Donna Hughes Archives - Bluegrass Today

I Miss When Corona Was A Beer from Donna Hughes

One of the most enduring aspects of the human condition – and the bluegrass community – is the ability to laugh in the face of hardship, to find humor in dark or dangerous times. This new virus, and the worldwide reaction to its spread, has caused great concern for many people, but despite the seriousness of the situation, we can always find solace in whimsy.

In that light, we share the latest video creation from Donna Hughes, a bluegrass singer/songwriter of long standing, with songs cut by luminaries like Alison Krauss, Seldom Scene, Wyatt Rice, and Kati Penn, among many others. Our current dilemma inspired her to see levity in the name coronavirus, which quickly led to this new song, I Miss When Corona Was A Beer.

From concept to completion was the work of a moment for Donna, who hurried to shoot a video simply to share the song with a troubled world.

We’ll let her pick it up from there…

“I had the idea for the song from a cousin of mine (Bob Harris,) who was complaining about everything being closed. And the line just appeared in my head, ‘I miss the days when Corona was a beer.’

So I gave my friends with Hot Wax & The Splinters a call to see if they wanted to come and sing a song I wrote in my barn, and I said by the way do you have lab coats and overalls? They did me one better and also brought masks and goggles!

Within hours of making a call to their leader Clyde Lewis, they were getting out of their cars with lab coats, instruments, sound equipment, and the works.

I love a bit of spontaneous bluegrass fun on the fly during a world crisis! With everything being canceled… I thought someone needs to lighten the load. I would love to get in the studio and do a professional version of the song, and plan to, but realized people needed cheering up immediately.”

The Splinters are David Medlin on banjo, Clyde Lewis on mandolin, Ed Renn Jr. on guitar, Jeff Rumsey on bass, and Nathan Farlow on reso-guitar.

Donna also assured us that she is keeping up with her music, despite us not hearing anything new for some time. Her daily efforts have been focused on her real estate career, to raise the necessary funds to restore her grandfather’s farm in North Carolina. But she has been making regular trips to Nashville, and a set of new tracks are “getting fixes” there as we write.

And she is still writing new songs, and expects to see several on new projects from bluegrass stalwarts this year.

Thanks so much to Donna Hughes for taking the trouble to make this video, and give us all a little something to chuckle about. Wash those hands!

Donna Hughes song commemorated in North Carolina

Naomi Wise, a true life ballad written by Donna Hughes and recorded by NewTown on their 2018 album, Old World, has been honored by the state of North Carolina with a Legends & Lore monument.

Donna performed the song yesterday at an unveiling ceremony in Randleman, NC, attended by local dignitaries and covered by regional media. Randleman Mayor Bucky Jernigan and Jeff Freeman of the Randleman Chamber of Commerce were on hand for the dedication.

Donna recorded this video of her rendition of Naomi Wise at the ceremony, unfortunately, from behind.

Here is the video that Mountain Home Music Company produced for the NewTown version, which is given a more bluegrass treatment.

When not writing hit songs for bluegrass artists, Hughes is a successful realtor in central North Carolina.

Donna Hughes talks 2 albums and 20 tunes

Donna Hughes stopped by for a chat at World of Bluegrass to talk about her two new albums, one with a bluegrass rhythm section, From The Heart, and the other, Fly, with Donna on piano and more of a singer/songwriter vibe.

And here’s her video for the Wal-Mart Checkout Line song she mentioned above.

Both albums are available for sale now.

Red Oak Tree video from Donna Hughes

Donna Hughes has released a music video from her two new albums. That’s right… two new albums.

Hughes drops a pair of projects today, consisting of her original songs, packaged separately with different titles. From The Heart is produced as a bluegrass album, complete with fiddles and banjos, where Fly is a piano/vocal project with a mix of her songs and selected standards receiving a more intimate treatment.

Red Oak Tree is the only song included on both albums, with a music video being debuted over this past weekend at a CD release event in Donna’s home town of Trinity, NC. The mayor even presented her with a key to the city.

The video was directed by Anthony Ladd, with Hughes handling the coordination of costumes, props and scheduling.

Both records are available now from CD Baby, Donna’s web site, and popular digital resellers.

Oh… and there are actually two new videos. Prior to the release of Red Oak Tree, Donna put together a hilarious video for her song, WalMart Checkout Line.

Clever girl, that Donna Hughes.

The Way I Am from Donna Hughes

Singer/songwriter Donna Hughes has released a first single from her upcoming CD, From The Heart. The album is one of two projects she will be releasing in 2014, the bluegrass one, along with another Americana, piano-fueled record called Fly.

For her first peek at the grass CD, Hughes has chosen one of her new songs, The Way I Am, a story of finding a man that cares for her just as she comes.

Donna takes the lead vocal, backed by a stellar band. Lucas White is on rhythm guitar, Scott Vestal on banjo, Rob Ickes on reso-guitar, Cory Piatt on mandolin, Tim Stafford on lead guitar, Zak McLamb on bass, and Jenee Fleenor on fiddle and harmony vocals.

Here’s a taste…

Radio programmers are invited to download the track at Airplay Direct.

Pre-orders for both albums can be placed through Donna’s Indiegogo page, where she is seeking to raise the necessary funds to complete the two records.

Two new albums coming from Donna Hughes

When the muse strikes, a true artist follows wherever it leads. And if that means two albums in a single year, that’s where it goes.

Prolific singer/songwriter Donna Hughes has that very plan for 2014. Since her last project in 2010, she has written a bundle of songs, and she spent time in April recording 25 of them at Hilltop Studios, along with four more from others’ pen. These will be portioned out into two new CDs.

From The Heart will focus on bluegrass, with Donna supported by the talents of Scott Vestal on banjo, Tim Stafford and Lucas White on guitar, Cory Piatt on mandolin, Rob Ickes on reso-guitar, Zak McLamb on bass, and Jenee Fleenor on fiddle. The second album, Fly, will be piano-based, with Hughes on keys, John Catchings on cello, Mark Fain on bass, and Fleenor again on fiddle.

To give an overview of this ambitious two-record schedule for this year, and encourage fans to help finance the projects, Donna created this video for her Indiegogo crowd sourcing campaign.

More details on release dates, etc, are expected soon.

Donna Hughes finds her subs

Back when I used to peruse the club listings in the New Yorker magazine, dreaming of the night life in NYC, I would always note the disclaimer they would insert in their directory. It ran something like this: Club owners and musicians live unpredictable lives, so it it always best to check before traveling for a show.

Unpredictable lives… just so.

And so has it been for Donna Hughes, who was all set to unwrap her new Rounder CD, Hellos, Goodbyes & Butterflies, this weekend at the Little John’s Mountain of Music Festival in Snow Camp, NC. But as she was making preparations for the trip yesterday, she got distressing news.

“I received a call this morning from our band members Brian and Maggie Stephens. Their daughter Lilly Kate was rushed to the hospital this morning and we are awaiting word on how this precious child is doing. Our thoughts and prayers are with all of them.”

But, you know what they say about the show, going on-wise. Fortunately for Donna, she was able to enlist AKUS bass man Barry Bales to step in, along with Mountain Heart mandolinist Aaron Ramsey to play guitar, Nick Keen from The Josh Williams Band on mandolin, and Trevor Watson from Lou Reid & Carolina on banjo.

Hellos, Goodbyes & Butterflies isn’t officially released until October 12, so the only way to get it is directly from Donna until then. The album was produced by JD Crowe and features another set of Hughes’ original songs.

We will look forward to hearing this one.

Another bluegrass baby

Here’s another happy event in the bluegrass world. Maggie and Brian Stephens, bass player and guitarist/mandolinist respectively with Donna Hughes‘ band, are celebrating yesterday’s birth of their first child.

Lilly Kate Stephens was born June 15, weighing in at 7lbs 2oz (19-1/2″ long).

Congratulations, and welcome Lily!

Bluegrass acts take JPF Awards

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:

To provide a networking environment of inclusion and cooperation between our members for the benefit of the group and individuals involved.

To share wisdom, ideas and experiences with others who have been there, and to help educate those who have yet to make the journey.

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.

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.

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!

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.

Donna Hughes and Rebecca Frazier

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?