Fender and Toyota take your band on the road with Road Worn!

At Winter NAMM show 2009, Fender announced the Road Worn Competition, a nationwide band competition engaging musicians, and the dealers who support them, to submit their music for a chance to win a prize package worth more than $50,000. Until May 25, 2009, bands across the United States are invited to submit their music for a chance to win a road-ready prize package featuring a fully-customized Fender Road Worn 2008 Toyota Tundra with matching trailer (customized by Studio Number One and Obey Giant) full of Fender Road Worn series instruments, Fender electric guitar and bass amplification, a Gretsch drumset, and a fuel allowance of $1,500. Additionally, participating Fender dealers will host “casting calls” throughout the lifespan of the competition in an effort to provide bands with more opportunities to showcase their talents and create more excitement in and around their stores. The competition coincides with the release of Fender’s brand new Road Worn Series, a line of guitars and basses that come with a head start on history and bring the player the best of both worlds—a killer aged design aesthetic that conjures up the ghosts of past music lives, paired perfectly with the modern functionality, playability and high-quality that players expect. Based on classic Fender instruments of the 1950s and ’60s, and production methods invented at the Fender Custom Shop, Road Worn instruments reflect the mystic quality of life on the road. The series consists of a ’50s Tele, ’50s Strat, ’60s Strat, ’50s Precision Bass and ’60s Jazz Bass guitars. “The Fender Road Worn competition is intended as a spark to ignite the creative fires of music-makers nationwide,” said Justin Norvell, marketing director for Fender electric guitars. “The competition is a way to give national exposure to our players—our customers—and their incredible creativity. We’ve always said at Fender, we make art so our players can make their art, and now we’ll help share that art on a massive scale. The competition also deepens our partnership with Toyota, showing how both brands complement each other in a very natural and real way. It also presents participating authorized Fender dealers with one more opportunity to build relationships with their customers; to further ingrain themselves into their local communities and be a part of something truly special.”