Bandera Songwriters Festival

Bandera Songwriters Festival A nonprofit supporting songwriters in the Hill Country through an annual festival that celebrates and promotes original music.

Zeke's Night also brings us this Thursday. Here is a little bio taken from his Spotify."Landon Lloyd Miller makes his o...
04/08/2026

Zeke's Night also brings us this Thursday. Here is a little bio taken from his Spotify.
"Landon Lloyd Miller makes his own brand of American roots music. It's a southern sound inspired by folk songs, murder ballads, country classics, and everything in between, glued together by a biographical songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose career path is every bit as diverse as his music."

This is well put. Landon has such a wonderfully organic, and creative nature about him. His music moves through waves of sound like a mission to find something not yet touched. Watching his songs and music take root in our music scene is a beautiful thing. We are extremely grateful to host him in Bandera tomorrow night. (April 9th).

Hope to see you there.

Back in the turn of the century, (sounds cooler than it may be) if you were growing up in or around Castroville, Texas, ...
04/07/2026

Back in the turn of the century, (sounds cooler than it may be) if you were growing up in or around Castroville, Texas, you may have heard of a rock band called the "Jumping Monks". Well this was, in some ways, the origin in the music world for one of our guest songwriters this week, Weston Ripps. Weston is a multi instrumentalist with a wonderful ear for music. He has a full band (Weston Ripps Band) where he plays shows all over the Texas music world with a quality sound, performance ability, and absolute professional mentality. Weston has numerous studio projects, and continues forging his way into the Texas scene. Weston has also produced quite a few projects for other artists over the years. He gives A LOT of energy, and advice to aspiring musicians. He hosts a wonderful monthly series at The Rainbow Theater in Castroville called Songwriter Night. And it is, just how it sounds. All about helping develop the next generation of songwriters in the world of Texas music. We are extremely excited and honored to host this week, and we hope you will come hear more of his story with us in Bandera on Thursday.

See y'all soon. Music over madness. 🎼

And here we go. This is the week where "Zeke's Night" returns. A night in which we immerse ourselves in the beautiful tr...
04/06/2026

And here we go. This is the week where "Zeke's Night" returns. A night in which we immerse ourselves in the beautiful tradition of songwriting. This month we have two extremely talented and creative songwriters coming to Bandera to share their work with those who care to listen.
The next two days we will spotlight these two songwriters. But for now, let us just say how much we appreciate every songwriter, and audience member that has showed up to support "Zeke's Night". It gives us hope that people still enjoy hearing music in one of it's most raw, and organic forms. Thank y'all so much. (A special thanks to David Kassai and Blackbuck Audio for always holding us down as well with the sound!!!)This month is brought to you by the hard work and perseverance of those dedicated to connection, community, culture and inspiration through the arts. We are excited, and absolutely honored to host this event, and hope to see you there.

This is a small, but mighty venue. We welcome anyone who wants to participate in this listening event. However, we only have around 30 seats. (more standing room available). If you would like to have, or NEED a seat, please call the venue directly.

Do your best to make this day one to be proud of!

03/26/2026

Weston Ripps is coming to Zeke's Night at the First National Ice Haus in Bandera on April 9th. Weston is authentic. He has such a wonderful passion and understanding of music. He has been helping develop young musicians, and playing in bands for a long while. He deserves a lot of credit for his willingness to play a crucial role in his local music scene and beyond. We are extremely grateful to have Weston and we believe this video of him practicing helps showcase these above statements.
Zeke's Night- First National Ice Haus- Bandera, TX- April 9th

*Please contact venue to reserve your FREE seat

03/21/2026

Landon Lloyd Miller is one of the songwriters joining us at The First National Ice Haus for Zeke's Night on April 9th. Landon is original, passionate, hard working, and extremely soul filled and he continues to push out great work. Just like like this. We are extremely excited and grateful to have Landon join us in Bandera. Please go support his music anywhere you can, and we sure hope to see you at Zeke's Night on April 9th.

03/15/2026

🔥 Ruben V and Ryan Biter brought such a wonderful energy and performance to Zeke's Night back on February 12th.
Thank you to Tyler Beatty for this absolute gem of a video he gifted us. So grateful to have the moment captured in such a way.
If you think live, original music rocks, give this a like or come share in these moments with us on the second Thursday of every month in Bandera, Texas.

Here at B.S.F. we stand on the shoulders of giants. Our mission is to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the art of songw...
03/13/2026

Here at B.S.F. we stand on the shoulders of giants.
Our mission is to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the art of songwriting in Bandera. Speaking of which:
This is Kathleen Hudson. She wrote several books. Yesterday at Zeke's Night we focused in on her book titled "Women in Texas Music." This is a book that highlights different women songwriters on the Texas circuit and an insight into their journey in music. A beautiful work. We were honored that Dr. Kathleen Hudson was able to join us for Zeke's Night. Kathleen also founded and ran the Texas Heritage Music Foundation, where she did so much for so many. We love you Kathleen, and THANK YOU. Andi Holleman, and Chesney Jo were our guests songwriters last night, and WOW! They both are incredible songwriters and people. I would also like to thank Jennifer D' Spain for co-hosting this event. Great stuff.
Have a wonderful, music filled weekend if you can do so.

Photo Credit: JW Smith

From spotlighting Andi Holleman yesterday, we jump to the other half of this weeks "Zeke's Night" lineup.To spotlight Ch...
03/10/2026

From spotlighting Andi Holleman yesterday, we jump to the other half of this weeks "Zeke's Night" lineup.
To spotlight Chesney Jo, I'll let y'all in on the journey that got her to join us here in Bandera at The First National Ice Haus this Thursday.
I first saw Chesney Jo play writers night in Castroville at the Rainbow Theater. A few months later, I went back to that writers night as a guest songwriter. That also happened to be the night that, THE Jamie Lin Wilson hosted a contest to award 2 winning songwriters the opportunity to open up her
That night I was awarded the opportunity to watch some very talented songwriters play for their spot. Many of them could have opened this festival, but the winners that night were and
This month in honor of learning more from Kathleen Hudson's book "Women in Texas Music" we decided to have this talented young songwriter come showcase her work. In addition we also send our best wishes to Jamie Lin Wilson as she continues to show why she is such a beloved piece of our music scene with organizing her "hometown" festival at the end of this month. Y'all check out Old Town D'Hanis Music Festival, and please come support these two gifted songwriters at "Zeke's Night" in the heart of Bandera, Texas.

We are blessed to have Chesney Jo join us. Have a great day, everyone. Thank you for the support!!

This Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. in Bandera, "Zeke's Night" returns. This month we base our efforts on a book written...
03/10/2026

This Thursday evening at 6:30 p.m. in Bandera, "Zeke's Night" returns. This month we base our efforts on a book written by a very well known contributor to Texas music, Kathleen Hudson called, "Women in Texas Music." If you want to hear more about this topic and Kathleen's great book, join us Thursday night for this showcase of two wonderful songwriters. Our first songwriter to spotlight is the incredible,
native Texan, songwriter/singer and recording artist, Andi Holleman who has gone full speed ahead on pursuing her musical journey and ambitions in the central Texas area. Rising up from New Braunfels, whether it’s a solo, duo, trio, or full band show, Andi has recently been performing on stages like Gruene Hall, Rodeo Austin, San Antonio Rodeo, Redbird Listening Room, Luckenbach and many
more. She and her bandmates (The Connors) have performed with and opened
for the best of the best in the Texas Americana world as well as headlining and
selling tickets to their own shows. Andi performs her own original music mixed
with a select amount of covers where she will guarantee soul and grit topped off
with an insane vocal range with texture you won’t soon forget.

We are blessed to have Andi come and share her stories with us!

Last month with Ryan Biter and Ruben V we "Embraced the Flames" with some serious groove. What a time! Thank you to thos...
03/05/2026

Last month with Ryan Biter and Ruben V we "Embraced the Flames" with some serious groove. What a time! Thank you to those two, everyone who shows up to support, The First National Ice Haus, our wonderful sound engineer (David Kassai), and our sponsors. It takes a village to make these nights mean something. We appreciate everyone who takes part, very much so!
In one week we will host two talented, songwriting women. This show we will also reflect on the book (inspiration for our theme) written by Kathleen Hudson called, "Women in Texas Music". We appreciate KFAN (Texas Rebel Radio) out of Fredericksburg for giving us some time next Thursday on their airwaves. More information next week.

In closing, please enjoy the moments as much as possible. Life is crazy, no doubt. But also, shorter than it seems. Make the days count when you can.

This post is concerning the future of the Bandera Songwriters Festival. I have received many emails from songwriters nea...
02/16/2026

This post is concerning the future of the Bandera Songwriters Festival.
I have received many emails from songwriters near and far asking for information about the 2026 Bandera Songwriters Festival. We are really appreciative to everyone who has reached out. We also want to say THANK YOU again to everyone who helped us make the inaugural festival what it was.
We have had many changes over the past several months. We have decided to NOT have a 2026 Festival. We are not in a situation that allows us to pull off such a task, at the moment. However, we are functionally running a monthly songwriters event called Zeke's Night. Through this event we are lighting the small fires that we hope will lead us to our next festival. We are bringing back (over time) each one of our songwriters from 2025's festival, if they want to come participate in Zeke's Night. We are committed to not only providing the community of Bandera with soul-filling events, but also want to make sure that we are really doing a service to the songwriters, and audiences that love what this craft is. We are taking our time and carefully setting the foundation for what will be our next big move. Please stay tuned, and for the love of God, come out and support us at the next Zeke's Night.

Final words. From the bottom of our hearts we value each songwriter, venue, publication, radio station, podcast, or listener that moves this wonderful art form along. We are extremely grateful to play a small role in helping what we love so dearly. Please keep spreading the love, inspiration, and connections through stories and songs. Much love y'all.

And today we introduce the second songwriter of this months "Zeke's Night" showcase in Bandera. This is the one and only...
02/10/2026

And today we introduce the second songwriter of this months "Zeke's Night" showcase in Bandera. This is the one and only:

Ryan Biter is the aimless, eccentric, tactless kid you went to school with growing up that you always kind of wondered what happened to after high school.With equal measures of irreverence, sharp insight, and vulnerability, Biter invites audiences to be open to our profound humanness. Weird, wonderful, and flawed.

The grit, soul, and raw emotion of his voice has drawn comparisons to Amos Lee and Chris Stapleton. His songs have the ear worm hooks and everyman sensibility of Ed Sheeran, 2000s Country music , and Paul Simon. His expansive finger style guitar work is reminiscent of Michael Hedges, Tommy Emmanuel, and John Butler.

Think of him like a guitar slinging Mr. Rodgers for messed up adults.

Awards

4 time Dripping Springs Featured Songwriter
2 Time Featured artist on The Blue Plate Special.
2025 Corpus Christi Songwriters festival featured artist
2022 Southwest Regional Folk Alliance Alternate Showcasing Artist
2022 Kerrville New Folk Finalist
2022 Songwriters Serenade Finalist
2023 Red Lodge Songwriting Competition Finalist
2023 Wildflower Festival Al Johnson Songwriting Competition Finalist
2024 South West Regional Folk Alliance Official Showcasing Artist.

You can find Ryan Biter sharing his music across the United States and Canada at a mix of house concerts, listening rooms, and festivals across the United States. Find him on Facebook, Instagram, and Youtube, or sign up for his email list! (ryanbitermusic.com)

We are blessed to have Ryan come share his stories and passionate songs with us. We can't wait for this Thursday, February, 12th at 6:30 p.m. Hope to see you there!

Address

Bandera, TX
78003

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Bandera Songwriters Festival posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Bandera Songwriters Festival:

Shortcuts

Share

Category