Home Page
To Contact Donna, e-mail:
What is the Blues?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyBXAKUsw30
Influences:
Son House
Johnny Winter
Robert Nighthawk
Muddy Waters
Robert Johnson
Furry Lewis
Tampa Red
Bob Brozman
Memphis Minnie
Bonnie Raitt
John Hammond
BB King
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Fred McDowell
Ma Rainey
Bessie Smith
Etta Baker
Sippie Wallace
Big Bill Broonzy
Neal Schon
Eric Clapton
Harvey Reid
Roy Rogers Slide Player
What’s New?
Donna will be inducted into the Chicago Blues Hall of Fame on Sunday, October 16, 2016 at 2pm at Buddy Guy’s Legends. Live broadcast on WNUR 81.3 FM.
Acoustic Guitar Magazine included Donna in their May 2016 issue of the top 10 “up and coming resonator players" in the story “Down and Dirty: 10 contemporary resonator players talk about their love for that nasty sound,” by Mark Kemp. Click here to read the article.
Teaching
Donna is teaching an 8-week Acoustic Slide Guitar class at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Sundays from 2:00pm-3:20pm beginning on September 4, 2016. To register, click here: http://www.oldtownschool.org/classes/detail/?courseid=5584
Donna is teaching an 8-week Guitar 2 Repertoire class at the Old Town School of Folk Music on Sundays from 12:00noon-1:20pm beginning on September 4, 2016. To register, click here: http://www.oldtownschool.org/classes/detail/?courseid=89
YouTube
Donna & Mike Wenner (from the Nighthawks) play at the Augusta Heritage Center of Davis & Elkins College Blues & Swing Week Faculty Performance in Elkins, West Virginia on July 14, 2015. The three songs include a solo performance by Donna (Kansas City) followed by the duet (My Home is in the Delta & Take It Easy Baby):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFDomvkBo_E&feature=em-upload_owner
Donna, Rob Anderlik and Mike Church play Crying Won’t Help You at the Fox Valley Folk Festival on September 5, 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=60&v=PCsihme17u8
Donna, Rob Anderlik and Mike Church played at Kiss the Sky Records in May in Batavia, IL and recored the following songs:
Vestapol: https://youtu.be/kJjE0JWrrO8
Come On In My Kitchen: https://youtu.be/Xw7TsuUBzyg
Crossroads: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hrkVR_XysE
Kind Hearted Woman: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q94yCwtPQSE
Donna playing with the Chicago Women in the Blues in June: https://youtu.be/7pa2FUAuxms
Watch Donna at the 2014 Durban International Blues Festival in South Africa, October 15, 2014:
Watch Donna & Tony playing at Buddy Guy’s Legends on November 1, 2014 for the acoustic dinner set: http://www.gigity.tv/event/100848.
Donna Herula is a blues slide guitar player and singer from Chicago that plays Delta, country and modern blues styles. She was cited as one of the top 10 up and coming resonator players in the May 2016 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine. She was the co-winner of the 2010 and 2011 Windy City Blues Society Blues Challenge, Solo-Duo Category, and a semi-finalist at the 2012 International Blues Challenge. She was also a semi-finalist in the 2012 Yamaha Six String Theory international guitar competition.
An accomplished slide guitarist, Donna headlined the 2014 Durban International Blues Festival in South Africa. She has performed multiple times at the Chicago Blues Festival – in 2015, performing a solo tribute to Sister Rosetta Tharpe and Johnny Shines for their centennial celebrations, in 2013 in a duet with Tony Nardiello and in 2009, performing a solo tribute to slide guitar master Robert Nighthawk for his centennial celebration. She also performed as part of a Robert Nighthawk symposium for the Delta Cultural Center in Helena, Arkansas (Nighthawk’s hometown).
Donna is a regular performer at Buddy Guy’s Legends in Chicago - having been the acoustic opener for Buddy Guy three times - and has performed at the House of Blues Chicago as well as BB’s Jazz, Blues and Soups in St. Louis, MO. In addition to playing traditional blues on National resonator guitars, she also plays electric slide guitar as part of the Chicago Women in the Blues. Other blues, folk and music festivals that she has performed at include the King Biscuit Blues Festival, Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, the Woodstock Folk Festival and the Bayfront Blues Festival.
Donna teaches Blues Fingerstyle 1 and Blues Fingerstyle 3 at the Old Town School of Folk Music, in Chicago. Donna has taught at Blues & Swing Week - Augusta Heritage Center in West Virginia. Donna also teaches individual students and has taught workshops on slide guitar, blues fingerstyle and Delta Blues guitar at venues such as the Folk Alliance Region Midwest conference, the Champaign-Urbana Folk and Roots Festival, Mississippi Valley Blues Festival, folk clubs, and music stores. She has given numerous educational performances at libraries in an acoustic duet with her husband, singer, guitarist and harmonica player, Tony Nardiello. She has performed on various radio stations, including King Biscuit Time and Delta Sounds in Arkansas, GLT Blues Next, WNUR and WDCB.
Some of the artists that have inspired Donna include: Son House, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Rory Block, Memphis Minnie, Furry Lewis, Robert Nighthawk, and Johnny Winter.
Donna recorded two CDs -- one solo, self-titled CD and a second titled, The Moon Is Rising: Songs of Robert Nighthawk.
Venues Played:
Blues, Folk and other Music Festivals
Chicago Blues Festival (Front Porch Stage & Route 66
Raodhouse Stage)
2014 Durban International Blues Festival (South Africa)
King Biscuit Festival (Lockwood-Stackhouse Acoustic Stage)
Mississippi Valley Blues Festival (Tent Stage)
Bayfront Blues Festival, Acoustic Stage (Duluth, MN)
Blues By the Bay, Main Stage (East Tawas, MI)
Alpena Blues Festival (Main Stage)
Woodstock Folk Fest (Woodstock, IL)
Old Town Blues Festival, Main Stage (Lansing, MI)
Mother’s Best Music Festival, Main Stage (Helena, Arkansas)
Robert Nighthawk Symposium, Delta Cultural Center, Miller
Hotel (Helena, Arkansas)
CU Folk and Roots Festival (Urbana, IL)
Festival for the Eno, 4 stages (Durham, North Carolina)
Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation
Numerous Art Festivals
Blues Bars and Clubs
Buddy Guy’s Legends (Chicago, IL)
BB’s Jazz Blues and Soups (St. Louis, MO)
House of Blues (Chicago, IL)
Workshops
Delta Blues Workshop Taught at:
The CU Folk and Roots Festival
The Lake County Folk Club
Slide Guitar Workshop Taught at:
Archie Edwards Blues Heritage Foundation
The Mississippi Valley Blues Festival
The FARM Folk Conference
Corson’s Music Store
Other Performances
Numerous libraries, schools, music conferences, coffeehouses, concert series, women’s and performing arts centers
Contact Information
To be added to her mailing list, e-mail: belladonnablues@yahoo.com. For more information, view “Video Clips” and listen to “Music Clips” on this Web site or go to: www.myspace.com/donnaherula.
