Detroit Creatives Promote This Year’s Ponderosa Stomp Roots Festival with Classic Televangelist Footage

By Patrick Coffee 

Full disclosure: we had never heard of the Ponderosa Stomp Festival before today.

But it’s an annual event in New Orleans bringing you the “OLD TESTAMENT OF ROCK AND ROLL!” for 15 years. Past participants have included such names as Roky Erickson (playing the songs of the 13th Floor Elevators), Gary US Bonds, the Gories, the Mummies … some pure-T kickass roots rock.

This year, the festival hired a group of Detroit-based creatives led by Tim Mahoney to promote the events, which will go down from October 5-7. They’ve made a couple of spots that draw on some of our favorite footage: retro televangelists.

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We’re pretty sure that’s Robert Tilton, but don’t quote us on it. The next spot provides a bit more of that classic rock feeling via a certain snake charmer.

From the email we got about the project:

And lo! The good word shall be delivered to the unenlightened by means of a divinely ordained campaign of online broadcasts, outdoor advertisements, spiritual missives on Facebook and Instagram, and righteous merchandise. Say it loud brothers and sisters, #StompSaves.

The festival itself goes by the tagline “3 days of the best music you’ve never heard of,” which is quite great. Here’s another look at the kind of stuff you can expect down there.

The Instagram account also uses that #StompSaves tag, which is very much in keeping with the rock music as religious experience theme. And anyone who grew up in the ’80s will remember the televangelists. If not, you can always consider their modern-day equivalents like “prosperity gospel” bro Joel Osteen and our personal favorite, Creflo Dollar (or Mr. $65 Million Personal Jet).

Tim Mahoney led the project-based assignment with Kerri Mahoney on art, Andi Mahoney and Gregory Lane on copy, Derek Swanson, Michele Swanson, Randall Kupfer handling production/editorial and Dave Graw on the animation.

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