The Texas Women Songwriters Festival is back for its 2026 edition, and it's taking over historic downtown Lockhart from September 18 to 20. Presented by Girl Guitar, the festival has become a fixture of the Texas music scene, and this year's lineup reads like a who's who of the state's songwriting talent. The whole weekend is built around workshops, performances, song-swaps and networking, all of it centered on the craft and the community of women artists that keep the Texas songwriting tradition alive.
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At the top of the bill is keynote speaker Tish Hinojosa, a San Antonio-born singer-songwriter whose work spans country, folk, pop and Latino music. Her song "Donde Voy" went quadruple platinum in South Korea, and in 1994 she signed with Warner Brothers Records in Nashville, where she recorded "Destiny's Gate" and the bilingual "Dreaming from The Labyrinth" with producer Jim Ed Norman. Joining her as headliners are BettySoo, Patrice Pike, Patricia Vonne and Susan Gibson. Pike, lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist for the Austin rock band Sister 7, has toured with everyone from Blues Traveler to Ray Charles and co-founded the Step Onward Foundation in 2006. Vonne, sister of filmmaker Robert Rodriguez, blends flamenco, Tex-Mex bilingüe, Americana and roots rock, and picked up a Lennon Award this year for "Will You Ever Know," a track on her upcoming tenth album. And Gibson, based in Wimberley, is the writer behind "Wide Open Spaces," the hit The Chicks turned into a CMA Single of the Year.
The deeper lineup rounds out the weekend with names like Aimee Bobruk, who spent fifteen years in Austin and took "Black Swan" to Sweden's Melodifestivalen in 2015; Austin fixture Ali Holder, whose work No Depression has described as digging deep into feminism; writer and poet Alison Tucker, whose debut album came out last year; and Amethyst Jonquille, with her debut Single Girl Diary.
If you're planning to go, it helps to know how the days are laid out. Friday opens with Tish Hinojosa's keynote at The Blue Pearl, followed by a run of free song-swaps in the afternoon and evening, with Patricia Vonne headlining The Blue Pearl at 6:00 and BettySoo taking Masur Hall at 8:00. Saturday is the busiest day, with a Recording Academy artist breakfast in the morning, more free song-swaps, and headliner sets from Patrice Pike at The Blue Pearl and Susan Gibson at Masur Hall, plus a free songwriter open jam to close it out. Sunday winds down with a Mariachi Brunch featuring Mariachi Las Coronelas at The Blue Pearl and a free Girl Guitar songwriters session in the afternoon.
One of the best things about the festival is how much of it costs nothing at all: every single song-swap is free and open to the public, and the open jam on Saturday night is free too. The VIP passes, which are already sold out, bundle the headliner shows with a Friday luncheon, the Sunday Mariachi Brunch, front-row seats at the swaps and access to a VIP lounge at The Art Loft. Even without one, there's plenty to catch. The festival is put on by Mandy Rowden, founder of Girl Guitar and a professor of Business in Music at Texas State University, along with Anne Sifuentez and Dakota Doster, both of whom have made Austin home. It's a weekend that rewards showing up and listening, and with a lineup this deep, there's something to hear whether you're a songwriter yourself or just someone who loves a good song.
Published Date
9 September 2026
