BROOKINGS — There’s a certain kind of electricity that only happens when music, movement and community collide — the kind that turns front porches into organizing hubs, tiny clubs into cultural flashpoints and strangers into lifelong collaborators. On June 16, that energy is heading to Pioneer Park Bandshell.
As the U.S. approaches its 250th anniversary, Rural Progress is bringing the Backroads Tour to Brookings — part of a coast-to-coast live music run designed to celebrate the rebellious joy, cultural grit and community power that have always pulsed through rural America.
Running from May through July, the tour isn’t positioning itself as another packaged nostalgia trip or corporate-sponsored “heartland” campaign. Instead, Backroads is aiming for something bigger: a traveling cultural movement rooted in the idea that rural communities have always been at the center of America’s most transformative moments — and still are.
An evening that celebrates rural multiculturalism as a long-standing reality, recognizing Indigenous peoples and immigrants past and present who help sustain rural communities today.
Joe Troop headlines the Brookings show, joined by Paisley Fields and Eric Holm — a lineup that pairs marquee artistry with performers deeply connected to the communities the tour passes through.
The result sounds less like a traditional tour package and more like a rolling cultural exchange — one where local stories matter just as much as marquee names.
For years, conversations around rural America have flattened these communities into stereotypes or political talking points. Backroads flips that narrative on its head, putting creativity, mutual aid, organizing and cultural expression front and center. The tour’s ethos pulls from the same lineage that powered gatherings like Woodstock and Farm Aid — moments where music became infrastructure for something larger than entertainment.
“This is a really exciting moment for everyone who believes in the power of us together,” said Dom Holmes, director of culture and community at Rural Progress. “From Woodstock to Farm Aid, we have a history of coming together as a ragtag group of underdogs to make our bold dreams become reality.”
Centered on artist-organizers, independent venues, and community groups who do the work that really matters in rural communities, this tour is directly challenging what live events and space-making can be.
Matt Hildreth, executive director of Rural Progress, framed the tour as part of a much longer American story.
“America was born in rebellion,” Hildreth said. “That revolutionary spirit didn’t live only in Philadelphia. It took root in small towns, labor halls, churches, community centers and on front porches where neighbors gathered to debate, organize and demand a say in their own future.”
Free and open to the public, with local food trucks on site, neighboring towns and Brookings community organizations setting up booths, and a local group providing porta-potties, security, and first aid.
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