Query an external MySQL table

// http://www.gravityhelp.com/forums/topic/conditional-statement-to-check-game-status-and-week-using-database-in-wordpress
add_filter('gform_notification_email_28', 'populate_admin_email_via_db', 10, 2);
function populate_admin_email_via_db($email,$lead) {

    // set the email we're going to return equal to the email that was passed in, in case something fails
    $selected_email = $email;

        // database connection details
        $dbname  = 'databasename';
        $dbuser  = 'databaseuser';
        $dbpass  = 'databasepassword';
        $dbhost  = 'databasehost';
        $dbtable = 'customtablename';

        // the hidden accountID value from the form. it was item 4 in the $lead array for my form
        $account = $lead[4];

        // establish the connection
        $link = mysql_connect($dbhost, $dbuser, $dbpass);

    // if connection was established
        if ($link){
                $sql = "SELECT user_email FROM $dbname.$dbtable WHERE user_login='$account' LIMIT 1;";
                $result = mysql_query($sql);

        // deal with the results
                if($result) {
                        // the email address will be the one and only record returned
                        $returned_record = mysql_fetch_row($result);
            if(!empty($returned_record))
                            $selected_email = $returned_record[0];
                }
        // close the connection if it was established
                mysql_close($link);
        }
        return $selected_email;
}