Two-time Grammy award winning Hootie & the Blowfish will gear up and hit the road again this summer, but it’s not all about music. In conjunction with the Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation, the band's nationwide Homegrown Concert Series is spearheading an effort to collect school supplies for economically disadvantaged schools in each community it visits and will launch the 14-City Homegrown tour on July 3rd, 2007 in Lewiston, NY. To date, the band and their loyal fans have helped fill 21 busloads, totally around $100,000 worth of much needed school supplies for children.

Hootie & the Blowfish--made up of Mark Bryan, Dean Felber, Darius Rucker, and Jim “Soni” Sonefeld--is one of the most successful music groups of all time and since their first album debuted in 1994, the band has played to millions of fans and sold over 25 million albums worldwide. Because of this entitlement, Hootie & the Blowfish believe they have a responsibility to use their celebrity status to help improve the lives of those in need, especially children. They often take the lead in creating projects where they can join forces with other organizations to help make a positive difference in lives of today’s youth. The Hootie & the Blowfish Foundation was founded just for that purpose. As a private non-profit organization, The Foundation was originally created in 2000 to benefit children of South Carolina through education and supporting school music programs—since, it has spread to a nationwide campaign.

“The children are our best resource and our most hopeful investment. With proper tools, our children can receive a well-rounded and meaningful education,” says lead singer, Darius Rucker.

In 2003 the band members established an annual concert in their hometown, Charleston, SC, as a way to help raise awareness to the needs of local school children in the community. Every year many schools are forced to receive budget cuts that ultimately in one way or another affects the quality of education each child receives. The night of the concert, ticket holders were asked to bring school supplies of any kind to the concert held at Family Circle Magazine Stadium. The response was overwhelming, and the Charleston County School District children were the beneficiaries of a generous community effort. A 55-seat school bus was filled from top to bottom with school supplies and following the concert those supplies were distributed to the schools and teachers who were in most need.

Knowing the positive effect this project had on kids and the community, the band wanted to expand the concert into other markets of South and North Carolina. In 2004, In addition to Charleston, SC, the Homegrown Concert Series added Columbia, SC, Anderson, SC and Raleigh, NC to its list of markets, and successfully filled a school bus in each community with schools supplies. In 2006, the band took the Homegrown Tour to a nationally level, expanding the tour to 12 dates where they have tallied their combined efforts with the fans to raise over $100,000 worth of much needed school supplies for children.

This year Hootie & the Blowfish, will expand the concert series once more, picking up a total of 14 stops, kicking off in Lewiston, NY and taking the band through Atlanta, Groton, CT, the DC area, Glendale, AZ, Highland Park, IL, Charleston, SC, Indianapolis, IN, and Detroit.


Homegrown Concert Series:

July 3 Artpark, Lewiston, NY
July 4 New London Sub Base, Groton, CT
July 6 Chastain Park, Atlanta, GA
July 8 Wolftrap, Vienna, VA
July 11 Innsbrook Pavilion, Glen Allen, VA
July 13 Navy Base, Norfolk, VA
July 15 Vol. Fire Station, St. Leonard, MD
August 4 Jobing.com Arena, Glendale, AZ
August 10 Honey Horn Plantation, Hilton Head, SC
August 11 Wild Adventures, Valdosta, GA
August 15 Ravinia Pavilion, Highland Park, IL
August 24 Family Circle Stadium, Charleston, SC
Sept. 2 Military Park, Indianapolis, IN
Sept. 3 DTE Center, Detroit, MI


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