Go down the list of country stars and it’s hard to find someone who hasn’t sung something tropical,” Frinzi says. Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson and Zac Brown all have songs about beaches, boats and beers. In fact, these three artists have done more than emulate Buffett’s style; they’ve all recorded a track with him.

The plethora of country crooners diving into tropical territory isn’t without cause: For starters, some of the world’s most popular songwriting festivals take place in Florida. “Most of Nashville relocates to Key West for a week in May,” says Frinzi. “The people writing for all the top country artists are heavily influenced by their time in Key West.” The 30A Songwriters Festival draws a similar crowd in winter. That area also teems with vacation homes for the biggest names in the Nashville music business, including Luke Bryan, Tim McGraw and Faith Hill.

“This is the vacation destination of a lot of Nashvillians,” says Bryan Kennedy, 56, a longtime songwriter for Garth Brooks. “If they’re not on tour, they’re probably here hanging out.”

Kennedy, the son of Grammy-nominated musician Jerry Kennedy, spent most of his life in the Music City, but he relocated to Santa Rosa Beach in 2007. Around the same time, he began to notice the effect of streaming services like Spotify on the way people consumed music. “I knew I needed to get out of the Nashville model—I could tell it was going to be all about manufacturing songs,” he says. “It’s such a fight to do it your own way. But I don’t think you ever fail if you are true to yourself.”

On morning runs along the Gulf Coast, Kennedy has found inspiration for three albums. He’s not alone in his pursuits. “We have so many venues here in this little 20-mile stretch of road and so many talented musicians who are truly local,” he says.