JPF Home Page Forums Just Plain Folks Roadtrips Roadtrip Forum 2007 JPF Roadtrip Press Release for those who need one!

Hi Folks,

In 9 years JPF has never sent out a press release. But we know many of you would like one to use yourselves for our upcoming Roadtrip tour and your local papers and websites. So I put one together that covers some of what we're up to. It can be chopped up in different sizes, but this should cover most needs.
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Just Plain Folks Hit The Road

Indianapolis, IN: Grassroots Music Organization Just Plain Folks (JPF) is hitting the road to tour the US Midwest and Southeast on a mission to bring local communities together in over 40 cities. The free volunteer run organization is the largest of it's type in the world with over 41,000 members in over 100 countries. Each year the staff of JPF picks a region or two in North America and sets up free networking and performance showcase events which allow local musicians of any genre and experience level to come together, play a song or two and meet their peers from the region. All the events are free and anyone is welcome to attend.

"We started these tours back in 1998 as a way to get artists into the same room together to meet, share contacts, share tips and in some cases create new bands and co-writing relationships with other artists and writers in their areas" say Brian Austin Whitney, the organizations founder. "Though the internet has offered the grassroots community a lot of new ways to connect with fans and peers, it can't replace the importance of meeting face to face, shaking hands, exchanging war stories and creative ideas." The JPF Staff sets up local venues in small and large towns in each region and invites the local music community to come out and join them. Since 1998, the organization has featured over 15,000 artists in events in 49 US States and 3 Canadian Provinces. In 2007, they will be visiting cities in OH, PA, MI, IL, WI, MN, ND, SD, NE, IA, KS, MO, IN, KY, WV, VA, NC, SC, FL, GA, AL and TN. A complete list of dates and venues is posted on their website.

After finishing their 2 US Tours, JPF will be heading to Europe and the UK for a 7 week tour later in 2007. "We've visited every US State except Alaska and some of the Canadian Provinces, so we thought it was time to visit our members in Europe and the UK." say's Linda Berger, the organizations Projects Director. "We plan to stop in France, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, Greece, Austria, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Holland, Belgium and the UK and see if they are as receptive to these events as the artists and songwriters in North America have been."

The organization is volunteer run and supports it's activities through sponsorships from community partners like TAXI and Disc Makers. "Those guys are really interested in giving back and supporting the broader music community. Without their support, these tours wouldn't be possible." In addition to the annual Roadtrips, JPF also runs the world's largest music awards. In 2006 they received over 350,000 songs and 25,500 albums in over 80 genres of music, making it significantly larger than any other music awards of any type. "The major televised awards programs only consider a tiny sliver of the music that is being made around the world. In 1998 we started collecting music from members and thought we should have an awards to recognize the other 98% of the music in the world. We never dreamed our little informal awards program would grow so large, but with the help of people like CD Baby, it's taken off into the stratosphere." says Brian. "It's gotten so big that we only do the awards every other year because it literally takes 18 months to screen all the music. We expect for 2008 we may receive over a half million songs and 40,000 albums."

JPF has no membership fees and all their events and programs are also free of charge. They have an active message board community where Mentors give accurate information to artists on a wide variety of topics. "The internet is a blessing and a curse for information seeking. There's as much incorrect info as there is factual resources, so we decided we needed to create a safe harbor for artists and writers to get the facts." says Brian. He adds "It's also become a good place to keep from being ripped off by one of the many industry sharks that feed on unenlightened musicians. If you need info, there's someone there who's been there and done that and can help you avoid the landmines while making your way towards your goals."

If you're an artist or songwriter or want to get involved in a Roadtrip or other JPF activity or program, simply sign up to join via their home page at www.justplainfolks.org. There's information on how to sign up for a roadtrip show, enter the awards or register on their message boards.