Music fans looking to escape Georgia’s cold snap can head south to the Florida Panhandle, where the 30A Songwriters Festival promises to heat up the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend with a diverse slate of performers that includes several popular lesbian musicians.
The three-day weekend of “hooks, lines and singers” is set for Jan. 13-15. It features more than 125 artists in more than 250 performances at 20 venues along a 15-mile stretch of Highway 30A in Rosemary Beach, Seaside, Alys Beach, Santa Rosa Beach and Grayton Beach.
“What sets the 30A Songwriters Festival apart from others in the country is, one: we create listening rooms in truly unique beach resort venues and two: we book musically diverse artists,” says Russell Carter, event chair and president of Russell Carter Artist Management, whose clients include Indigo Girls.
Last month, for the first time in the history of country music, an established country singer came out. In the May 17 issue of People magazine, Chely Wright discussed how she knew she was gay by age 9, but thought she had to hide it to succeed in music — living a lie that drove her to consider suicide in 2006.
Wright had her biggest hit in 1999 with “Single White Female,” which went to No. 1; made People’s list of Most Beautiful people in 2001, and dated fellow country singer Brad Paisley. In her People interview, she described how she decided to come out when making her new album, “Lifted Off the Ground.”