Fort Worth Songwriter Fest<\/a> in 2024, turning a simple idea into a gathering built around a popular local venue and the people who make up Cowtown\u2019s musical landscape. Now in its third year, the festival is moving from its two-year spot at Southside Preservation Hall to Tulips FTW, where four days of performances, songwriter showcases, after-parties and community programming will unfold from Nov. 12-15.<\/p>\nThe new location brings expanded staging, more opportunities for performers and a chance to experiment with what a songwriter festival can become. Nearly 300 submissions came in this year, and McInroe estimates about 85 songwriters will make the bill.<\/p>\n
Stephen Montoya: What are you looking forward to most about the venue change this year?<\/p>\n
Keegan McInroe: We\u2019re very excited about Tulips. I think the festival\u2019s visibility will increase. More people recognize Tulips and know it as a music venue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They\u2019re building a second stage, so that\u2019ll be great. We\u2019ll have two big stages to work from. We\u2019re also partnering with Floating Lotus Tea for a couple of programs, and on Saturday, Nov. 14, we\u2019re doing our Amplify 817 showcases, songwriter song swaps in the courtyard. We\u2019ll also have Wandering Roots Market in the courtyard on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Montoya: Give me a quick rundown of the fest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
McInroe: Thursday, everything\u2019s happening in room one. Friday, we\u2019ll alternate a couple of times to room two. Saturday and Sunday, we\u2019ll move pretty consistently back and forth between stage one and stage two.<\/p>\n
We\u2019ll also have things at the Low Doubt Bar, some after-parties on the back patio, some late-night unamplified after-parties at Floating Lotus. We have a young songwriter showcase at Record Town on Sunday from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m., featuring three different young songwriters.<\/p>\n
Montoya: How do you see the festival evolving to better represent the full range of Fort Worth\u2019s music scene?<\/p>\n
McInroe: There\u2019s so much more diversity in the scene. For instance, it would be great to have a hip-hop house on a particular night but also have those artists on stage with some of the artists we\u2019ve had perform before.<\/p>\n
A lot of it is Americana \u2014 blues, country, folk, singer-songwriter \u2014 which is normal. It\u2019s a songwriter festival, and that\u2019s at heart what it ought to be, in a way. But as far as the music community goes, the idea is to expand it.<\/p>\n
The idea is that it becomes large enough to make it so that anybody can walk up to the table and say, \u2018Yeah, I\u2019m a songwriter in Fort Worth.\u2019<\/p>\n
(And be answered,) \u2018Great, Here\u2019s a spot.\u2019<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t even need to be offered a spot at the table. You just come to the table.<\/p>\n
Stephen Montoya is a Fort Worth-based singer-songwriter and Soundcheck columnist for the Fort Worth Report. He previously served as digital editor at Fort Worth Magazine. Send your music tips and story ideas tostephen.montoya@fortworthreport.org.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org\/2026\/10\/21\/pull-up-a-chair-with-fort-worth-songwriter-fest-founder\/”>article<\/a> first appeared on <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/fortworthreport.org”>Fort Worth Report<\/a> and is republished here under a <a target=”_blank” href=”https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/”>Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License<\/a>.<img src=”https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/fortworthreport.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/cropped-favicon.png?resize=150%2C150&ssl=1″ style=”width:1em;height:1em;margin-left:10px;”><\/p>\n
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