get us to open up for a cool band,” he says. “I just want to make music because I want to make music again.”

During his Saturday performance at the 30A Songwriters Festival, McDonald didn’t hesitate to let loose. He danced and rocked out, hyping his band—The Mourning Doves—and hopping into the crowd for high-fives, hugs, and shared lyrics with fans.  

“I want to be the guy that reminds people to let loose and be present,” McDonald says. “It’s been a beautiful gift to be the guy behind the microphone and to ‘ping-pong’ energy back and forth with people.”

In his new era, McDonald finds connection far more inspiring than influence. Five years of performing at 30A Songwriters Festival have helped ground him, he says. In years past, McDonald grew accustomed to the small stages at the various listening rooms of the 30A Songwriters Festival, where he participated in writers’ rounds and collaborated with fellow musicians. 

“I love the intimate listening rooms, which to me are some of my favorite shows—especially if you are a fan of the storyteller and the story behind the song,” he says. “You meet an artist that you might not normally get to meet out on the road. All of a sudden, you’re sitting side by side with them … and they start playing, and you’re trading stories and [songs] back and forth. I love that. You don’t get to do that very often, unless it’s at a songwriters’ festival.”

On Saturday, Paul McDonald & The Mourning Doves headlined alongside 10,000 Maniacs and I’m with Her. On Sunday, they shared the main stage with Nikki Lane, Toad the Wet Sprocket, and Mavis Staples. 

McDonald’s second rise to fame isn’t slowing down. But he has no plans to leave 30A behind for LA. 

“The people here are beautiful; it reminds me of home,” he says. “Just coming here so many times over the years, you find people that are rooting for you and are resonating with the songs.”

Finding what resonates is what 30A Songwriters Festival is
all about.