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.

Singer/songwriter Donna Hughes was among the featured performers at last weekend’s Ossipee Valley Bluegrass Festival in Portland, ME.

To help promote their appearance, Donna and her guitarist, Rebecca Frazier, did a television spot for WCSH on July 26, which has been posted online. Donna did a version of Where Are You Darlin,’ from her Gaining Wisdom CD, and talked with the show hosts for a bit before singing Little Bluebird from her Same Old Me release.

In this clip, Rebecca shows why she has been gaining the attention of flatpickers since her days with Hit & Run Bluegrass.

Donna normally performs with a full band, but she and Rebecca went duo for this TV segment. Maybe the rest of the band had some trouble getting it together for a morning show?

Singer/songwriter Donna Hughes’ recently released her new CD, Gaining Wisdom, and has been touring some to support the release. Today she’ll be on XM satellite radio with host Kyle Cantrell at 11 AM EST. I’m sure they’ll be discussing and playing tracks from the new recording.

As she performs this spring and summer, Donna at times will have a full band with her and at other times it will be more intimate, with her on guitar with one accompianist.

Her tour schedule is available on her website, along with sample clips from the CD as well as a wealth of other information.

Bluegrass fans everywhere are indebted to the songwriters who create the songs performed by our favorite artists. One such writer is Donna Hughes. I first met Donna in NC at a birthday party. There were many of us there jamming and playing songs we like, some traditional, some newer. Donna would occasionally sing one of her songs and we would all be amazed at the writing of this young woman. Not long after that she wrote a song that was later recorded by Alison Krauss and Union Station, My Poor Old Heart.

Now Donna is releasing a new record on the Rounder label that features 12 original tracks written by Donna, as well as two tracks additional tracks she did not write (I won’t tell you what they are, but you’ll want to hear them.). The album title is Gaining Wisdom and release date is scheduled for February 27, 2007.

Legendary guitarist Tony Rice took the helm as producer of the project. A job he sought out and initiated.

I was over at the home of my friends Steve and Kathi Fox, and they had Same Old Me on the hi-fi. After a few songs, I had to ask ‚ÄòWho is that?’ The more I listened to her music that day, the more I heard in it. The idea of producing an album of hers intrigued me…As a performer, she has great flexibility. She could sit down at a really good Steinway at one venue, and the next night play guitar in front of a straight-ahead bluegrass band. This makes producing her a great challenge: you want to illuminate what is recognizable and classic about her music – to make clear her very strong ties to bluegrass – while remaining true to what is so special about Donna.

Tony called Donna and suggested that she record another album of her material and let him produce it. Donna, being a long time fan of Rice’s music, was quick to agree and soon a deal was cut with Rounder Records. (more…)