Perdido Key Music Fest is May 2-3 at Flora-Bama

Perdido Key Music Fest is May 2-3 at Flora-Bama

By Fran Thompson

Fans of the Perdido Key Music Fest will gather May 2-3 in the Flora-Bama Tent Stage from 1-10 p.m. each day to celebrate the talent that can be found playing at local venues. Founded by Mark McBride, the PKMF started as a small backyard songwriter jam at his Perdido Key RV park as a tribute to the Frank Brown Songwriters Fest.
Funds raised – and it has been signficant over the years – support the FBISF Foundation and the Gulf Coast Musicians Medical Fund.
General admission weekend tickets are $50 and a limited number of VIP passes will be sold for $100. More info: PerdidoKeyMusic Festival.com.
Raffles, a 50/50 and a silent auction will raise additional funds. Door prizes will be awarded during band breaks.
Past auction items included:
• An autographed Dean Dillon Photo Canvas.
• 3-hour Sandy Roots recording session.
• 10-hour session with accommodations at 30-South Studio in Franklin, TN.
• Soul Strings bracelet created by Cynthia Adams for a man or woman.
• House concert with Christina Crystal.
• Full length black ranch mink coat.
• Catered Award Winning BBQ Dinner for 25 people.
• Guitars autographed by Randy Houser, Dean Dillon, Vince Gill, Jelly Roll, Blake Shelton, Rascal Flatts & Sugarland.
The 2025 festival was held at Gary Hefner’s Warrior Beer Company on Sorrento Rd. in Pensacola. (The brewery mantra: “From everyday fighters to everyday warriors – we got your six.”
But it debuted in 2021 at McBride’s Playa Del Rio RV Resort under the name Hoodstock and raised $20,000 for the FBISF Foundation right out of the gate.
“It was very cool and special to present the check on the opening night of the (FBISF) in the Flora-Bama main room,’’ McBride said at the time. “We created HoodStock in five days. The music and songwriter community got behind a great event for a great cause.’’
Perdido Music Fest Schedule
May 2: Cedric Brooks Project at 1:00 p.m.; Johnny Hayes & The Loveseat Drivers at 3 p.m.; Marshall Morlock Band at 5:30 p.m.; Taylor Hunnicutt (pictured left) at 8 p.m.; Willie Traywick Band at 10:30 p.m.
May 3: Saucy FuzZ at 1 p.m.; Red and the Revelers at 3 p.m., River Dan at 5:30 p.m.; Glen Templeton at 8 p.m.; Bruce Smelley Band at 10:30 p.m.
Taylor Hunnicutt: 8 p.m. on May 2
Taylor Hunnicutt writes songs with a nod towards Alabama’s tradition of country storytelling, rock ‘n’ roll rebellion, and guitar-driven grit. Sharpened by a schedule that’s kept her on the road 200 days a year opening for the likes of Muscadine Bloodline and Red Clay Strays, the Marengo County native recently released Alabama Sound, an album that unfolds like a love letter to the American South.
“It’s a little country, a little singer/songwriter, and a little Americana,” she said. “There’s a whole lot of soul and southern rock, too. It’s not one genre — it’s just Alabama.”
Hunnicutt left Marengo County for Birmingham and landed a gig waiting tables at a blues juke joint. She developed her signature raspy-throated vocal chops and expanded her musical tastes while sitting in with bands at work and she and her band built their audience by piling into a van and hitting the road, winning people over one encore at a time.
“There was a point where we decided to stop doing three-hour shows filled with cover songs, and start booking ourselves for 90-minute sets of our own music,” Hunnicutt said. “We played everywhere we could, traveling in a terrible van, just figuring it out. We’d go to new markets and play to two people, and not make a dime, then we’d go on the road with a band like Muscadine Bloodline and open up for thousands of people every single night.”
Those years in the trenches helped transform Hunnicutt’s show into a high-energy, hell-raising combination of southern stomp, country-rock twang, and amplified attitude.