Overseas DJs nominated Donna for the Artistic Award of Merit in 2002 for "Feels Like Home", which was also named one of the best CD's of 2001 by several dj’s. Two songs made the top 25 in the indie charts in Europe (Getting Younger and What If) and the title track, Feels Like Home went straight to #1 on the World Independent charts in Australia in December of 2002 and remained in the top 10 for 38 weeks.

Her Christmas single, Do You Hear What I Hear was voted the #2 Christmas song on the indie charts in Europe for 2001 and charted again in 2002. Donna is a 2004 Kerrville New Folk Finalist and performed this spring at the New Folk Concert, Kerrville Folk Festival in Kerrville, TX.

Donna tours year round in major cities throughout the US, and has performed at major festivals & conferences including the Kerrville New Folk Concert at the Kerrville Folk Festival, Kerrville, TX, 2004, National Folk Alliance 2004, San Diego, CA, National Folk Alliance 2003 in Nashville, National Folk Alliance 2002 in Jacksonville, FL; Indie Music Fest 2001 & 2002, Nashville, TN; 2NMC, Nashville, TN, 2001; and Southwest Regional Folk Alliance 2002 & 2003, Kerrville/Austin, TX.

When not on the road, Donna performs in Nashville clubs and is a very accomplished singer/guitarist & songwriter. She also works as a demo and background singer in Nashville studios as well as in film & video. Donna is an actress in local theatre and currently stars as Janis Joplin in the musical "Kozmic Blue - An Interview with Janis Joplin", which has had 2 successful runs in Nashville & she will tour the US with the show in 2005.

She has been on Nashville TV and radio programs including WSM's Opry Star Spotlight, Mornings on Fox, and Music City Showcase. Donna performed with longtime friend and idol, the late Skeeter Davis on tour and at the Grand Ole Opry from 1996-2002. Donna also appears in a new book by Marley Brant, "Tales from the Rock and Roll Highway", which has been published by Billboard Books.

But the real turning point came in February of ’95, when country giant George Strait played to a packed Beaumont arena. Sitting wide-eyed, 3rd row center, a then-14-year-old Dustin James realized that performing country music was what he was born to do. "I don’t think I blinked more than twice during the entire 2 hour set. Something clicked inside me. I just knew."

Dustin began writing songs in the dorm-room his freshman year in college at Texas A&M University. Then in 2000, he went into the studio to record his first project. The six song EP titled King for a Day was written and produced by Dustin himself. "It was a major learning experience" recalls James. "I was still struggling to find my voice as both a writer and vocalist. But it was a whole lot of fun and folks seemed to really like what I was doing. That was great confirmation for me."

Throughout college, Dustin fronted several bands on the local music circuit, getting stage experience & learning how to work a crowd. As a solo artist, he regularly performed at open mic & songwriters’ nights. In August of ’03, Dustin made the big move to Nashville. He immediately began playing out, networking, co-writing, and learning the ropes of Music City. In 2004, Dustin’s tongue-in-cheek ballad A Real Sad Country Song captured the attention of the Nashville Songwriters Association board of directors. The tune was selected from among several hundred submissions to be included on the NSAI’s "Best Songs of 2004" compilation CD.

In July of that same year, Dustin was one of twelve unsigned songwriters chosen to attend the "ASCAP Foundation Country Songwriters Workshop" hosted by the American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers. The exclusive workshop focuses on the development and education of promising new country songwriters. In March ‘05, Dustin’s song Texas is Missing You was judged "Ready to Pitch" at an NSAI workshop by a panel of Nashville Publishers & music-industry reps.

In April ’06, Dustin was one of only twelve semi-finalists in a national country music talent competition called All American Superstar. As a semi-finalist, Dustin performed live on XM Satellite Radio's "Rusty & Marcia Show" to a listening audience of over 100,000 and was featured in the June issue of "Big Rig Owner" magazine.

Dustin can currently be seen performing regularly on the Nashville songwriter’s circuit. Constantly seeking to refine his craft, he also keeps a steady co-writing schedule and is under the weekly instruction of acclaimed Nashville guitar instructor Ellen Britton.

Since those early days, Joni's career as a singer-songwriter has become well established on the American folk music scene. She has toured extensively throughout the US and in Europe. Her distinctive songwriting-vocal-guitar style won her recognition in many noted song festivals here and abroad and landed her a staff-writing deal with Galleon Music Publishing Co. in Los Angeles before arriving in Nashville in 1989. She was a New Folk winner in the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival in Texas, has recorded for CBS Records, BWE Records and released 5 CDs on her own independent label Polestar Records. Joni's songs have been recorded by other artists as well, among them country singer Crystal Gayle, pop group 3T, Australian country artist Shanly Dell and numerous folk artists and bluegrass groups, while her music continues to receive airplay around the country on Americana, college & public radio.

As a visual artist, Joni had her first solo art show, "Roots, Rhythm & Gospel", in Nashville in 1998, where she exhibited over 40 of her folk-art Jazz/Blues/Gospel portraits of some of her most beloved subjects: the musicians and singers whose music has influenced, uplifted and inspired her through the years – Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Rev. Gary Davis, and the great gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, to name a few. Her work has been shown throughout the Southeast United States in conjunction with her concert tours in places like New Orleans, Memphis & Washington DC.. Joni is based in Nashville where she continues to write music, record and paint. Having just completed her 5th CD, Steal Away Home, a folk-gospel CD that includes her art illustrations, Joni is currently busy working on a multi-media theatre piece incorporating elements of art, music & film.