If you go
The Frank Brown International Songwriters' Festival takes place Nov. 6-16. Most performances are free to attend. A few venues charge a modest cover at the door. fbisf.com.
The Flora-Bama Lounge and Package is on Perdido Key at the Alabama-Florida state line, a 5-hour and 20-minute drive from Atlanta. florabama.com.
Stay
The website of the Frank Brown International Songwriters' Festival lists a number of area lodging options on its accommodations page. More accommodations can be found at the website of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism. gulfshores.com/lodging.
Visitor information
Gulf Shores and Orange Beach Tourism. 1-800-745-SAND (7263), gulfshores.com.
Visit Perdido Key. 1-800-328-0107, visitperdido.com.
Frank Brown likely never imagined he would one day have a festival named in his honor, much less an international one.
The Frank Brown International Songwriters’ Festival, founded in 1984, takes place in November along the Gulf Coast of Florida and Alabama. “Mr. Frank,” as he was called by those who knew him, wasn’t a singer or a songwriter. He was the night watchman at the Flora-Bama Lounge and Package, a legendary beachside establishment on Perdido Key at the Alabama-Florida line.
Brown held that job for 28 years, retiring at age 91 in 1986. He was fond of listening to the performances of the many singer-songwriters who frequented the roadhouse beach bar, always keeping an ear on their music while his eyes were peeled for trouble. The performers and the regulars had such great respect for him that when it came time to give the songwriters festival a name, it had to be his.
“This year is the 30th anniversary of the festival. That alone is pretty remarkable,” festival coordinator Lori Raisch said. “As far as we have been able to ascertain, ours is the oldest and largest festival of its kind. There are now dozens of events that feature songwriters.”
The event has become so popular that it has spread beyond its home base at the Flora-Bama to other venues along the coast between Pensacola and Gulf Shores.
Those other venues include Baumhower’s Restaurant and Shipp’s Harbour Grill in Orange Beach and LuLu’s at Home Port Marina in Gulf Shores. Lulu’s, owned by Jimmy Buffett’s sister Lucy, sits on the Intracoastal Waterway and offers live music all year, not just during the festival.
This year the songwriters festival also is billed as one of the featured events at Pensacola’s popular Foo Foo Festival, which occurs during the same time period.
The Flora-Bama has been in business since 1964. Celebrated in song by the likes of Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney, it has been touted as “America’s last great roadhouse” and “the best watering hole in the country.”
Major hurricanes have tried to wipe it off the map to no avail. It’s the type of place where you’ll find flip-flop-wearing millionaires hanging out with leather-clad bikers. In August, Chesney staged the Flora-Bama-Jama on the beach next to the club. It drew an estimated 40,000 people. Down the road in Gulf Shores, the Hangout Music Festival — founded in 2009 — brings top rock acts to the coast for a weekend each May, also drawing tens of thousands of music fans.
The Frank Brown International Songwriters’ Festival is a more intimate affair by design. Instead of seeing a mega-famous star singing songs written by others, this is a festival that focuses on the writers themselves. It’s akin to seeing a show at Nashville’s Bluebird Cafe, where established songwriters gather to collaborate in the round or receive the spotlight in a solo performance — only, this is at the beach.
“When you hear a song performed by the person who created it, regardless of who may have made it famous, you will never hear it quite the same way again,” Raisch said. “The format of the festival allows the attendees to hear the stories behind the songs and to hear the song performed without a lot of production added. It’s pure emotion.”
More than 200 writers are scheduled to perform at this year’s festival, including legendary hit makers like Max T. Barnes and Johnny Lee, contemporary acts such as Blue Mother Tupelo, Devious Angels, Jon Nite and Victoria Banks, along with a slew of other notable tunesmiths. A special event will even showcase teen writers.
The festival kicks off Nov. 6 with a tribute to the late Larry Butler, a Pensacola native and Grammy Award-winning music producer. Don Schlitz, who penned Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler,” will be a featured performer.
The last day of the festival, Nov. 16, will feature a tribute to songwriting legend Hank Cochran, whose songs have been recorded by the likes of Burl Ives, Etta James, George Strait and Ella Fitzgerald. Cochran passed away in 2010 and was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame earlier this year. Jamey Johnson, who penned the hit “In Color,” will be one of many performers paying tribute.
Raisch said she is proud of what the festival has become since its inception at the Flora-Bama decades ago. “Over the last 30 years, literally thousands of singer-songwriters have been involved,” she said. “Now, it really does feel like a big family reunion each November. It’s a fantastic time to come to the beach, relax, enjoy a once in a lifetime musical experience and make some memories.”
Frank Brown died in 1988 at the age of 93, two years after his retirement from the Flora-Bama. Many of the performers at the festival these days never knew the man personally, but his spirit lives on in the music and is celebrated in song for 10 days each November on Perdido Key.
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