LILLIAN, Ala. — The third annual Hwy 98 Songwriters Festival returns Sept. 24-27 at Johnny B’s The Front Porch in Lillian, 33925 Hwy. 98.
The format is the “in the round” tradition: one-hour sets featuring three songwriters at a time, running Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Hwy. 98 bistro.
Why the Three-Songwriter Round Works
The songwriter round is a Nashville import that has become a Gulf Coast fixture, and its appeal is structural.
Three writers sit together, usually in a semicircle, and take turns. One plays a song; the others listen, sometimes add a harmony or a lead line, and then one of them plays the next. Between songs, they talk — about where a song came from, who it was written with, what it was originally about before it became something else.
What the format produces is not a concert but something closer to a conversation with music in it. For audiences, it is the version of a song that exists before production — one voice, one instrument, the words audible. For writers, it is a room where the song itself is the point rather than the performance around it.
It also pairs unusually well with a bistro setting, where people are seated, fed and inclined to listen.
The Lineup
Participating players include:
Jason Abel; Ryan Balthrop; Brooke Brown; Destiny Brown; Nick Biebricher; Brent Burns; Mutt Cooper; Christina Crystal; Justin Colvard; Evans Davis; Sam Glass; Johnny Hayes; J. Hawkins; John Joiner; Cowboy Johnson; Jason Justice; Damian Lamb; T Bone Montgomery; Bjorn Nilsen; Elaine Petty; Bo Roberts; Lucinda Rowe; Mark Sherrill; Donna Slater; Sugarcane Jane; Zachary Diedrich Thomas; Tony Ray Thompson; Justin Touchette; Truman Holland; Stephen Lee Veal; and Matt Williams.
That is more than 30 writers across four days — a roster deep enough that a listener attending multiple sets will hear substantially different rooms each time.
Names Gulf Coast Listeners Will Recognize
Several performers on the list are established figures in the regional scene.
Ryan Balthrop is a longtime Gulf Coast songwriter with a substantial catalog and a consistent presence at regional festivals and venues.
Sugarcane Jane is the husband-and-wife duo of Anthony Crawford and Savana Lee, based in Baldwin County. Crawford’s résumé includes extensive session and touring work with major artists, and the duo has built a devoted regional following.
Brent Burns is known for beach-and-Gulf-themed material that has made him a fixture in coastal venues for decades.
Johnny Hayes is a Mobile-based independent artist who reached the top 24 on “The Voice” in 2017 and was named best male vocalist by the Flora-Bama in 2025.
T Bone Montgomery holds an ongoing residency in the Flora-Bama Main Room from 2 to 6 p.m. on Tuesdays — the kind of standing weekly slot that marks a performer as part of the local fabric rather than a visitor to it.
Lillian and the Hwy. 98 Corridor
Lillian sits in the southeastern corner of Baldwin County on Perdido Bay, near the Florida line. U.S. 98 runs through it, connecting the Alabama coast to the Florida Panhandle.
Naming a festival after the highway is apt. Hwy. 98 is the road that ties the Gulf Coast music circuit together — the route between venues in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, Perdido Key, Pensacola and points east that working musicians drive constantly.
A festival on that corridor, in a small community, in a bistro with a front porch, is a reasonable description of where the region’s songwriting culture actually lives.
The Broader Songwriter Festival Tradition
The Gulf Coast has an unusually well-developed songwriter festival culture. The Frank Brown International Songwriters Festival, held each November along the coast, is the anchor event and one of the longest-running of its kind anywhere.
Events like the Hwy 98 Jubilee extend that tradition to a smaller scale and a different calendar slot. The overlap in performers between them is considerable, which is part of the point — the scene is a community of writers who play each other’s rounds.
Third Year
A third annual edition is a meaningful marker for a small festival. First years happen on enthusiasm; second years on momentum. A third suggests the event has found an audience and a workable operating model.
If You Go
What: 3rd Annual Hwy 98 Songwriters Festival
When: Sept. 24-27, with one-hour, three-songwriter sets Friday, Saturday and Sunday
Where: Johnny B’s The Front Porch, 33925 Hwy. 98, Lillian
Information: 251-223-4014