Roscolusa brings songwriters to Nocatee

Posted

“Who’s here because they love country music?” Gator Country DJ Eden Kendall asked to loud cheers from the crowd.

“Who’s here because they have a golf cart?” she added, to an equal number of cheers.

There was no shortage of either at Nocatee Town Center Field Saturday, as thousands of local residents flocked to the 6th Annual Roscolusa Songwriters Festival. Residents from across the First Coast came to the event, which gives attendees a chance to hear some of country music’s popular songs sung by the musicians who wrote them. Along the way, the audience also gets to learn the stories behind the songs.

In addition to a five-hour lineup of music by a dozen singer-songwriters, this year’s Roscolusa featured a variety of food trucks and a kids’ fun zone. Sponsored by Citi, the kids’ zone charged a nominal admission fee, with all proceeds benefiting the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund to help children battling cancer.

After an opening performance by local artist Kay Gianna, the evening began in earnest with a “songwriter round,” as artists Casey Weston, Kaylee Rose and Tylor Bailey took the stage together. Weston – a former contestant on “The Voice” – kicked things off by sharing what inspired her to write the song “Mr. Wrong.”“In Nashville, you hear a lot of love songs,” Weston told the crowd. “But a lot of girls (there) aren’t meeting Mr. Right – they’re meeting Mr. Wrong.”

Weston then launched into the rollicking lament about being a single girl in a city filled with Mr. Wrongs.

Other artists on the lineup at this year’s Roscolusa included Brigette Tatum, Danny Myrick, Jesse Rice, Rick Ferrell, Post Monroe, Jeffrey Steele and Ponte Vedra native Kim Paige, who founded Roscolusa on Roscoe Boulevard in 2012.

The event quickly outgrew that venue and for the past several years has been held in Nocatee, along the way adding numerous sponsors and the Tom Coughlin Jay Fund as charity beneficiary. Sponsors of this year’s event included Ponte Vedra Beach’s Pivot CPAs – which recently opened an office in Nocatee – as well as Momentum Transportation, Fields Auto Group, ASE, Ponte Vedra Plastic Surgery and more.