POSTED: Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 6:41pm
UPDATED: Thursday, October 20, 2011 - 7:06pm
BATON ROUGE, LA (NBC33) — High gas prices have become a red light for many independent touring musicians, but a new green tour hopes to change that. The first stop for that tour is here in Baton Rouge.
Singer-songwriter Graham Colton is no stranger to touring. He’s been doing so for the last decade, and has taken every approach from small van tours, to one on a bus sponsored by a major label. In fact, Colton is no stranger to Louisiana. He made several stops here while touring with the New Orleans-based band, Better Than Ezra.
For all his experience Colton has never experienced the pain at the pump like what is being witnessed right now across the nation. High gas prices nearly put a stop to his independent career. That’s when he came up with the idea to go natural.
"It’s so expensive for guys like us to go on the road,” Colton explained. “We pay four dollars in gas every gallon."
After much research, Colton came up with the idea to drive a vehicle that runs on compressed natural gas, or CNG for short.
“This tour hits very close to home for me because natural gas is a fuel that’s produced in my home state of Oklahoma ,” Colton said. “Driving a CNG vehicle gives me an opportunity to do my part in limiting my eco-footprint, as well as raise awareness about American dependence on foreign resources and oil. By educating people along the tour, I hope to show my fans just how detrimental our reliance on foreign oil is, and how making the switch to compressed natural gas can not only help us end that reliance, but also make a powerful, positive impact in the battle to curb carbon emissions.”
For the next two-and-half months the band will document the entire tour with journals, video and photos. Their stop in Baton Rouge will be included in that journal. All of that will be posted on CNGnow.com [1]. Along with learning more about the benefits of natural gas, Colton is offering fans a free song for download.
"Hopefully this is the beginning in the next couple of years you'll see more CNG natural gas stations across the country and it's about half as expensive," he added.
The show tonight will be held at Red Star Bar, which is located in downtown Baton Rouge on Laurel near Third Street. Admission to the show is $5, and the performance will begin at 10 p.m.
Remaining "Go Natural" tour dates
October
24 New Orleans , LA House of Blues(Parish Room)
25 Houston , TX The Mucky Duck
27 Ft. Worth , TX Lolas
November
1 Athens , GA New Earth Music Hall
2 Atlanta , GA Vinyl
4 Jackson, MS Hal and Mals
5 Birmingham , AL Workplay Theater
6 Nashville , TN 12th & Porter
7 Chattanooga , TN Rhythm & Brews
11 Charlotte , NC Evening Muse
December
8 Westchester , PA The Note
9 Vienna , VA Jammin’ Java
10 Easton , MD Night Cat
12 Wilmington , DE World Café Live at Queen
15 Chicago , IL Lincoln Hall
16 Ann Arbor , MI The Arc