Since anything you read about Jerry Douglas will (more or less have to) rant and rave about the man's musical abilities, let's say instead that he was very interesting and a lot of fun to talk to, especially for a guy that has to deal with being called the world's best dobro player for most of his life...
When it comes to newgrass, acoustic music, Bluegrass and Country, if one session man has seen it all, it's got to be Jerry Douglas. James Taylor has Jerry's band open tours for him, and John Fogerty calls him his favorite musician anywhere, anytime. Thousands of recordings and his featured status in what may well be the best live band of any kind on the road, Alison Krauss and Union Station, has made him the closest thing that the dobro has ever had to a household word.
(By the way, if you're a big Jerry Douglas fan, you'd enjoy the Fretboard Journal piece on him written by our good friend Peter Cronin, of Cronin Creative. Peter is an old buddy of Jerry's, so it's got a lot of good material. That issue is sold out at fretboardjournal.com, but we saw issues on eBay.)
We were very impressed to find that Jerry's musical quest is fresh, and that his sense of musical history is a part of him and his music, especially in terms of his instrument, where it came from, and, under his hands at least, where it's going.
