Last week’s Just Plain Folks Awards in Nashville brought good news to a number of our favorite bluegrass gals.

Donna Hughes, Valerie Smith and Donna Ulisse each won in different categories. Hughes took Bluegrass Album for Gaining Wisdom, Ulisse, Bluegrass Song for I’m Calling Heaven Down, and Smith Gospel Album for Wash Away Your Troubles.

Congratulations, ladies!

Just Plain Folks is a web-based community of musicians, songwriters, artists, publishers, producers, labels and other music business folks. They bill their annual awards as the world’s largest independent awards, with over 560,000 songs and  42,000 albums considered for recognition in the 2009 cycle.

They describe their mission as follows:

1. To provide a networking environment of inclusion and cooperation between our members for the benefit of the group and individuals involved.
2. To share wisdom, ideas and experiences with others who have been there, and to help educate those who have yet to make the journey.
3. To form long term relationships with a myriad of other industry professionals whose talents and efforts need a venue to be enjoyed and benefited from.
4. To set the example for the world of the power of the Internet and total freedom of communication, when it is not restricted by the boundaries of the corporate world, or damaged by the adversarial nature of the music industry in general.
5. To show others that deep down, we are all much more alike than different. The thoughts and hopes and dreams we all share are much the same whether we are Grammy Winners, Hit Songwriters, Industry leading Superstars in our fields, or we are an 11 year old kid with a new dream, or a 78 year old who still dares to dream!
6. And the most important goal: To have a lot of fun doing it!

The Awards Show was held on Saturday (August 29) at The Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville. You can see the complete list of winners (including runner ups) at the JPF web site.