It's been a while since I've been able to do more lyrics updates. I've now completed migrating all of the lyrics starting with H.

Also, Ralph Clark has submitted 2 original songs of his for inclusion into the lyrics database. In addition to the lyrics, he has also sent mp3 files for both which you will find below the lyrics on their respective pages. Check them out at the links below and if you're interested in recording either of the songs, contact Ralph at ralph@clarkwelding.com.

• In A Better Place
• Dusty Gravel Lanes
  

It's been a little while since the last lyrics update. Work has been pretty crazy and thus I haven't been able to dedicate a ton of times to getting the lyrics migrated over. However, this weekend I was able to finish migrating the lyrics for F and G from the old site to the new.

On another note, I'm a big fan of very musical solo guitar which naturally brings me to the great guitarist David Grier. I've had the opportunity to spend some time with David and really listen to his style while playing a festival put on by my dear friend Andy Carlson at a festival he puts on at Denison University in Granville Ohio.

David has a great musical sense with a delicacy, gentleness and subtlety rarely heard among bluegrass musicians. Here is a great example of that musicianship in a video my friend Greg Earnest sent me.

Website: http://www.carolinabluegrassfestival.com
Tickets: $25 to $50 depending on seats

With lively bluegrass music, Heybro Productions reaches out to help feed the hungry at The Carolina Bluegrass Festival, benefiting the organizationStop Hunger Now, occurring on Sunday, May 17th, 2009 at the Koka Booth Amphitheater in Cary, NC. A percentage of the proceeds from the event will go directly to Stop Hunger Now.

There are 5 Grammy nominated national bluegrass acts scheduled to play for the Carolina Bluegrass Festival:

• The Del McCoury Band
• Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver 
• The Tony Rice Unit 
• IIIrd Tyme Out
• Rhonda Vincent & The Rage
• Al Batten & the Bluegrass Reunion
• No Strings Attached
  

With this lineup, the festival will be a fun, family friendly event filled with energetic bluegrass. The Koka Booth Amphitheater is a beautiful venue by the water with a capacity of 7000, and has sold out attendance more from 2006 – 2008 than it has in its entire history. Heightening this experience, the talented, award-winning bluegrass musicians on the playbill are guaranteed to draw many families and music lovers all to help put an end to hunger.

Established in 1998, Stop Hunger Now is a 501(c)3 non-governmental relief organization that coordinates food and medical aid projects across the globe. Their mission is to provide the maximum amount of food and life saving aid to the maximum number of the most poor and hungry throughout the world in the most rapid, efficient and effective manner.

LeMars, Iowa: Plans are gearing up for the 34th National Old Time Music & Crafts Festival at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds in LeMars, Iowa.

"This event, now in it's 34th year, has become an oasis of like-minded folks who not only enjoy their music a little softer, a little more real, and a little more acoustic-rural in style, It is also an event that takes a strong liking to arts and crafts done in the old way. Quilts for example have been a long time favorite at this festival, but anything done by hand that has a connection to 'rural in nature' will find a welcome and profitable home," says Bob Everhart, Director of the event.

The gathering has moved from various locations over the years, Council Bluffs, Avoca, and Missouri Valley, being previous locations. "We've outgrown most of the venues we've been at, and are quite happy with the Plymouth County Fairgrounds in LeMars, where we will be for the next five years. The main building is air conditioned, and we have nine other entertainment locations throughout the grounds, which attracts a huge number of people who are interested in the heritage of America's rural music as well as all kinds of arts and crafts. The timing is perfect for early Christmas shoppers, and that seems to be the way of America these days, getting the best for the least. It's how we do business," Everhart adds.

The festival boasts ten sound stages and well over 600 performers of America's great heritage music. Arts and Crafts are a priority too. There are indoor (locked at night) buildings, and outside canopy spaces available for artisans and craftsmen. The 'cost' of doing business is incredible according to Everhart. "We don't charge a lot for space rental. $10 at day with a four-day minimum isn't much for a 7-day festival, because we have large crowds even on the first day of operation. Electricity in the space is $2 per day. We can't make it much easier or less expensive, that is our break-even point for the floor space we rent."

There is also a tipi village on the grounds, and Native Americans are urged to participate with their own arts and crafts as well as music. The original "USA Native American Flute Championships" takes place at this event, featuring not only playing the instrument but also building it.

A food court on the ground has something for everyone, and the arts and crafts canopies are intermingled in this area.

Dates for the event are August 31-September 6, 2009, and Everhart urges any interested artisan to contact him via e-mail for space availability and an application. He is at bobeverhart@yahoo.com You can also look up the event on the internet at http://www.oldtimemusic.tipzu.com or you can submit an inquiry to PO Box 492, Anita, Iowa, 50020.

You can find more information about the festival here:
http://www.oldtimemusic.tipzu.com/34th-national-old-time-country-amp-bluegrass-festival

Still chugging along but a little slower now that vacation is over with. Still trying to get a few lyrics done per day. I've completed lyrics starting with D and E now. I'm thinking about going ahead and making the site live even without all of the lyrics. Some of the lyrics wouldn't be available for a while, but would probably help keep me on track knowing that the lyrics weren't complete.

It's slow going but I'm making progress in migrating the lyrics from the old site to this one. I'm done with A-C and X-Z. Now I just have to do the middle part. ;)

I've spent the last couple of days migrating song lyrics from the old site to this site as well as answering email. In the lyrics database, I've made it through the B's and am about to start on the C's.

In the time that BluegrassNet has been idle, I have also not checked, read or answered any emails coming to me about the site. So, yesterday I spent a lot of time going through old emails and responding to requests. I'm ashamed to say that some of these emails I responded to were a year and a half old.

There were several song submissions that I've added to the new site database as well as lots of corrections to lyrics that I've integrated.

Anyway, updates are continuing so bear with me during the migration.

It's a bit embarrassing, but up until now I hadn't updated BluegrassNet since January 21, 2002. That is just sad. Well, since I'm on vacation for the holidays, I decided to migrate the site to a new format that is much more maintainable.

The previous version of the site was pretty much entirely hand coded HTML which made it really difficult to change anything (especially site-wide). I looked at a number of content managment systems such as Drupal and Joomla but realized they were really a bit more than I needed. To keep things simple, and since it really does everything I need for a site of this type, I decided to just use Google Sites. It's easy to update and so I should be able to be more responsive to requests and do more frequent updates.

I've not found a good way to migrate the entire 1200 song lyrics database to Google Sites, so I'm going to be doing it pretty much manually. Unfortunately, it is going to take me some time to get them all migrated so there may be a period of time when the lyrics database is not available.

Anyway, welcome to the new BluegrassNet and please bear with me as I get the old data migrated and get the new stuff in place.