Toccoa to Get Sneak Peek at New Ken Burns “Country Music” Documentary

The City of Toccoa will once again be in the spotlight when a promotional tour for a new Ken Burns documentary comes to town.

Burns’ new documentary, “Country Music” will premier on PBS this fall, but before that, a promotional tour is planned at a number of locations around Georgia, and one of those stops, according to Main Street Event Coordinator Sharon Crosby, is Toccoa.

“Georgia Public Broadcasting is doing premieres around the state and they asked us here in Toccoa if we would be interested in having it premiere here,” Crosby said. “Unfortunately, he (Ken Burns) won’t be here and it will only be a 30-minute showing of the entire series, but we’re just really excited that they chose us for one of the venues and included us in that tour.”

Burns did his own tour around Tennessee earlier this year to promote the 16-hour film, but Crosby said he will not be part of the Georgia tour.

Crosby said the tour is coming to Toccoa July 30th and will be held in conjunction with the IDA Cox Music Festival.

“The first hour from 7p to 8p will be held in front the Ritz Theatre,” she said. “We’ll close off the street there and we’ll have three local groups play. Then we’ll move inside and have the showing. Then there will be a full concert by Edward Loudermilk. We’ll be rolling out the red carpet and we’re very excited about it.”

“Country Music” is a 8-part documentary that traces the history of the music genre, from its early beginnings to today’s more contemporary pop-country.

It will feature the biographies of some of the greats in country music, including the Carter Family, Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Patsy Cline, and Hank Williams, to name a few.

“Country Music” premieres on PBS Sunday, September 15 and Wednesday, September 18, and will air again Sunday, September 22 through Wednesday, September 25 from 8:00-10:00 p.