By allowing ads to appear on this site, you support the local businesses who, in turn, support great journalism.
Relive the music with the John Jarrard concert DVD
0320JarrardDVD
The DVD of last year’s concert honoring songwriter John Jarrard is available for $20 by calling Kay Blackstock at 770-535-7880.

For the first time since the concert’s inception, there is now a DVD to commemorate the event.

The annual John Jarrard benefit concert, held last August and organized by Gainesville native Bruce Burch, is now available on DVD. It features performances by Teddy Gentry, Jeff Cook, Buddy Buie, J.R. Cobb, Scotty Emerick, Dallas Davidson and Rhett Akins, along with the local acts who opened the show.

The DVD combines highlights of all the performers, Burch said, and is something he has been wanting to record a long time.

"We always wanted to have it recorded for posterity, and also to be able to sell it to folks, (because) there’s been so much interest in it each year," said Burch, director of the music business program at the University of Georgia and an accomplished songwriter. "And hopefully we’ll promote the concert for next year."

The DVD is $20 and is available by contacting Kay Blackstock at the North Georgia Community Foundation at 770-535-7880.

All proceeds go to the John Jarrard Fund, which is distributed by the North Georgia Community Foundation and benefits local charities such as Good News at Noon, Good News Clinics, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Hall County, The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society — Georgia Chapter and the new Georgia Mountains Food Bank.

The annual concert is held in memory of Jarrard, a well-known Nashville songwriter who died in 2001 after a long bout with diabetes.

Burch said the John Jarrard Foundation will be holding another concert in Jarrard’s honor at 9 p.m. April 30 at the Bluebird Cafe in Nashville.

The show will feature "all these guys who have played at our concert before, plus we’ve got a guy named J.P. Williams," Burch said. "He’s a blind songwriter and he was in the Tennessee School for the Blind, and John came and spoke to his class and sort of inspired him to go into songwriting."

The 2008 Bruce Burch and Friends concert honoring John Jarrard will take place Oct. 7, allowing guests a cooler atmosphere than the sweltering August heat.

"The heat has been our biggest enemy," Burch said. "So we’re gonna try it in October and hopefully it will be a little bit cooler."