The Writers Behind the Hits Are Coming to Lanier Islands. Which Day of Songwriters at the Lake Is Yours?

At 6 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 13, the Drew Parker & Friends concert starts at Peachtree Pointe Amphitheater at Lanier Islands Resort, with Joanna Cotten and Greg Barnhill on stage. In the same hour, at the Chapel on Lanier, Tony Arata and Ed Hill sit down for a writers' round. Arata wrote Garth Brooks' "The Dance." Hill's credits include Faith Hill's "It Matters to Me" and Luke Bryan's "Most People Are Good."

That clash says a lot about the first Songwriters at the Lake Music Festival, which runs Nov. 13–15 at the resort at 7000 Lanier Islands Parkway in Buford. The headliners get top billing. The small rounds are where the people who wrote the songs tell the stories behind them, and the schedule runs several of those rounds at the same hour as the big shows. For anyone driving over from elsewhere on the lake for a day, picking a day comes down to which writers you want to see in which room.

What a writers' round is, and why this lineup works for one

Songwriters ATL is producing the weekend, and Ingles is the presenting sponsor. The plan is more than 20 songwriters across eight spots on the resort, with sets built around the music and the stories behind songs written for other artists. In the resort's September lineup announcement, Lanier Islands Resort President Matthew Bowling summed up the idea:

"Songs like 'I Swear,' 'The Dance,' and 'Most People Are Good' hold deep personal meaning for so many. How cool will it be to learn the inspiration behind those songs from the people who wrote them?"

Here's whose name is on the songs you already know, taken from the producer's lineup bios:

• Tony Arata: "The Dance" for Garth Brooks, "Here I Am" for Patty Loveless and "I'm Holding My Own" for Lee Roy Parnell.
• Ed Hill: "It Matters to Me" for Faith Hill, "Just Fishin'" for Trace Adkins, "Find Out Who Your Friends Are" for Tracy Lawrence and "Most People Are Good" for Luke Bryan.
• Jim Collins: Kenny Chesney's "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" and "The Good Stuff," Jason Aldean's "Big Green Tractor" and Thompson Square's "Are You Gonna Kiss Me or Not."
• Greg Barnhill: "Walkaway Joe" for Trisha Yearwood and Don Henley, "House of Love" for Amy Grant and Vince Gill, "It Ain't the Whiskey" for Gary Allan and "She's Taking a Shine" for John Berry.
• Frank Myers: co-writer of "I Swear" for John Michael Montgomery and of "I'm Already There" for Lonestar.
• Wynn Varble: "Have You Forgotten?" for Darryl Worley, "Waitin' on a Woman" for Brad Paisley and "I'm a Little More Country Than That" for Easton Corbin.
• Drew Parker: "Homemade" for Jake Owen, "Forever After All" and "Doin' This" for Luke Combs, and "Stay Country or Die Tryin'" for Blake Shelton.
• Chuck Jones: "Your Love Amazes Me" for John Berry, "Love a Little Stronger" for Diamond Rio and "Cadillac Ranch" for Chris LeDoux.

Chuck Leavell, the keyboardist whose career runs through the Allman Brothers Band and the Rolling Stones, leads Saturday's main-stage show with Randall Bramblett and Jimmy Hall. Chuck Cannon, Webb Wilder, Michelle Malone, Joe Lasher, Kaitlyn Baker, Cole Grover, Britt Wilder and the Redwood Twins fill out the schedule.

Friday, the $49 day, puts the hard choice at 5 and 6 p.m.

The Friday wristband costs $49 and covers seven shows. Check-in runs from noon to 2 p.m. at Peachtree Green, with no live music during that window. Short sets follow at Peachtree Pointe Amphitheater: the Redwood Twins at 2, Joe Lasher and Kaitlyn Baker at 3, and April Rooks at 3:30.

Then the evening splits in two. From 5 to 6 p.m., three rounds run at once:

• Webb Wilder and Britt Wilder at Oliver Pointe
• Frank Myers, Kaitlyn Baker and Joe Lasher at the Chapel
• Chuck Cannon, Chuck Jones and Cole Grover at the amphitheater

At 6, Arata and Hill move into the Chapel while Drew Parker & Friends takes the amphitheater, with that set listed until 7:45. Later on, Jim Collins and Wynn Varble play the Fireside Jam from 8 to 9, and the Redwood Twins, Cole Grover and Britt Wilder close the night there from 9 to 10.

So Friday rewards anyone willing to give up the opening of the headline set. The 8 p.m. fireside slot gives you the man behind "She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy" and the man behind "Have You Forgotten?" after the main stage has wrapped.

Saturday, the $69 day, has its best stretch before 3 p.m.

The Saturday wristband costs $69 and covers nine shows. The headline set gets the attention. The schedule shows the morning and early afternoon are where you can hear the most writers in the shortest time. A route through Saturday daytime, using the producer's event schedule, looks like this:

1. 10 a.m., Oliver Pointe: Jim Collins, Chuck Jones and Britt Wilder.
2. 11 a.m., Legacy Pointe: Ed Hill, Tony Arata and Jason Gardner. If you missed the Friday Chapel round, here's your second chance. Amped Kids also perform at Oliver Pointe from 11:30 to 12:30.
3. Noon, the Chapel: Drew Parker and Frank Myers together, so the writers of "Forever After All" and "I Swear" share one stage.
4. 1 p.m., pick one of three: Wynn Varble, April Rooks and the Redwood Twins at the amphitheater, Greg Barnhill and Joanna Cotten at the Chapel, or Michelle Malone, Chuck Cannon and Webb Wilder at Peachtree Falls.
5. 2 p.m., Peachtree Falls: Frank Myers, Jason Gardner and Britt Wilder.

A break runs from 3 to 4. After that, Saturday repeats Friday's clash. From 5 to 6, Chuck Cannon and Chuck Jones play the Chapel, and Tony Arata, Wynn Varble and Ed Hill play Peachtree Falls. Meanwhile, the Chuck Leavell & Friends block starts at 5:30 on the schedule, with Randall Bramblett, Jimmy Hall, Greg Barnhill, Joanna Cotten, Joe Lasher and Kaitlyn Baker. The ticket page lists that headliner at 6 p.m., and the detailed schedule shows it as a block running from 5:30 to 9. The night ends by the fire: Chuck Cannon, Jim Collins and Greg Barnhill at 9:30, then the Redwood Twins, Webb Wilder and Jason Gardner at the Fireside Open Jam from 10 to 11.

For a lake resident who wants as many writers as possible in one day, Saturday's $20 premium over Friday covers more rooms, and it starts early enough to be home before dark if you skip the evening.

What the extra $11 for the weekend pass gets you

Buy the Friday and Saturday wristbands separately and you pay $118. The all-shows pass costs $129, plus taxes and a ticket fee. That $11 difference is the price of Sunday, because the Sunday sets are open only to three-day pass holders.

Sunday on the producer's schedule is short. A Gospel Jam with Chuck Cannon, Wynn Varble and the Redwood Twins runs from 11 a.m. to noon at the amphitheater. At the same hour, the Chapel performers are listed as "details to be announced." A Send-Off Jam with Jimmy Hall, Greg Barnhill and other participating artists runs from noon to 2 at Peachtree Green Amphitheater. The North Atlanta Star's preview gave somewhat different Sunday times and venues, so the producer's page is the one to check that morning.

The pass makes the most sense if you live close enough to drive in more than once. If you can only come one day, a Friday or Saturday wristband covers it. Sunday has no single-day option, and the Saturday daytime route above packs in more writers than Sunday's short program.

Before you pull up to the gate on Lanier Islands Parkway

The resort normally charges $20 per car per day. Its parking page says that fee is included for overnight guests and for people attending a resort event. The resort's September announcement says the $129 three-day ticket includes resort gate entry. The single-day wristband listings don't say either way. If you're buying a $49 or $69 wristband, ask about the gate when you order so you aren't caught off guard at the entrance.

If you already make several trips to the resort a year, the same parking page lists a Club Lanier Islands membership at $150. It covers a year of free parking and entry, including Magical Nights of Lights during the holiday season.

A few more details for festival day:

• Check-in: Friday's schedule lists check-in from noon to 2 p.m. at Peachtree Green.
• Weather: The resort's festival page says the event goes on rain or shine, with Game Changer, Summer House, the Grand Ballroom and the Blue Ridge Ballroom as indoor backups. Jody Jackson, executive director of Songwriters ATL, told the North Atlanta Star that indoor space is available if weather interferes.
• Food: The festival page suggests getting a bite at Game Changer.
• Changes: Venues and set times may shift, so check the final schedule before you leave the house.
• Staying over: Rooms at Legacy Lodge, Legacy Villas and the LakeHouses at Legacy can be booked through the festival page or by calling 770-945-8787.

Tickets are sold through Songwriters ATL. Part of ticket proceeds goes to Georgia Mountain Food Bank, the Jarrard Burch Songwriter Foundation and Amped Kids Music Foundation, the same group whose kids take the stage at Oliver Pointe on Saturday morning.

If a weekend like this makes you think about how close you are to the islands, or how close you'd like to be, Dani Burns has called Lake Lanier home since 2006 and is glad to talk through what living near Lanier Islands looks like. And if you're already here and just curious, start with Get Your Home's Value.