Donna Hughes took the bluegrass world by storm when she first emerged as a singer and songwriter in 2003. Her debut album, Same Old Me, won the admiration of the biggest names in the business, with Tony Rice reaching out asking to produce her next project – and getting her signed to Rounder Records – and Alison Krauss recording one of her songs, My Poor Old Heart, on her Lonely Runs Both Ways album in 2004.
Talk about landing in clover!
Two Rounder projects in 2007 and 2010 continued her critical success, showcasing this original writing voice, with a darned good singing voice to go along with it. At the same time, Donna was developing a very fruitful and demanding real estate business that took up a great deal of her time, and though she continued to write and record, only one more bluegrass album, From The Heart, emerged in 2014.
But now, 12 years later, Hughes is back with new music, and it is as vital and compelling as ever. She tells us that she feels creatively freer than ever before, and is delighted to be sharing her songs again.
When we asked how this all came about, the response was on the profound and poetic side. And with a powerful message for anyone trying to produce art.
“The way things went: We bought a fixer upper. I got into selling real estate. Both were so time consuming, I rarely had opportunities to write. The renovation went on for 10 years, and took any money I might have otherwise used to record music. I began singing cover tunes locally in restaurants, bars, churches, funerals, weddings, etc. Piano solo stuff mostly.
Then all of a sudden out of the blue, a gentleman popped up out of nowhere and offered me $50k to record bluegrass again.
I was shocked and dumbfounded.
Around that time I was performing in a restaurant and a crowd was super mean to me. Said I wasn’t their kind of music.
I had performed successfully for many of those kinds of gigs, but this one was different. My horse had died that morning.
I was crushed and defeated. Looking back I took it all as a sign from God.
I stepped back from the local gigs.
I was moved by the offer of $50k. I contemplated it very seriously, and ultimately declined to take the guy’s money. I had no songs at that time. None that I cared for.
I decided to raise my own money, and it took me two years. I interpreted both events as a sign from God and felt it deep in my heart.
I literally sat in a tiny room nearly every evening for over two years, intentionally in silence. Also around that time a bluebird kept pecking my music room window. Never before and never since. Crazy sounding but even crazier to see! I actually have it on video. Bluebirds are a sign of hope and good luck. I had written a song called Little Bluebird years ago. Another sign from God. Then Casey Freeland just released my song, Little Bluebird, as her first single this year!
Around the time I wrote Little Bluebird, about 25 or more years ago, I remember wondering if it or any of my songs were any good.
Having someone record a song 25 years after writing it, is …..another sign from God.
One by one, all these new songs came like a wave over me.
The songs were ones I tried to write many times over throughout my life but could never get them to form. It was like when you go to the beach and the planes fly by with banners behind.
An idea would fly by and somehow I just couldn’t catch it, nail it down.
Once I became convinced it was what I was being led to do, and submerged myself in silence to ‘channel’ the songs, I finally got them written.
When I was young, there was always something to try to get, be, or do. I worried way too much about what people thought.
When we age and our timelines shorten, we realize much of the worries we had when we were young were silly.
A line I wrote in an upcoming song called Last Payment:
A young man’s hopes and dreams
Overshadowed by doubts and fears
An old man’s almost out of time
He knows the best is right here😉
So I’m back up to my old tricks!
No longer concerned with the criticism I imposed on myself, focusing more on creating than self-criticizing, I feel more creative freedom now than I ever had before.”
There is a life lesson for us all.
So what about the music!
Here is a new song, The Grass Ain’t Greener, based on a situation that occurred in Donna’s circle
She describes it thusly.
“This song is a story inspired by actual events. I had a family member who is no longer with us, and I always felt his death was very suspicious. It has eaten away at my family and me for years. It’s a testament to the fact that he will never be forgotten.
Sometimes temptation presents itself as innocent and harmless but can lead to the end of someone’s life, or all they hold dear. Mistakes happen. The grass is truly never greener on the other side.
It’s a cautionary tale for all.”
Studio support came from Clay Hess on guitar, who also engineered, Chris Wade on banjo, Nick Keen on mandolin, Ron Stewart on fiddle, Jacob Metz on reso-guitar, and Zak McLamb on bass, with Amanda Smith adding harmony vocals.
Have a look and listen.
The Grass Ain’t Greener is available now from popular download and streaming services online, and to radio programmers via AirPlay Direct.
