Donna Hopkins was only 14, growing up in Arab (pronounced AIR-rab), Alabama, when she began sneaking out of the house to play guitar in bars in nearby Huntsville and Muscle Shoals. It wasn't long before Donna left home for good, relocating to Birmingham and later to Nashville. She then spent eight years on the road, for much of that time traveling in the Dakotas, Montana and in Las Vegas, before settling in Atlanta 14 years ago. If age 14 seems a bit young to make a commitment to a career and a lifestyle, consider that Donna, whose blues band performs all over, has music in her blood, dating back three generations. "My great grandfather, my grandfather and my mother were all musicians," Donna recalls. "My grandfather, Tip Barbee, played bluegrass and blues kind of stuff. I remember going to hear him play on Saturday nights." Donna also remembers her mother playing guitar and organ, back in the late '60s and early '70s, clad in mini skirt and go-go boots.

   Donna hasn't forgotten her musical roots. She's released a solo album titled Free To Go ("the one I've been waiting for," she says), and her grandfather, who still lives in Alabama, plays on one cut. Donna also is keeping up the family tradition, reporting with no small measure of pride that her 6-year-old daughter, India, is a budding singer and actress who won a scholarship to an acting school. India also makes an appearance on Donna's album, sharing vocals with her mom on "Everything Money Can't Buy," a cut selected by Atlanta Magazine for the first annual Atlanta Artist compilation CD. Donna has continued her own tradition of gigs and travel. She also appears frequently around the Southeast with the Women of Rock, an acoustic songwriter-in-the-round performance that also features Caroline Aiken and Diane Durrette.