The CreekDontRise.com™ discussion forums offer are a safe place to discuss acoustic music, American heartland culture, and even acoustic-based community theater plays (such as Smoke on the Mountain and our own Creek Don't Rise.)
Many of the articles on our web page have generated a lot of reader interest, but, unfortunately, our readers have no way of knowing that we are also hearing from other folks with similar experiences, concerns, and questions. With the forums, our readers can interact with each other and not just with me.
This page is where you sign up. If you would like, you may use this form to sign up for our free e-mail music-themed "Mama Don't 'Low" newsletter as well.
Note for Real People Who Want to Sign Up - I would rather have ten people I know and trust on these forums than a thousand I don't. You may think I'm being intrusive or demanding by requiring you to give me real information before you sign up, but on other forums I've managed, that was the only way I could guarantee that every member feels safe from sniping or worse.
Sadly, every week dozens of spammers and jokesters fill out our forms thinking that somehow their unwelcome advertisements or content will show up on our sites (they don't). Some of those fake request from spammers even come with real people's names and e-mails attached - they've harvested someone else's address book so their requests would look legit. So I'm now asking people who want to subscribe to our forums to supply their real full name, city, state, and some information about themselves and their interests so we know it's it's not just a random spam attempt. You can also check off boxes that apply to you, and you can use the comment field to ask questions if you want. Considering how much personal information I've shared over the years on these web pages, I don't think that's asking too much. Again, NONE of your personal information will ever be revealed, sold, traded, or used in any way except for me to have a better idea of who my readers are.
Update for 2014 - A few years ago, when someone signed up with partial or apparently fake information, I used to e-mail them back and ask them to verify the request. As often than not, they had never heard of us - some spammer had just used their e-mail address in a vain attempt to hack our site. Unfortunately, that kind of followup on our part meant that we spend hours following up on would-be hackers that we could have spent helping out real people with real questions.
So, sadly, if you attempt to sign up with partial or apparently fake information, or a generic comment like "this looks like a fun site," we will delete your request without even getting back to you.
I heartily apologize for any inconvenience, but the fake sign-up requests have gotten out of control at our end, and we want to devote our attention to real people.
Finally, we'd like to know more about our reader base, too. So if you don't mind filling in a little survey, that will help us figure out what kinds of articles we should be working on next.
And just for fun, please let us know any instruments you play. (Optional.) Nobody will see this but us. Also, if you feel like something needs more clarification, just put the additional details in the "Others" area below this list. If we get a number of folks listing the same instrument that we don't call out individually in this list, we may add it.
Instrument
Thinking About It
Just Starting
Not Afraid to Play In Front of Friends
Usually Don't Embarrass Myself in Professional Settings
Seasoned Professional
Acoustic Guitar
Bass Guitar
Upright Bass
Electric guitar
Dobro/National, etc.
Laptop Steel
Pedal Steel
5-String Banjo
4-String Banjo
6-String Banjo
Mandolin
Violin or Fiddle
Ukelele
Autoharp
Accordian (key)
Button Accordian, Concertina, etc.
Harmonica
Woodwind (please specify in "other" below)
Brass (please specify in "other" below)
Keyboard(s) (please specify in "other" below)
Drums
World, Folk, or Celtic Percussion (please specify in "other" below)
Other
"Other" - please add any instruments we didn't include in our list, or more specific instruments, such as Tabla, Tenor Sax, etc. (Optional)
What areas of the site would you like to see us add or enhance? (Optional)
For what areas might you be able/willing to provide content, suggestions, examples, etc? (Optional)
Please provide the URL for any sites that you own/operate with content related to this site. (Optional)
Please provide the URL for any organizations that you support/belong to with content related to this site. (Optional)
Please tell us why you'd like to be on the discussion forums, and add any other comments or questions. (required)
Thanks for getting in touch. When you hit the "Submit" button, an e-mail will be sent to us. If you asked any questions we will get back as soon as possible.