Owensboro to be featured in upcoming documentary series

Jul. 18—In 2018, Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the U.S. and American tourism, selected Owensboro as one of its top 10 American music cities alongside places including Austin, Texas; Detroit; Miami; Las Vegas; Minnesota; Mississippi; Nashville; New Orleans; and West Hollywood, California.

And on Monday, the Bluegrass Music Capital of the World saw a film crew from Los Angeles shooting a documentary throughout the city for a short independent documentary series for Brand USA's travel entertainment network — GoUSA TV.

Cat Miguez, producer of the project through Saville Productions, said the series — which is currently untitled — initially began as a pilot out in Lafayette, Louisiana, that was shot in May with the intention of highlighting music scenes in smaller cities that are "not as well known" along with its unique cultures.

"I'm from New Orleans, ... but we chose Lafayette over New Orleans because everyone does New Orleans," Miguez said. "We went to Lafayette to focus on zydeco music and Cajun music that is just not as well known around the world."

The series — hosted by Chander "Chunz" Kainth and Suniel Makh, known collectively as the United Kingdom DJ and MC duo Chunz X Makh — was greenlit and three more episodes were commissioned.

Recently, the crew finished filming in St. Louis and will head to Asheville, North Carolina, for its final stop.

Miguez said the purpose of the series is to "attract an international audience into the United States, specifically each city" featured.

"I think, common sense-wise, those bigger cities don't really have trouble attracting tourists," Miguez said. "When people think about Kentucky, they think of Louisville .... So being able to visit these smaller towns allows a more intimate feel.

"(We're) able to educate people and show people a side of a state that would never have been shown if it wasn't for filmmakers like us highlighting it."

"I think when people think about music quickly, they think about Nashville, they think about Memphis, maybe New Orleans," said Dave Kirk, destination management director for the Owensboro-Daviess County Convention & Visitors Bureau, "so it's great (GoUSA TV) realized there's quite a bit of music in the smaller communities as well."

For the Owensboro episode, the focal music is bluegrass and will include musicians like Mark Hargis and Mike Fulkerson of Kings Highway and J.B. Miller of Kentucky Shine.

"Owensboro might be the most hidden of them all when it comes to bluegrass," Kirk said, "but I think we're starting to tell that story, especially over the last couple of years, a little better and I think more people are starting to listen."

In terms of additional attractions, the crew will highlight the bourbon industry such as Green River Distilling Co.

"We work a lot with each tourism office in each city to kind of give us the popular tourism attractions and the things we're not privy to," Miguez said. "One thing that kept being brought to our attention was that there were a lot of distilleries here in Kentucky."

Other attractions Kirk said were part of the shooting schedule included Old Hickory Bar-B-Q, the Owensboro Riverfront and Western Kentucky Botanical Garden.

"... (The film crew) is being exposed to everything Owensboro has to offer," he said Monday.

Kirk hopes the city being featured in the series can help boost a renewed appeal with international travelers since the height of COVID-19, especially with the Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport bringing on Contour Airlines to offer daily flights to Chicago O'Hare International Airport starting Aug. 1.

"I think the (international travelers) are really into the smaller cities because they really offer a glimpse into American culture, into the authenticity of what smaller cities bring," he said. "... We lost so much with COVID. You went from 2020 being the worst year on record, to all those doors of international travel being closed, to everything opening back up again."

Each episode will be "at least 10 to 15 minutes" in length, Miguez said, and will be available on GoUSA TV's mobile app via Apple App Store and Google Play in the near future.

For more information about GoUSA TV, go to visittheusa.com/gousa-tv.