Dailey & Vincent entertains the crowd at the 5th Annual Franklin Music Festival during their afternoon set on Friday Sept. 5.

The 5th Annual Franklin Music Festival, still fresh in the minds of all who attended, has some big changes in store for next year. The biggest of those changes is a move from it’s current location to the Bluegrass Music RV Park on the out-skirts of Franklin, KY just a stones throw from Interstate 65. The second bit of news is that host band Williams & Clark Expedition will be the events lone producers.

The decision to move the festival was based two major factors according to Kimberly Williams of Williams & Clark Expedition.

“Our decision to move the festival was based on a couple of things. The committee who first approached us 6 years ago about having a festival, informed us 2 months ago that they would no longer be able to continue the event beyond 2008 due to the fact they are a volunteer board who each have full time jobs. That combined with their family commitments and so forth just required too much time of them to continue with the event.”

“Williams & Clark Expedition believe this is too good of an event to let die and we decided to take over the entire festival at that point.”

The other factor that came into play in moving the festival are the rules and regulations governing the use of the camping facilities the city installed at the park, Williams informed us. “The City of Franklin, KY installed the campsites for the festival prior to the first year’s event and no private entity is allowed to use them. Therefore, we opted to move the event starting in 2009 to the Blue Grass Music RV Park, right off I-65 at KY Exit 6.”

“The new venue is a much better option for our campers and also for the drive-in crowd. It is a much better and permanent facility overall and the owners of the RV park were so excited about the prospect of having the event at their location, that they are building an 18,000 square foot covered pavilion for us. Our band will now be the sole producers of the event and are thrilled with the move and have received nothing but favorable response from this year’s festival attendees.”

The 6th Annual Franklin Music Festival, set for September 11 & 12, will feature a lineup that should be sure to please even the staunchest bluegrass critic. Bluegrass Artists currently booked for the 2009 festival include: Steep Canyon Rangers, Michael Cleveland & Flamekeeper, Rhonda Vincent & the Rage, Nothin’ Fancy, The Lonesome River Band, The Dillards, Grand Ole Opry Star Connie Smith, Next Best Thing and The Bluegrass Brothers and Williams & Clark Expedition.

For tickets and camping information for next years Franklin Music Festival visit the festival website.