When I Look Back

Donna was born in Hampton, Virginia and surrounded by a musical family. She made her first appearance singing at the tender age of three when she wandered onto the stage with a bluegrass band and broke out into quot;Take This Hammerquot;. From that moment until now there has never been any doubt that she would be creating music. She worked in a local western swing band where she met and married Rick Stanley being fully indoctrinated into a bluegrass family when Rick's cousin Ralph Stanley along with the Clinch Mountain Boys performed at their wedding reception. In the 1980's Donna moved to Nashville and stayed busy singing demos for publishers and writers. One of those demos landed on the desk of Dale Morris, then manager of Alabama, now managing Gretchen Wilson, Big and Rich and Kenny Chesney. Within a few hours of meeting Dale she was signed to Atlantic Records and released an album quot;Trouble At The Doorquot; in 1991. The album had three single releases and two videos. During this time she appeared on the network TV show quot;Hot Country Nightsquot; with Crystal Gayle, Merle Haggard, Mark O'Connor, Steve Warner and Suzy Boggus. She then performed at the NBC party hosted by Dick Clark where she performed on stage along with Garth Brooks & Brooks and Dunn. She was also a guest on Hee Haw, Nashville Now, Crook and Chase and during this time she performed on shows with Earl Thomas Conley, Lonestar, Vince Gill, John Michael Montgomery, Tracy Lawrence and Michelle Wright to name a few. After a heartbreaking ending on a major label Donna met Ray and Douglas Johnson of Hadley Music Group, her current publisher. They recognized her incredible talent as a singer and wanted to champion her talent. It was suggested by a major label head and friend that Donna find her true voice through writing. This CD is the result of that journey.In her own words she says,quot;this is the best music I have ever been involved in. From the very first count on the very first song I recorded for this CD, we breathed as one... melody, lyric, instrumentation and vocally; a perfect marriage. I have found myself at last!quot; quot;When I Look Backquot; would be described as bluegrass without borders. It is a collection of personal experiences, if not all lived by Donna herself, then vicariously through the experiences of her close friends and family. Each song has a wonderful story behind it. Here are a few described below in Donna's own words: quot;SHE GOES SAILINGquot;: A true story about my Italian immigrant grandparents Carmine and Maria Ulisse. My Papa bravely started a new life in America. It took him five years to earn his green card so that he could sponsor my grandmother who waited those long years in Italy until she received the letter telling her to sail across the ocean to him. I still try to imagine what seeing him must have been like after five years. quot;THE WALLS CRYquot;: A friend of mine was going through an especially hard divorce and needed some support the day her husband was moving out. When I pulled up to her house and saw the U-Haul backed up to her red front door, the sadness struck me and settled. After a long day of pushing furniture back in place, I went home and took a long hot shower. Getting out of the shower, I noticed the condensation dripping down my yellow bathroom walls as though they were crying and the song was born. quot;SHE NEEDS TIMEquot;: Every year I attend a family reunion in the Clinch Mountains. My husband has a large extended family and a large percent of them have never been off t