The Twang Alliance of Central Ohio Mission Statement
The Twang Alliance of Central Ohio (TACO) is a not-for-profit organization whose mission is to provide a forum for the advocacy of “Alt-Country”, “Roots Rock”, “Americana” and other forms of Twang music in Columbus, OH and the surrounding region and to promote public awareness of the genre to support the creative and economic viability of professionals in this field. In short, we are a Twang-related music association dedicated to building and promoting the Twang music genre and the individuals who participate in our industry.
What is Twang music?
The musical styles of artists that come under the Twang umbrella often have little in common, ranging from traditional American folk tunes and bluegrass, through rockabilly and honky-tonk, to music that is indistinguishable from mainstream rock or country. Indeed, many Twang artists come from punk and rock backgrounds.
Twang music is often popularly referred to, especially in print, by many other names, including "Americana," "alt-country" or sometimes "alt.country," "rockabilly," "trashcan Americana", "insurgent country", "neotraditional", "no depression", "cowpunk", "progressive country", "regressive country", "lo-fi country", "roots rock", "twang core", "rural contemporary", "country-punk", "y'allternative", "hick rock", "count-rock", "alternative country-rock" and many others. Neologisms such as "citygrass" and "deathcountry" have also been coined to describe some artists within the genre.
How that mission is accomplished
The Twang Alliance of Central Ohio works closely with those in our industry, whether artists, radio stations, print media, festivals, agents, clubs, etc. to help organize and build the local infrastructure necessary for our genre to achieve success both creatively and financially.
To that end we conduct an ongoing publicity campaign to help raise the collective and individual brand awareness of local Twang musicians, host a series of showcases, collaborate with local clubs to promote visiting national Twang or Americana acts, and serve as an advocate on behalf of the genre's local interests.
We also focus on creating attention for the local public profile of Twang and Americana music. These efforts to enhance the general awareness of Twang take the form of projects that increase general visibility and help brand the genre - all with the ultimate goal of connecting artists to an appreciative audience.
Some of these efforts have direct impact and produce immediate, visible results. Some are indirect or ongoing in their nature, and may take much longer to bear fruit or prove their value. All are important, as we're in this for the long haul.
