Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam has been an ongoing festival that has brought in thousands of people to Panama City Beach. Most of their headliners are country music artists or similar. This year, the festival is scheduled for Labor Day weekend (August 23rd-September 2nd).
In previous years, the artists coming to Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam have been about 20 or so artists. For 2013, the event had more than 58 artists there with the headliners: Toby Keith, Brantley Gilbert, and Trace Adkins. 2014 dwindled down to 34 artists being featured with the headliners as Blake Shelton, Carrie Underwood, and Dierks Bentley. And 2015 was 21 artists with the headliners of Lady Antebellum, Miranda Lambert, and Keith Urban. In 2017, the headliners were Luke Bryan, Jason Aldean, and Little Big Town with 21 artists. Though the artists and bands being featured have gone down in size, people are still coming out to the beach to enjoy country music.
This year, Executive Producer Rendy Lovelady, has already revealed that the lineup will be “bigger than ever before.”
“It is the biggest line-up we’ve ever had, Luke Bryan was a big artist to bring to town. [But] this is overall the biggest package we’ve ever had.” he says, “We’ll have over 30 acts for Gulf Coast Jam for the whole entire three-day event.” Which is good since the number of artists has dwindled down in previous years.
Tickets for the 2018 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam go on sale on April 15th. Visit http://www.gulfcoastjam.com/pricing-test/ for information!
For 2018 Pepsi Gulf Coast Jam, the three headliners are:
Florida Georgia Line
“An American country duo consisting of lead vocalist, Tyler Hubbard and backing vocalist, Brian Kelley. They have achieved major success since their inception and are one of the most successful country music acts. Their 2012 debut single “Cruise”, which remains their most popular song, broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over seven million times, making it the first country song ever to receive the Diamond certification, and it became the best-selling digital country song of all time, with 24 weeks at number one, until it was surpassed in July 2017 by Sam Hunt’s “Body Like a Back Road”. “Cruise” helped to pioneer a style of country music known as “bro-country”, which incorporates production elements from rock and hip-hop music, and tends to cover subject matter such as partying, drinking, driving trucks and romantic attraction. Much of their subsequent music has been tagged with the “bro-country” label as well.
Florida Georgia Line was formed in 2010 in Nashville, Tennessee and began as a covers band. In December 2011, they signed to the Big Loud Mountain label. Their second EP, It’z Just What We Do, was released in 2012 and charted on the Billboard Top Country Albums chart. Several months later they signed with Republic Nashville, part of the Big Machine Label Group. They released their second album, Anything Goes on October 14, 2014. Their third album, Dig Your Roots, was released on August 26, 2016.”
Eric Church
“An American country music singer-songwriter. Signed to Capitol Nashville since 2005, he has since released a total of five studio albums for that label. His debut album, 2006’s Sinners Like Me, produced three singles on the Billboard country charts including the top 20 hits “How ‘Bout You”, “Two Pink Lines”, and “Guys Like Me”.
His second album, 2009’s Carolina, produced three more singles: “Smoke a Little Smoke” and his first top 10 hits, “Love Your Love the Most” and “Hell on the Heart”.
2011’s Chief, his first No. 1 album, gave him his first two No. 1 singles, “Drink in My Hand” and “Springsteen”, and the hits “Homeboy”, “Creepin'”, and “Like Jesus Does”. His third No. 1 single was “The Only Way I Know”, which he, Jason Aldean, and Luke Bryan recorded for Aldean’s album Night Train”. A fourth album, The Outsiders”, was released in February 2014. It produced five new singles between 2013–15 with the title track, “Give Me Back My Hometown”, “Cold One”, “Talladega” and “Like a Wrecking Ball”. “Talladega” and “Give Me Back My Hometown” each reached number one on the Country Airplay chart. Eric Church got his sixth No. 1 hit with Keith Urban in May 2015 with the single “Raise ‘Em Up”. He released his fifth studio album, Mr. Misunderstood, on November 3, 2015.”
Thomas Rhett
“An American country music singer and songwriter. His father is the singer Rhett Akins. Rhett has released three studio albums for Big Machine Records’ Valory Music imprint: It Goes Like This (2013), Tangled Up (2015), and Life Changes (2017). These albums have produced twelve singles on the Hot Country and Country Airplay charts, with nine reaching the No. 1 position on the latter: “It Goes Like This”, “Get Me Some of That”, “Make Me Wanna”, “Crash and Burn”, “Die a Happy Man”, “T-Shirt”, “Star of the Show”, “Craving You”, and “Unforgettable”. In addition to much of his own material, Rhett has also written singles for Jason Aldean, Lee Brice, and Florida Georgia Line.”
Sources:
http://www.mypanhandle.com/news/gulf-coast-jam-producers-announce-headlining-artists/1112028870
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Meagan Stone
Student Author - Spring 2018
Senior at GCSC pursuing a Bachelors in Applied Science in Digital Media. With over 5 years professional experience in graphic arts, I hope to someday bring my skills overseas.
