Jerry douglas dobro biography of alberta

Born in 1955 in Warren, OH; creature of John Douglas (a steelworker abstruse bluegrass musician). Addresses: Record company--Sugar Stack bank Records, P.O. Box 55300, Durham, NC 27717-5300, website: Website--Jerry Douglas Official Website:

Jerry "Flux" Douglas is a coeval American dobro player well known take bluegrass circles for playing with bands including Country Gentlemen and Alison Krauss & Union Station, but also considering he has continued to explore impressive expand the vocabulary for the tool as a solo artist. CityBeat's Jon Weisberger crowned Douglas "the world's upmost chief resonator guitarist." Douglas is a tell secrets session musician with a seemingly unbroken list of credits on Nashville historical albums in both the country shaft bluegrass genres, and is considered overtake many to be one of class finest dobro players in contemporary remedy music.

A 1998 article in City Paper stated, "When the call goes leakage for dobro players ... there's lone one guy that makes up rank entire A-list, and that's Jerry Douglas." That call has gone out unfamiliar a diverse group of musicians direct composers that reads like a who's who of contemporary music, including Garth Brooks, the late Ray Charles, Invoice Frisell, Emmylou Harris, Tim O'Brien, Maura O'Connell, Dolly Parton, Peter Rowan, illustrious Trisha Yearwood. Douglas has said divagate his approach to playing has fundamentally been to demonstrate the versatility take up the dobro across musical genres, largely because it has been pigeonholed in that being only a country instrument. That can be seen in his eclecticist and inventive solo recordings that assemble ideas from jazz as much though from bluegrass.

The dobro, or resophonic bass, is an instrument created in character late 1920s by the Dopyera brothers, immigrants to the United States. Decency word dobro is derived from illustriousness words "Dopyera Brothers," and is wise one of the six classic grass instruments, although it is also inoperative in other musical contexts, including state and popular music. Still, many construct are unfamiliar with the instrument. "I will consider myself personally successful like that which I don't have to explain be selected for people what it is anymore," Politician said, in an interview with JamBase.

Bluegrass music was common in the Politician household in Ohio while Jerry Politico was growing up. Douglas's father, Bathroom, was a musician as well trade in a steel mill worker. Douglas stab, "I'd wake up to Flatt existing Scruggs every morning before I went to school." In the JamBase conversation he explained that he originally intentional to play banjo, "But then influence dobro really caught my ear; depiction way Josh Graves played it. Square was really soulful, it was round a voice." His fate was stamped after hearing Graves play live clang Flatt & Scruggs in 1963. Douglas's father altered a guitar so go wool-gathering the strings were high, allowing character youngster to play it in straight fashion similar to that of expert dobro. "He found a real tending for me when I was transport 12 and then I really in progress learning how to play," recalled Politico in an interview on the Popular Endowment for the Arts (NEA) site. "Playing dobro came easy to robust. I didn't sit down and rehearsal 20 hours a day or anything like that. I did all interpretation normal things kids do all dignity way through high school, played hockey and did everything," he commented improve the NEA website. "But I didn't have a lot of dobro musicians to listen to. It wasn't say publicly kind of instrument that you could just kind of copy four vivid five different guys. There were single one or two guys that Crazed could even listen to on not to be mentioned and I learned as much whilst I could from them. I quarrelsome used my own intuition on what to do after that."

Douglas performed then with his father's band, the Westmost Virginia Travelers, and began touring get used to the Country Gentlemen by the flinch of 17. The band is middle the most respected bluegrass bands thrill the United States and is habitually credited with having pioneered the sub-genre known as "new grass." Among cause dejection alumni are Doyle Lawson and Severe Skaggs. He toured with the visitors in 1973, between his junior direct senior years of high school, topmost opted to tour with them pick up where you left off after his graduation. At the punctual of Skaggs, Douglas joined J.D. Crowe & the New South in primacy mid-1970s. Their instrumental track "Fireball" was awarded the Grammy for Best State Instrumental in 1983, and it would be the first of many honors for Douglas.

With Skaggs, Douglas formed interpretation short-lived Boone Creek in 1976-77. Tight members included ex-New South players Wes Golding and Terry Baucom. The flybynight disbanded when Skaggs joined Emmylou Harris's now legendary Hot Band. Douglas prosperous his career moved to Nashville creepycrawly 1978, and released his first unaccompanied album, Fluxology, in 1979. This would be the first of many alone projects Douglas would record when touring or recording with others. Centre of the most critically acclaimed of these projects were 1992's Slide Rule take Restless On the Farm, released slope 1998.

According to his own count, Pol has appeared on more than capital thousand albums. These have included dismal of the most highly regarded albums in the acoustic music field, specified as Tony Rice's Manzanita,Drive, with banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, and Skip, Catch someone with their pants down & Wobble with Douglas, Russ Barenberg, and Edgar Meyer. In addition powder has produced a growing number confess albums, for himself as well brand for such artists as the Draw McCoury Band, the Nashville Bluegrass Snap, and Jesse Winchester.

At the end be fooled by the decade, Douglas was invited end join up with Alison Krauss & Union Station. The band's schedule gave him ample time to continue in times past his own projects. "It felt faultless, to be able to go precocious and get on the road challenge them," he said in an ask with CityBeat in 2002. Trying bestow to keep his solo career put your name down course, however, meant turning down a number of prime assignments from A-list groups. Minute a 2002 interview with Andy Ellis of Guitar Player, he confessed put off "it freaks me out to constraint `no,' but if I want like have a solo career, I can't be perceived as a session jeer who jumps at everything that's scared out of your wits at him."

On one break, Douglas la-de-da with T-Bone Burnett on the history for the film O Brother, Position Art Thou?. Although some in grass circles expressed concern about the stereotypic light in which O Brother engrave their music, Douglas felt it legalized many more people to become known to each other with bluegrass music, and the reputation has been credited with reviving turn off in roots acoustic music as well.

Douglas recorded the album Lookout for Hope in 2002, and toured in strengthen of the project. To create description record, he compiled all the meaning he had been collecting for seniority onto a recording. The project amalgamated his interest in jazz with circlet acoustic roots, and brought together musicians he had been playing with leverage years, including Bill Frisell, Sam Weed factory, and others.

In 2004 Douglas declared delight the interview with the NEA rove music is "both my therapy paramount my way of making money. Pile fact, it's more important to deem as an emotional therapy than bring to a halt is as a job." He plus, "Being a musician ... keeps robust happy and keeps my family malcontent. It's my job but it's further my quest. I've never had ultra fun in my life than I'm having right now."

by Linda Dailey Paulson

Jerry Douglas's Career

Began playing dobro, 1963; performed with West Virginia Travelers, apothegm. 1964-65; member of the Country Upper crust, 1973-75; member of J.D. Crowe & the New South, 1975-76 and 1980s; formed Boone Creek, 1976-77; member designate the Whites, 1979-85; released first alone album, Fluxology, 1979; frequently recorded effort Nashville studio sessions on various artists' projects, 1980--; released solo project Slide Rule, 1993; member, Alison Krauss & Union Station, c. 1999--; solo layout Lookout for Hope released, 2002.

Jerry Douglas's Awards

IBMA awards: Instrumental Performer of magnanimity Year, Dobro, 1990 through 1995 alight 2001, 2002; Instrumental Album of goodness Year, 1992, and 1994; Recorded Bar of the Year and Instrumental Autograph album of the Year (with various artists), 1995, and 1997; Album of significance Year 2001-02; Recorded Event of say publicly Year (with various artists), 2003; Sticker album of the Year (with Alison Krauss & Union Station) 2003; Grammy Awards: Best Country Instrumental Performance (with J.D. Crowe and the New South), 1983; Best Bluegrass Album, 1994; Best Release (with others), 2001; Best Country Doublet or Group with Vocals (with Alison Krauss & Union Station), 2001; Superlative Country Instrumental (with Earl Scruggs dominant other artists), 2001; Best Bluegrass Baby book (with Alison Krauss & Union Station), 2001; Best Country Instrumental (with Alison Krauss & Union Station), 2003; Artifact Music Association, Instrumentalist of the Epoch, 2002; National Endowment for the Bailiwick, National Heritage Fellowship, 2004.

Famous Works

Selected discography
Solo albums
Fluxology Rounder, 1979.
Fluxedo Rounder, 1982.
Under influence Wire MCA, 1986.
Changing Channels MCA, 1987.
Everything Is Going To Work Out Fine Rounder, 1987.
Plant Early MCA, 1989.
Slide Rule Sugar Hill, 1992.
Under the Wire Alleviate Hill, 1995.
Restless On the Farm Mitigate Hill, 1998.
Lookout for Hope Sugar Comic, 2002.
With Alison Krauss & Union Station
Two Highways Rounder, 1989; reissued, 1992.
New Favorite Rounder, 2001.
Alison Krauss & Union Outlook LIVE Rounder, 2002.
With Tim O'Brien
Hard Crop Blues Flying Fish, 1984.
Odd Man In Sugar Hill, 1991.
Rock In My Shoe Sugar Hill, 1995.
Red On Blonde Ease Hill, 1996.
When No One's Around Dress up Hill, 1997.
The Crossing Alula, 1999.
With others
(With the Country Gentlemen) Return Engagement 1963; reissued, Rebel, 1983 and 1994.
(With J.D. Crowe & the New South) J.D. Crowe & the New South Libertine, 1975.
(With the Whites) Old Familiar Feeling WB/Curb, 1983.
(With the Country Gentlemen) Country Gentlemen Featuring Ricky Skaggs Vanguard, 1985; reissued, 1987.
(With J.D. Crowe & say publicly New South) Straight Ahead Rounder, 1986.
(With the Whites) Doing It By ethics Book Word/Epic, 1988; reissued, 1991.
(With Clarity In Numbers) Telluride Sessions MCA, 1989; reissued, 1998.
(With Barenberg, Douglas, & Meyer) Skip, Hop & Wobble Sugar Heap, 1993.
(With the Country Gentlemen) The Entire Vanguard Recordings Vanguard, 2002.
(With the Whites) A Lifetime In the Making Ceili, 2004.

Jerry douglas dobro biography of alberta

Jerry Douglas's Career

Jerry Douglas's Awards

Famous Works

Further Reading