KEY WEST, Florida Keys - More than 60 of the United States' top performing songwriters, including the writer of "I Need You" for Faith Hill and Tim McGraw, are to showcase their talents in a tropical setting during the 11th annual Key West Songwriters' Festival.

Scheduled through Sunday, May 7, the critically acclaimed festival is to allow audiences a chance to hear some of the hottest songs in the country, performed with the passion that only their writers can give them.

In more than 20 concert offerings at bars, restaurants, waterfront locales and even a sailing catamaran, the writers are to sing and play their hits, debut new music and share the stories behind their songs.

Headquartered at the Hog's Breath Saloon, 400 Front St., the Key West Songwriters' Festival is supported by the international performing rights organizations BMI and ASCAP as well as by the Nashville Songwriters Association International.

Longtime festival participant Chuck Cannon is slated to return to head the roster of stellar writer/performers. Among his other triumphs, Cannon penned the number-one hits "American Soldier" and the lively payback anthem "How Do You Like Me Now" for superstar Toby Keith.

Other songwriting standouts at the Key West event include David Lee, writer of "I Need You" as well as the John Michael Montgomery smash "Letters From Home"; Scotty Emerick, who has collaborated with Keith to create such hits as "Beer for My Horses" and "I'm Just Talkin' About Tonight"; Rivers Rutherford, whose number-one singles include "If You Ever Stop Loving Me" for Montgomery Gentry and "Real Good Man" performed by Tim McGraw; Jeffrey Steele, who has seen more than 200 of his songs recorded by Nashville's leading lights in recent years; Phillip White, who wrote Reba McEntire's "Survivor" and co-wrote Rascal Flatts' smash "I'm Movin' On"; and Craig Wiseman, who co-wrote the Grammy-winning Tim McGraw mega-hit "Live Like You Were Dying" and penned more than a dozen other chart-toppers.

During the Key West festival, these writers and others are to perform in individual showcases, group concerts and lively jam sessions that bring out their creative best. The Key West event also is to feature performer Eddy Raven and master guitarist/producer Billy Joe Walker Jr.

A minimum of five performances per day, each featuring multiple writers singing their hits, are scheduled through Saturday at popular island venues - including a pair of sunset cruise concerts aboard the catamaran Fury and a Saturday night show at Key West's Tropic Cinema, 416 Eaton St.

Tickets for the musical sunset sails are $59 per person, and admission includes appetizers, beer wine, champagne and margaritas. Tickets for the Tropic Cinema show are $25 per person in advance and $30 at the door.

The traditionally popular Friday and Saturday night performances in the upstairs Writer's Room at the Hog's Breath Saloon already are sold out.

Two early evening shows are set to conclude the festival Sunday, May 7.

For more information about the Key West Songwriters' Festival, tickets for the sunset sail and Tropic Cinema shows and a detailed schedule of performances, visit www.kwswf.com or call Hog's Breath at (305) 296-4222.

For lodging information in Key West, contact the Key West Chamber of Commerce at 1-800-LAST-KEY (800-527-8539), or explore this Web site.