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?

Mandolinist John Frazier, a founding member of Hit & Run Bluegrass, has accepted a position with The John Cowan Band.

John is a Philadelphia native, and joined Hit & Run after he moved to Colorado to attend college – where he discovered bluegrass music and the mandolin. He and his Hit & Run bandmate (and spouse) Rebecca Frazier moved from CO to Nashville earlier this year, and with John’s professional move to Cowan’s band, Hit & Run expects to accept only a limited number of dates for 2008.

Hit & Run will be recording a new tribute project for CMH Records soon, following up their appearance as part of the popular Simpsons bluegrass project, Four Finger Music – The Bluegrass Tribute to the Music Made Famous by The Simpsons. The new project will focus on bluegrass remakes of 1980’s pop classics, with songs like Take on Me, Jessie’s Girl and Everybody Wants to Rule the World planned for inclusion.

Check John Cowan’s schedule online to catch John, John and the boys near you.

UPDATE 10/19: Clarification… Before anyone gets the wrong idea, Hit & Run is still moving forward as a band. In fact, they are celebrating this week their sixth anniversary playing together.

Current lineup is Rebecca Frazier on guitar, John Frazier on mandolin, Andy Thorn on banjo, Steve Roy on bass and Tod Livingston on dobro. Livingston and the Fraziers are in Nashville, with Thorn in NC and Roy in NH.

Things have been jumping of late for Rebecca and John Frazier of Hit & Run. In addition to managing a busy touring schedule, the two were married last summer (August ‘06), and they moved to Nashville from Colorado this spring. Nashville is a powerful draw for folks serious about a career in the music business, and like so many before them, John and Rebecca felt that they were missing opportunities by being so far from the center of gravity.

One such opportunity arose almost immediately upon their arrival – a bluegrass tribute to the music of TV’s animated blockbuster, The Simpsons! It will be released this summer on CMH Records, to coincide with the theatrical release of The Simpsons full length feature film.

Rebecca said that taking this on as a Hit & Run project fell into place immediately, and was among the first things they tackled after getting settled in.

“CMH has been asking us to do a project since they first heard us in 2004, but we’ve always been too busy on the road to fit in a record for them. This spring we took some time off the road to get moved to Nashville, and we actually recorded it seven days after we got to town. Basically we drove a U-Haul to Nashville, unpacked boxes, and drove to Merlefest to play with Donna Hughes. Two days later we cut this record.

Since John and I had just moved and were unable to fly in the other band members, we asked our good friends from The Infamous Stringdusters to pitch in their efforts.

We were lucky enough to work with Rich Adler at Soundwave Studios. We had a blast with him! He has recorded everyone in bluegrass, it seems. He recorded Every Time You Say Goodbye (Alison Krauss), and Mark Twang (John Hartford). He also recorded Comes A Time, one of my favorite Neil Young records.”

The title of the CD is Four Finger Music – The Bluegrass Tribute to the Music Made Famous by The Simpsons. I don’t suppose you have to be a big Simpsons fan to get a kick out of this, but if you are one (like me), it seems destined to be a cult classic.

I asked Rebecca if they were fans of the show.

“Frazier is the real Simpsons fan of the group. He’s seen more episodes than I knew existed, and he quotes them freely and fondly. (more…)