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Sample Press Release

Below is a sample one-page press release.  If you are a promoter or publicity coordinator new to the PR biz, this might help guide you.  If you simply fill in the blanks and italicized areas, and paste the result into your own word processor, you will have an adequate press release for your local media outlets.

HOWEVER, I urge you to customize your press releases to better represent your organization or venue.  Like any skill, writing a press release becomes easier and the results more polished with practice and exercise.

You might consider using other quotes from my press kit, or composing a paragraph about my background or my music in the style of your local paper, if you know they tend to reprint press releases in whole. The copy below may not be as "dry" as some larger newspapers prefer.  If you have experience to lead you to believe they would print more verbiage, then write a little more, or add another page.  But in general, pithy is better than wordy.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                    [today's date]

CONTACT: [your local publicity persons name, address, phone, fax, email and organization's website if any]

HEADLINE:

FOLKSINGER JOEL MABUS TO APPEAR AT ______________________

BODY:

_____[organization or ]_______________________  is proud to present nationally known folksinger, Joel Mabus, in concert on ______[date]_______ at ________[time]________.  The concert will be held at ________[venue name with location]_____ and tickets are _____[price]_____________and available at ___[ticket sale details]________.

Singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Joel Mabus is a maverick in the folk music world.  He defies any easy pigeonhole.  By turns, he picks a mountain banjo to accompany an ancient ballad, sings a witty song about modern life, plays a sweet Irish melody on guitar, swings a hot jazz number, and then reaches deep for a soulful expression of values in a troubled world. He tops it all with a fiddle tune or old Carter family song -- all skillfully blended into a seamless flow. One fan said “Its music from the heart that hits you right between the eyes.” 

 A mainstay on the folk circuit these past 40 years, Joel has 24 albums to his credit; the latest are A Bird In This World (2015) - original songs that take on the blues and Pepper's Ghost  (2013) - an award-winning 5-string banjo album. He has performed in concert with such folk music stars as John Prine, Joan Baez and Tom Paxton, and has been featured at the top folk clubs and festivals, such as the Philadelphia Folk Festival and Vancouver Folk Festival.

”It's hard to imagine another artist on the folk scene who combines the same concise, deceptively understated, lyrical insight and sometimes devastating wit with such world-class instrumental prowess.”         CHRIS RIETZ -- MUSICHOUND FOLK

”It's not just a wealth of musical styles or his smooth and expressive voice that have made Mabus such a fine artist. His songs, which range from thoughtful to silly to poetic, show that he knows his way around the English language and American culture just as well as he knows his way around a fretboard.” JEFF GARRITY --  CAPITAL TIMES

[A PARAGRAPH HERE ABOUT YOUR ORGANIZATION OR VENUE OR ANYTHING SPECIAL ABOUT THE CONCERT SUCH AS A BENEFIT FUNDRAISER OR ANNIVERSARY EVENT . INCLUDE DIRECTIONS IF THE LOCATION IS OUT-OF-THE-WAY]

Joel Mabus is available for phone interview.  Please contact ________[your local designee]______________ to set up a time that is convenient.

Please visit Joel’s excellent website at  www.joelmabus.com  for  much more information, including mp3's and contact info. 
Be sure to visit his online press kit at http://joelmabus.com/press_kit_online.htm  for full bio, detailed copy, and downloadable jpeg photos at 300 dpi.