Kenny Chesney to headline inaugural Tortuga Music Festival in April

A new music festival will be launched next spring with the dual goal of entertaining fans, and helping preserve the Earth’s oceans. Announced as the festival’s first headliner is Kenny Chesney (right) , an avowed ocean lover.

The inaugural Tortuga Music Festival has been scheduled for April 13-14, 2013 in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The event is being organized by the charity Rock The Ocean, in conjunction HUKA Entertainment and sponsor Landshark Lager.

In addition to Chesney, more than 20 acts are scheduled to play on three stages at the all-genre festival including the Avett Brothers, the Eli Young Band, Gary Allan, Kip Moore, Gloriana, Mac McAnally, Michael Franti & Spearhead, G. Love and Special Sauce, Sister Hazel and Gary Clark Jr. A second headliner from the rock world, along with another group of performers, will be announced in the coming weeks.

One of the festival organizers’ aims is to use the event to educate music lovers and provide them with the tools they need to help in ocean conservation efforts. In partnership with Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and Ocean Conservancy, a Conservation Village will be located on site for those educational purposes.

The Eli Young Band’s lead singer Mike Eli (pictured in the plaid shirt) tells One Country his band wanted to get involved with the festival because “everybody loves the beach. The last thing anyone ever wants is to lose something that we love so much. We, luckily, are in the generation of folks that are really starting to care about what’s going on in the environment and I think that conserving our beaches and our oceans is a big deal . . . So being a part of something like this just gives us a [feeling] . . . that we’re conserving something that our grandchildren will be able to love as much as we do.”

As for the festival itself, Eli says he’s most looking forward to seeing the Avett Brothers perform. “I’m a huge fan, so I’m really excited about them playing the festival.”

The stages will be set up directly on Fort Lauderdale’s beaches. In addition to the performances, the event will offer local culinary fare including sustainable seafood as well as traditional festival food favorites.

Tickets go on sale Saturday, Dec. 15 at www.tortugamusicfest​ival.com.