Surprise All-American Rejects concert highlights Tulsa Music Month

A surprise concert by Oklahoma’s own All-American Rejects helped kick off Tulsa Music Month, spotlighting a growing effort to support local bands through the “Tulsa on Tour” program.

All-American Rejects Go Viral with Intimate Tulsa Show

“They’ve been doing their house concert series, which essentially was a response to how expensive these large shows have gotten,” said Natalie Bowling with the Tulsa Office of Film, Music, Arts, and Culture. “They just wanted to create a show that was accessible to anybody.”

The pop-up concert doubled as a fundraiser. “All of the donations are suggested, but anybody that wanted to donate contributed to our Tulsa on Tour program,” she said.

Tulsa on Tour: Helping Local Bands Hit the Road

“We have a program that we set up a year ago that helps bands get on the road,” said Meg Gould. “If you have a tour that’s more than four dates outside of the region of Tulsa, then you can qualify for $250 to $1,000 back to help you get on the road.”

She added, “We just ask them to talk about Tulsa, talk about Tulsa being a music city, talk about their favorite things to do in Tulsa, and be our ambassador when they’re on the road.”

$30,000 Granted to Local Musicians in One Year

“We supported 151 unique musicians through this program with that amount of money, and that’s 40 unique bands,” Bowling said. “That’s everything from a band that’s going on their first tour ever to JD McPherson when he was supporting Robert Plant on the last leg.”

“It may be a little bit of money, but it’s just enough to help them get that last push to be able to get on the road,” Gould said. “We helped Johnny Mullenix go to France.”

Where to Learn More or Donate

“They can go to our website, which is TulsaFMAC.com and click on music and scroll down and they’ll see Tulsa on Tour,” Gould said. “We’re still accepting donations. So anything from $1 to whatever you want—we’re happy to use it to directly support musicians.”