The Salt-Air Songwriters Residency will occur between Sunday March 29th and Wednesday, April 1st, 2026.

This residency will involve seven celebrated songwriters gathering from around the country to embark on a deep dive into OBX community, environment, and history in order to respond in song.  The songwriters will spend their mornings interacting with historians, community members, and the natural environment in pursuit of inspiration for afternoon songwriting sessions Monday the 30th, Tuesday the 31st, and the morning of Wednesday April 1st. With the resulting compositions presented at a capstone performance at the Pioneer Theater the night of April 1st.

In addition to the final concert, the songwriters will lead a Tuesday night parlor talk for local musicians and creatives discussing their professional careers, the creative processes and approaches to a project such as this one. Along with meet and greet opportunities before the capstone performance, this will be an excellent opportunity for the community to peek into the workings of the residency.

The songwriters featured this year will be:

-Craig Honeycutt
-Paige King Johnson
-Terry Klein
-Buddy Mondlock
-Rees Shad
-Steve Van Dam
-Andy Waldeck
Director and organizer of the Residency, and managing partner of the Pioneer Theater, Michael Basnight has expressed his expectation that this will further the awareness of Manteo and it’s surrounding communities to inspire an even greater creative music scene on the Outer Banks.  His hope is to bring the writers back for a follow up visit to form a 2027 writing retreat to encourage up-and-coming songwriters in their work.

For more information about the residency, please reach out to

Angie Austin
[email protected]
(252) 599-2244