There are a lot of different ways to experience a music festival. Sometimes you spend an entire weekend bouncing between stages and discovering artists you’ve never heard of. Sometimes you show up for one band you’ve been waiting to see and call it a day.
For me, the 2026 Annapolis Songwriters Festival ended up being a little bit of the latter.
The fifth annual festival took over Annapolis September 10–13, bringing performances to venues throughout the city and putting the focus where it belongs: on the people who create the music. I had originally planned to spend more time exploring the festival, but being in the middle of a move had other ideas. Instead, I made it down for Saturday night’s show on Calvert Street, featuring local opener Danah Denice, Daisy Grenade, and headliners Young the Giant.
And honestly? It was a pretty fun way to spend a Saturday night.
One of the things I really liked about the festival was that it felt like more than just a concert dropped onto a street. There were food trucks, themed drinks, and plenty of people moving around the area before and between sets. I even managed to grab a massive burrito from one of the food trucks between sets—which was delicious, although I have to admit that trying to eat a burrito that size in a concert crowd isn’t exactly the most practical dining experience.
But that’s part of the charm of an event like this. You’re not just standing in front of a stage for a few hours. You’re spending an evening in Annapolis, surrounded by music and people who are there because they genuinely enjoy it.
And as a photographer, one of my favorite parts of any show is inevitably the other photographers. There’s something fun about meeting people who understand the particular brand of chaos that comes with trying to photograph a live performance. I met quite a few photographers throughout the evening, and those conversations ended up being one of my favorite parts of the night.
The music itself gave me a few highlights, too.
Local artist Danah Denice opened the evening with an amazing, dreamy voice that stood out immediately. Her lyrics carried just as much weight as her vocals, and she also talked about helping found the Songbird Collective, a safe space for women and non-binary creators. That felt particularly fitting for a festival centered around the people behind the music—not just the finished songs, but the creative communities that make those songs possible.
Then came Daisy Grenade, and this is where the night really came alive for me.
There were definitely fewer Daisy Grenade fans in the audience than there were Young the Giant fans, but the people who were there for them were there for them. And from a photographer’s perspective, they were an absolute blast. Their performance was energetic, kinetic, and seemingly incapable of standing still for more than half a second—which is exactly the kind of thing that makes live music photography so much fun.
By the end of their set, I couldn’t help thinking that Daisy Grenade could have easily been the headliners.
That’s not to say Young the Giant didn’t have an audience. They absolutely did. There were plenty of people who were clearly excited to see them, and the crowd knew the songs and came ready for the band they’d come to see. But compared with the sheer energy Daisy Grenade brought to the stage, Young the Giant felt a little more restrained. At times, it felt less like a band completely caught up in the moment and more like a band doing what it does night after night.
It was still a good show. It just didn’t have quite the same spark for me.
And maybe that’s actually one of the things I took away from the evening. A festival built around songwriting isn’t necessarily about putting the biggest name on the biggest stage and calling it a day. It’s about creating opportunities for artists and songwriters to be heard—and sometimes the artist you didn’t come specifically to see ends up being the one you remember.
That’s ultimately what I like about the idea behind the Annapolis Songwriters Festival. Supporting songwriters doesn’t have to mean limiting the definition to traditional composers or lyricists. Creativity comes from all kinds of places and takes all kinds of forms. It’s about the people who write the songs, perform them, collaborate on them, build communities around them, and approach the creative process from completely different directions.
I only experienced a small piece of this year’s festival, but that small piece was enough to remind me why events like this are worth having. Annapolis is already a great backdrop for live music, and bringing artists, songwriters, photographers, fans, and other creatives together throughout the city makes for something that feels bigger than any single show.
I just wish I hadn’t been in the middle of moving so I could have experienced more of it.
Next year, hopefully, I’ll make it to more than one night.
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