New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Fast rising country artist Joe Berk embarked on his socially-distanced, fan-funded "The Pandemic Tour" today. He will be making stops in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada and Utah during the first leg, ending on 12/21.
"The Pandemic Tour" is completely fan-funded, with incentives like t-shirts, drink koozies, music video credits, unique experiences and more rewarded to donors. Joe will start off the campaign by donating 10% of all proceeds to VH1's Save The
Music Foundation, which partners with local communities and school districts to build sustainable music programs. Due to Covid-19, many schools have been forced to cut musical arts programs from curriculums, causing extracurricular activities like chorus and band to suffer. The more money raised during "The Pandemic Tour," the higher percentage donated - with an ambitious goal of $1B. If Joe achieves this $1B goal, he has pledged to donate 100% of all proceeds.
The tour, which will take place in open fields, driveways and front lawns, will be completely live-streamed, with footage being used in Joe's upcoming music video for his song "Firsts." Covid-19 precautions will be taken at each stop, where attendees will be encouraged to wear masks, remain at least six-feet apart and follow all CDC guidelines.
"They said Joe, you're crazy...there's no way you can just come up with an idea, plan a tour and set off on your journey with only five days notice," he explains. "Well, I'm here to prove all the haters wrong and hopefully put the biggest smile on their faces when I get to their town! My goal is to make this the biggest live music event of 2020, and I'm not going to stop until WE make it happen. Just stay distanced, shout to each other and let's show the world we can still have a party. Imagine something as sick as Fyre Festival, but it actually happens!"
About Joe Berk: What is country music these days anyways? While the genre has in a way become genre-less, it has always meant one thing to Joe Berk - the story of your roots and what you grew up on. As long as the lyrics tell a great story, and you incorporate country sounds like banjos and pedal steel - that's country music.
Known for his high intellect, ambition and extreme work ethic, Joe graduated from University of Michigan with a 4.11 GPA. He spent a year and a half working as a Big 3 Management consultant with McKinsey & Company, helping multi-billion dollar companies solve their toughest problems. After spending up to 80 hours a week working in cars, planes and hotel rooms, Joe realized it was time to move on and chase his true passion - music.
Drawing inspiration from R&B, Motown, Rock, and Hip-Hop, he has fused those elements with traditional country songwriting to develop a unique sound with witty lyrics and catchy modern hooks.
Joe's debut single "Tie A Knot", which has been featured on Detroit's biggest country station, 99.5 WYCD, is a prime example, which tells the story of a relationship through all the little moments.
Over the past month, Joe has absolutely BLOWN UP on social media - accumulating over 1M total views on his videos, 10K followers on Instagram and another 5K on TikTok. He is also now working with some of the best Grammy-nominated producers in Nashville, TN, and is starting to receive features and reposts on some of the biggest social media outlets in the country music space (e.g., Yee Yee Apparel, which has over 350K followers on Instagram and is owned by country music star Granger Smith).
Joe released his most recent single, "A Guy's Girl," in October 2020, with the music video acquiring almost 8,000 views. Joe has been featured in various publications, such as Medium, Vents Magazine, Grubs & Grooves,
Music and Tour News,
Divine Magazine, Volatile Weekly and more.
For more information on Joe, visit www.joeberkmusic.com and follow him on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok and Spotify.
