Telluride, June 21, 4:30 p.m. – Jerry Douglas dropped by the press tent to say Hi and talk about his new album “Traveller.”
Douglas is acclaimed as the best Dobro player in the world, although he actually plays a resophonic guitar by another maker. He has taken the sweet twang of the instrument into jazz and world music and far beyond the bluegrass and country music where it is common. He’s best known as a featured player wiith Alison Krauss and Union Station (set to play later this evening). He first started coming to Telluride in 1979 as a young member of The Whites.
“I’m just a conduit for the Dobro – it could have been any instrument but I’m glad it wasn’t the trombone,” he said.
Douglas is also a well-known music producer but on his new CD he brought in an producer Russ Titleman because, he said, “On my own records my playing wasn’t as good as it could have been because I was wearing too many hats.” On “Traveller” Douglas trekked to various locations to record “outside my comfort zone.”
In New Orleans he worked R&B-style with Dr. John. In London he played on Paul Simon’s “The Boxer” with Mumford & Sons, a band he’d met in Telluride two years ago after his daughters made him listen to their songs. “They were very cool. They’re like sons to me,” he said.
Douglas had met Eric Clapton at the Crossroads Festival. “We kept in touch and I asked him to play a few licks on a song. ‘What song?” he said. I said it was an old one, “Something You Got.” He knew it and asked if he could sing on it.”
Other connections took him to play with Paul Simon, Keb Mo and Marc Cohn.
This weekend he plays with his own band, with Alison Krauss and with The House Band to close the festival.
(John Lehndorff is the Content Director for the Aurora Sentinel. He has been writing about the festival and music in Colorado for more than 25 years.)