Side Effects May Include Community

Today we’re launching the Backroads Tour video.

It’s a fake pharmaceutical commercial for rural America, and it might be the most honest thing we’ve put out all year.

Watch our launch video here

This year, America turns 250. At times, the country feels every bit of it. A lot of people feel worn down. Civic life can feel distant. Community connections can feel thinner than they used to.

So we made a commercial for a cure.

It’s called Backrodium™. Also known as the “Backroads Tour.”

Backrodium™ treats civic fatigue, community disconnection, and chronic scrolling. The ad has all the usual features. A concerned influencer. A dramatic voiceover. Quick cuts of doomscrolling and existential dread.

Then it tells the truth.

Backrodium™ is participation. It’s showing up. It’s building community in real life.

The video features Raury and Joe Troop, artists who will headline different legs of the tour.

Raury, from Stone Mountain, Georgia, brings a genre-blending Southern sound rooted in folk, hip-hop, and country traditions. His work feels grounded in place and open to the future.

Joe Troop delivers the kind of folk music built for union halls, community centers, and front porches. It is music meant for rooms where people gather, listen, and decide what comes next.

In celebration of rural America’s role in the nation’s 250th anniversary, Rural Progress is launching the Backroads Tour, a nationwide live music tour designed to strengthen community life in small towns and micropolitan communities.

From May through July 2026, the Backroads Tour will travel coast to coast, hosting intimate community concerts that bring together artists, organizers, and local leaders. Each stop pairs nationally recognized performers with local artists. America’s story is national, and it is local.

Headliners announced today include Raury and Joe Troop, with additional artists to be named in the coming weeks. The lineup reflects the depth and diversity of rural American music and the communities that sustain it.

Community members who would like to nominate their town for a Backroads event can submit a nomination through our website. Anyone who would like to recommend a rural-connected artist can fill out the artist submission form.

Dom Holmes, Director of Culture and Community at Rural Progress, said:

“This is a really exciting moment for everyone who believes in the power of us together. Once upon a time, we dreamt together boldly about what we could be collectively and then we went and made it happen. From Woodstock to Farm Aid, we have a history of coming together to make bold dreams reality. In rural America today, we are more disconnected than ever, paying more and getting less, and having our voices shrunk by big dollars and corporate interests. We need community and movement now more than ever and this will be the glue that brings that together.”

The tour kicks off in Atlanta, Georgia on May 23 and culminates July 4 in Seattle, Washington. Twelve shows are announced today, with additional dates to follow.

For tour dates, partnership opportunities, or more information, click here.