For 30 years, the Key West Songwriters Festival has been bringing Music City to the Southernmost City, and showcasing country music’s most talented songwriters and storytellers on stages throughout Key West.
This year’s festival will do just that and more, as the 30th anniversary festival will feature even more stars, telling and singing their stories in even more intimate settings spread across the island at both indoor and outdoor venues.
As usual, a free outdoor concert will fill Duval Street with music on Saturday, May 2, as headliners DJ Smoke, Cody Lohden, Ashley Cooke and Ernest take the stage from 6 to 9 p.m.
Ashley Cooke has been described as “one of country music’s most magnetic young storytellers.” She made her debut with 2023’s “shot in the dark” and scored her first country radio No. 1 hit with “your place” — a Billboard Hot 100-charting hit that later won a 2024 CMT Music Award for Breakthrough Female Video of the Year.
“With a voice that carries both tenderness and quiet confidence, Cooke has since garnered nominations for New Female Artist of the Year at the ACM Awards and Best New Country Artist at the iHeartRadio Music Awards,” states her website. “While building an acclaimed body of work including 2025’s “ace” — a nine-song project featuring her country radio smash “the hell you are” and longtime fan favorite “baby blues” (a No. 1 hit on SiriusXM) — Cooke has collaborated with artists ranging from pop superstar Joe Jonas (“all I forgot”) to country hitmaker Brantley Gilbert (“Over When We’re Sober”).
She’s also toured with heavy-hitters like Luke Bryan, Parker McCollum and Kane Brown.
Cooke made a cameo appearance in March on CBS’ “Marshals,” the newly launched spinoff of the blockbuster Western saga “Yellowstone,” just before she headed overseas for C2C: Country to Country 2026, including a performance in London.
With her sophomore album due out later this year, Cooke is gearing up to take the stage at leading festivals like Key West Songwriters Festival and Hoofbeat in Wisconsin in June.A full schedule of shows, musicians and special events is at keywestsongwritersfestival.com.
