Old Time Music

LeMars, Iowa.....LeMars, Iowa, is the home of Blue Bunny Ice Cream, the largest manufacturer of ice cream in the world. It's also a north-east Iowa rural area surrounded by corn fields. According to Sheila Everhart, Director of the upcoming 33rd Annual old-time rural roots music festival, "We're expecting the largest influx of foreign performers,and guests, from foreign countries at record breaking numbers this year. We're definitely not the Olympics, but we are just as concerned with our traditions and our cultural heritage as the Chinese are, and we have several gold medalists coming from Iowa in Bejing to prove the athletic side of Iowa. Now we begin the process of proving the validity of Iowa's traditional music.

The word is out, the museum auditorium has been obtained in LeMars, Iowa, for a fund-raiser program to help victims of Eastern Iowa's tragic flooding. Running 6pm-midnight, the segments are divided up in 20 minutes for single and duets, and half-hour for groups. If you are coming to the big festival in LeMars, Aug 25-31, it's a wonderful opportunity to check in early, play some great old-time music, and help those in desperate need in Eastern Iowa. There is talk of setting up a 7-day tour across Iowa playing each night in a different location (WalMart has been contacted) to raise money for the same purpose. Sign on early to guarantee a performance spot. You can sell CD's and we encourage that.

We announced on June 10, that the NTCMA and the Oak Tree Opry will provide talent for a promotion at the Crackerbarrel Restaurant in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on July 12, 10am-7pm. We hope to be able to get a foot in the door, by providing local and regional recording artists an opportunity to have their product for sale in the Crackerbarrel Store. This is a first-time attempt, and if it works for us on July 12, we hope it will not only work well at other locations, but that good local acts will be able to get their product in the store as well.

LeMars, Iowa...."It has consistently amazed me at the number of incredibly talented people from around the world that do what we call 'old-time' or 'classic' country music," says Sheila Everhart, an American just returning from New Zealand after touring there with her husband Bob Everhart for three months. "We had such a wonderful time in New Zealand. It was sad to return to the USA with so much cold weather, flooding, and tornadoes, but it has not deterred or efforts in making known the wonderful talents that will be coming to our annual festival in LeMars, Iowa, this year."

The first international participants for the 2008 annual festival of the National Traditional Country Music Association have been announced. The festival takes place August 25-31, 2008, at the Plymouth County Fairgrounds in LeMars, Iowa, the ice cream capital of the world. All seven days are dedicated to acoustic rural roots music, with 10 stages and well over 600 participating performers. Click up LeMars Music Festival