Branson Jubilee hits national airwaves

Branson Jubilee, taped in and around Branson, promotes the city as a tourist destination and features performances by Branson favorites Mickey Gilley, Jim Stafford, Tony Orlando, Glen Campbell and others. Jimmy Osmond hosts the two-hour special, which airs locally on KOZK, said Jerry Lowther, co-owner of Branson Entertainment, which co-produces the seven-year-old show with Bel Air Productions of Los Angeles and WLIW in New York.

Other local public television stations covering nearly 80 percent of the nation have picked up the show, Lowther said.

“This should be a big, big thing for Branson,” Lowther said.

In a deal reached last week, Lowther said each station will run the two-hour special seven times and new one-hour shows weekly beginning in October. A two-hour special first aired June 18-19 in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut as a trial run.

Other performers involved with the show include Crystal Gayle, Ray Stevens, Les Brown Jr., Jake Simpson and Debra Moreno Lowther, Jerry Lowther’s wife. The show covers country to rock ‘n’ roll genres from the 1960s to the 1980s.

“We have a lot of Hollywood veterans helping us with this,” Lowther said.

Production costs have exceeded $1 million.

More information about Branson Jubilee will be in the Aug. 8 issue of SBJ.