This past weekend I had the distinct pleasure of attending and volunteering at the Third Street Songwriter’s Festival in Downtown Baton Rouge. This annual event brings together the best songwriters from around the state and region for a weekend of performances and workshops in the state’s capital city. This year’s festival brought out well over a hundred songwriters from 13 different states, including some big names like Jim McCormick, C.J. Solar and Jeffrey Steele. It was wonderful to meet and watch so many amazing songwriters in one place and it made for a magical weekend in Baton Rouge. While most of the performances took place in the bars along Third Street, the two main performances took place in some pretty fantastic venues as well. Friday night we went to the incredible Red Dragon Listening Room on Florida Street to hear two great rounds headlined by Jim McCormick. Saturday night, we filled the small and intimate Manship Theater to hear the wizardry of Jeffrey Steele. For me, the best part of the weekend was a late night song swap on a dark corner downtown, where we talked and jammed until almost 3 a.m. On Sunday evening, during the final round of the festival, one of the songwriters on stage sang a Hurricane Katrina song. As he hit his last note, thunder clapped behind him right on key, and the skies opened up in true Louisiana fashion, leaving the last two songs of the weekend unplayed. I guess I’ll just have to wait for next year to hear them. All told, it was an amazing weekend in Baton Rouge of networking, storytelling, songwriting and music. I wouldn’t have missed it. I hope you enjoy these photos from my weekend in Baton Rouge.