By Paul Bonnette
Kenny Chesney, Brad Paisley, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Kid Rock, Thomas Rhett and Miranda Lambert. What do all these artists have in common? They have all taken the stage in Panama City Beach for Gulf Coast Jam. For the past ten years, some of country music’s biggest stars have performed in front of crowds of over 30,000 people during Gulf Coast Jam. One of the people most instrumental in bringing “Country to the Coast” for Gulf Coast Jam is Executive Producer and Bay County Resident Rendy Lovelady.
Lovelady, who has been in the music business for almost four decades, got his start at an iconic venue in New Orleans.
“I was born and raised in New Orleans and I actually got my roots starting working for Pace Concerts and Messina Presents. I worked in the Saenger Theater, sweeping floors and pulling cables and doing everything I could possibly do starting my career.”
After going to college to play football, Lovelady decided that he wanted to get back to his passion of promoting the music industry.
“I started out as a tour manager that is where my roots came from, working with bands like Van Halen, Motley Crue, and Bon Jovi over the years. I moved to Nashville over thirty years ago with my family and I moved into managing,” he explains. “I managed Christian acts, rock acts, country acts, and as I got older I started producing festivals and events like Tennessee River Run and Bama Jam and now Gulf Coast Jam.”
Although today, Gulf Coast Jam is synonymous with Panama City Beach as thousands of locals and residents alike pack into Frank Brown Park for great vendors, delicious food and drinks (and of course fantastic country music), a decade ago that was not the case. For Lovelady, bringing Gulf Coast Jam to the “World’s Most Beautiful Beaches” was an easy decision.
“I was a part of the group that came in and reinvested in Bama Jam in 2010. By 2012, Mark (Sheldon) and I had partnered up about trying to take Bama Jam to the next level. We had started looking for a place to move Bama Jam and noticed one of our top-selling ticket places was Panama City Beach and the Panhandle. So we came down and met with the Tourist Development Council and Dan Rowe. We presented our vision and honestly, they stepped up to the plate….and the rest is history.”
Although there is no denying that Gulf Coast Jam is a favorite event for visitors and locals alike, for Lovelady the road has been a rocky one. “We’ve been through two cancellations because of Covid, SandJam being canceled because of Covid, a hurricane canceled Gulf Coast Jam one time. It’s been very dicey over the years, but at the same time God has really blessed us beyond what we can ever compare.”
For Executive Producer Rendy Lovelady, Bay County was not just a draw as a perfect location for a venue, it became a perfect place to call home as well. “I finally moved to town and met a lot of the locals and I’m absolutely in love with Panama City Beach people and Destin people. I’m blessed to be able to go to dinner in Destin and see people and they know Gulf Coast Jam. It’s my home now, I’ve put down roots and I’m very content here and Gulf Coast Jam has the potential to be that festival in this area to be around way after I’m gone.”
Gulf Coast Jam 2024 will be returning to the beach May 30 – June 2 and has announced Morgan Wallen as its first headliner. For more information and tickets visit www.gulfcoastjam.com.
