CJ Beach, Frontman of CJ & the Deadmen, Dies at 22

By Grace Kim

CJ Beach, the 22-year-old Tallahassee singer-songwriter and guitarist who fronted CJ & the Deadmen, died in a car crash over the weekend. Hours earlier, on Friday night, November 6, he had performed for a crowd at The Salty Donkey in Panacea.

Beach’s music blended country and southern rock and was drawing fans across Florida’s Big Bend. As leader of CJ & the Deadmen, he built a devoted following with stripped-down acoustic covers and original songs that he regularly shared online.

His powerful voice and natural ease onstage made him one of the region’s most promising young artists. Fans who caught him live often left discussing the future they expected for him.

Beach also sought to lift other musicians. He founded the Deadman Walking Festival, a grassroots (locally organized and supported) celebration of local talent.

The festival marked its fifth anniversary in April 2026 at The Palaver Tree Theatre in Crawfordville. The bill was led by Banquet and included:

• Madden Metcalf
• The Deadmen
• Palace Rats
• Blairstone
• Anemoia
• Apalach Sound

That mix of local acts showed how Beach’s festival functioned: it gave musicians from the surrounding scene a shared platform. He built the event while still in his early 20s, using it to support the community from which his own career had emerged.

Tributes then came from across the region. Tallahassee rock station X101.5 called Beach “one of the most talented young musicians the area had seen in a long time” and sent condolences to his friends, family and everyone lucky enough to hear him play live.

The band Sawgrass Zoo remembered him as an amazing talent and a wonderful human being. Sinners + Saints said Beach’s passion for music was felt by everyone who had the honour of hearing him sing and play.

His father, Charles Beach, thanked the community for its love and support. “I appreciate all of the outpouring feelings and thoughts about my son CJ,” he wrote. “Seeing all the posts with pictures and videos kills me, but I know he was loved by many and will be missed.”

What can residents change after Beach’s death?

Charles Beach asked residents to urge local officials to install warning lights and signs at the curve where the crash occurred. The stated aim was to spare other families the same loss.

His final show at The Salty Donkey provides the immediate context for that request: residents can press for lights and signs, and officials can install them. Deadman Walking Festival faces a separate practical question: whether the local platform Beach built can continue without him.

The next test for the festival is whether it can keep giving local acts the shared stage he created. For the wider community, Charles Beach’s request offers a more immediate measure: residents can ask for lights and signs, and officials can show whether the curve has changed after the fatal crash.