A Conversation with Jerry Douglas (continued)

PM: Based on the long list of legends you've worked with, it's interesting to see you pick Travis Tritt and Rodney Crowell as the two vocal cameos on Glide.

JD: Well, they're just the ones for this record. But boy, they really were what I wanted.

PM: They were great.

JD: Yeah, I threw this song at Travis, and he liked it; and man, he nailed it.

PM: Wow. My brother and my brother-in-law managed him for a long, Jon Goodman and Gary Falcon.

JD: Oh yeah, sure.

PM: T is just an amazing singer.

JD: Yeah. He's had his problems, but he's got his head on his shoulders now. Yeah, he's been kicked around a little bit.

PM: Yeah, I agree.

JD: Especially right now, he's trying to get it all back together, and I think he's doing a great job of it.

PM: Yeah. And his current manager is one of my close friends, Duke Cooper. He's a great dude.

JD: Really? Sure, I like Duke a lot.

PM: We go all the way back to high school, and we're still good friends. So let's see…speaking of guys that you work with a lot, I'd be interested to hear what Edgar Meyer is like. He's such an amazing player. He's so free on what looks like such an unwieldy instrument.

JD: It is an unwieldy instrument, but not in his hands.

PM: Not in his hands.

JD: No. He lives with that thing. I mean, he's been playing bass so song, since he had to stand on a stool to play it.

PM: Wow!

JD: And he knows it inside and out. And that particular bass is one that he had had his eyes on for 20 years before he ever bought it, and he's had it 20 years.

PM: Wow.

JD: But Edgar is one of these guys, a lot of times he's an unsung hero. He's brought a lot of people into classical music that would never have gotten there--Mark O'Connor, Bela, Chris Thile--who may have thought about dabbling in it, but probably wouldn't have if Edgar hadn't guided them in. I think Edgar is the father of crossover classical music.

PM: Amazing.

JD: And he's so giving. And he doesn't take credit for anything--although I would tell you that most ideas you hear any of us come up with really started with Edgar.

PM: That's an incredible thing to say.

JD: And he would never take credit for any of it, and we'd never give him any.

PM: [laughs]

JD: But he's one of my favorite people. And of all the people I know, musicians, Edgar is the most knowledgeable, but is the least likely to slam you, to pull you down, or to try to show you up in any way, or try to outdo you.

PM: Wow.

JD: He's got the tools to do it in a second, but he won't.

PM: Sure. Hmm, doesn't have it in him.

JD: He knows it's in bad taste. He's got scruples, and he's got rules that he lives by, and they've served him well.

PM: That's amazing.

JD: Of anybody I've ever heard of, he deserves the genius grant. He is a genius. He's our genius.

PM: Wow, that's some good stuff about him. I really appreciate that.

JD: And you'd never meet a nicer guy, never.

PM: Wow. So I hear, can't find a nicer guy. And he must be a supremely smart individual.

JD: Oh, yeah. Edgar does calculus for fun.

PM: Kind of a guy.

JD: That's the truth.

PM: Really? Oh, my God.

JD: Yeah. He and I did a tour with Maura O'Connell in Ireland at a time when there were high winds that were blowing trucks over. It's just a rock in the ocean, right?

PM: Sure.

JD: And so we're riding along. And me and Maura are driving. Sometimes I drove--on the other side of the road and on the wrong side of the car and all that. And Edgar would just get nervous--real nervous--and just go back in the back and do calculus. It calms him down.

[laughter]

JD: He's a breed of his own. But I can't say enough great things about Edgar. Edgar is an amazing human being. I've never seen anybody like him.

PM: And among the many famous guys that you regularly play with, talk about unsung, how about that Guthrie Trapp on guitar?

JD: Guthrie--he doesn't have any idea what limits are. He doesn't even know what the word means.

[laughter]

JD: He's a loose cannon, and he's another one of those guys that'll paint himself into a corner. He just doesn't know--it's okay, there aren't any boundaries for him, for a person like him. He's another one.

PM: And a very nice cat.

JD: He doesn't really always know what he's doing, but that's good. If he knew, he may not do it.

PM: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, you can't know what you're going to do next. I think that's one of the really good things you said. If you want to improvise you can't know what you're going to do next.

JD: No. If you know what you're going to do next, you're not improvising.

[laughter]

JD: I've known classical people that would write out an improvised solo.

PM: Oh, my.

JD: And that's not improvising.

PM: [laughs]

JD: The improvising part was if you just took a bunch of letters of chord symbols and threw them on the floor and played it. The improvising part was throwing it on the floor.

PM: That's great. I hope to catch one of your shows in the upcoming residency at The Blue Note.

JD: Oh, yeah, The Blue Note is going to be another thing. That's going to be wonderful.

PM: So that's, what, October 9th through the 12th.

JD: Uh-huh.

PM: Now, might there be some unpredictable cameos there?

JD: Most likely. Most likely. I'll put some calls out. I'm going to look and see who is going to be in town.

PM: Right.

JD: And see who's available, and who's interested in just dropping in for an evening. I'm going to try to really reach a little bit, too.

PM: I'll throw a name in--I hope Bill Frisell is in town.

JD: Oh, he's the first one on my list.

PM: Oh, really?

JD: I couldn't get him for this Hall of Fame thing. I really, really wanted him.

PM: He's one of a kind.

JD: He is truly one of a kind. I enjoy him immensely, not just playing with him, just being around him. I mean, if you think it's fun to play with him, you should sit down and talk with him.

PM: I did on the phone one time, just a mesmerizing conversation.

JD: Oh, yeah. He thinks about--I don't know what the guy thinks about--but it's all very methodical. He thinks like he talks. And he's got that voice [talks really high-pitched] it gets real high. [laughs]

PM: And his conversation lots of times gets looped, like he says something, and it's almost like he stepped on a loop button, then it comes back around, but it sounds different because something else is added.

JD: Right, right.

PM: [laughs]

JD: Well, there you go. That's why that works out for you, doesn't it.

PM: [laughs] A trippy guy. Jerry, yeah, it was really great talking to you today. You've been very kind with your time.

JD: Well, thanks, man. I'll talk to you soon, Frank.