Downtown Covington turned into an open-air songbook this weekend as the Ozone Songwriter Festival brought live original music, educational workshops and community events back to its streets. Among the performers was Blair Duluoz, who took the stage with an original song captured in festival photos.
The image appeared on a page published by NOLA.com. The outlet reported that the Ozone Songwriter Festival featured more than 120 songwriters from across the region and beyond, highlighting both emerging and established talent. Performances spanned folk, country, blues, pop and rock, giving festivalgoers a wide-ranging sample of original music throughout downtown Covington.
Eighth Year, Same Covington Streets
This year marked the eighth annual edition of the festival, which ran Friday, November 6, through Sunday, November 8, 2026, in Covington, Louisiana, according to Louisiana Country Music. The weekend's programming was planned to include more than just performances. OffBeat reports that organizers built in songwriting and music-industry seminars, family activities and a Youth Zone aimed at young makers, songwriters and performers.
The festival's centerpiece was a Friday showcase at Fuhrmann Auditorium, which was set to feature Deana Carter, joined by songwriters and performers Jaime Floyd and Greg Barnhill as special guests, per the same report from OffBeat. That showcase was the one ticketed event of the weekend — the remainder of the festival was free and open to the public, the outlet noted.
Conflicting Counts On Festival's Scale
Just how big the lineup actually was depends on which account you read. OffBeat described the festival as set to feature more than 120 performances across 10 stages, while a separate report from NOLA.com put the number at 140 performances across Covington's downtown area. That same NOLA.com article described roughly 100 songwriters performing their own music, a figure that differs from the more-than-120 songwriter count cited elsewhere in the outlet's coverage. No single verified total has been established across the available reporting.
What is consistent across the coverage is the festival's identity: a weekend built around original songwriting rather than cover sets, spread across downtown venues rather than a single fairground or arena. That format has kept the event rooted in Covington's downtown, with performances, workshops and family programming spread across multiple venues.
