AN INTERVIEW WITH JERRY DOUGLASBluegrass For A New Century

Who is Jerry Douglas? Although I’ve heard the name from his sitting in with Phish, I didn’t know that much until I got the opportunity to interview him for JamBase a few weeks ago. After I did a little research I have to say I was slightly embarrassed that I knew so little of this contemporary bluegrass legend. After listening to his new album Lookout for Hope, I became thoroughly excited that I was going to talk to him.

Jerry Douglas plays a unique instrument called the Dobro, and has brought it to a much larger audience over the last 25 years. He has been a guest on albums by Phish and Bill Frisell, has backed Paul Simon and James Taylor, and has won six Grammy Awards. With the release of Lookout for Hope, Jerry Douglas is poised to become a household name outside of bluegrass. Fusing jazz, rock 'n' roll and pop into bluegrass in a way that has never been done before, Douglas is called "Flux" for his fluid, effortless playing, and his ability to break down barriers in music.

When I spoke to Douglas from the road, I got to learn more about his instrument, his influences, and the overall state of music in the 21st Century. Look out, there is hope for music.

GH: I guess the first thing I think I should ask you is what is a Dobro?

JD: I know a lot of people don’t know and I will consider myself personally successful when I don’t have to explain to people what it is anymore.

The brand name Dobro is short for “Dopyera Brothers” and they were immigrants to this country from Slovakia around 1910-1915. When these guys arrived there was a Hawaiian music craze going on in this country. So they liked that type of music and they were cabinet makers as well as musicians. And they decided that the acoustic guitar needed to be louder.

So they worked for George Beauchamp (a famous instrument maker) at National (instrument makers), and they came up with all those metal-bodied guitars. And then the brothers decided that they wanted to build a wooden bodied guitar that did the same thing, and they invented the round part, the chamber in the middle of a Dobro guitar. It’s a spun aluminum cone, it looks like a speaker cone, that sits in the middle of the guitar, and acts like a speaker cone, it reflects sound right back out of the guitar and makes the guitar louder.

It made its way into country music with Jimmy Rogers back in the early 20s and then Josh Graves really revolutionized it with Flatt and Scruggs (legendary bluegrass band).

GH: So the metal cone is what gives the Dobro its’ unique sound then?

Nashville, 2002

GH: Like a lap steel almost?

JD: Yeah it’s a predecessor to the lap steel and all those things.

GH: What drew you to the Dobro initially?

JD: Well my father is a bluegrass musician and as I was growing up there was always lots of Flatt and Scruggs in the house. I’d wake up to Flatt and Scruggs every morning before I went to school.

I guess I initially wanted to be a banjo player; I was a real big Earl Scruggs (banjo player with Flatt and Scruggs) fan from when I was 5 or 6 years old. But then the Dobro really caught my ear; the way Josh Graves played it. It was really soulful, it was like a voice.

GH: Your music seems to cross the lines of bluegrass. How would describe your music to somewhat that has never heard your music before?

JD: Well I play with a lot more of an edge than a lot of bluegrass bands that you hear. There is a lot more rock and jazz influence in my music than what you’d normally hear a bluegrass band do.

At this point its all experimental and I try to keep it as acoustic as possible. Its sort of bluegrass music with a rock and roll edge to it, that same attitude. Kind of take no prisoners.

Now on your new album, Lookout for Hope, Trey Anastasio plays with you on a Bill Frisell penned tune. What has been your associations with these two guys?

Well I played on a record of Bill Frisell’s called Nashville and he’s more widely known as an improvisational jazz guitar player. He doesn’t play straight melodies, he experiments with the whole thing. He definitely finds every nook and cranny, every way that you can turn a phrase backwards and anything that isn’t the norm, Bill does.

Grey Fox 2001 photo Heather Coburn

And Trey and those guys from Phish, I met them a few years ago. Mike Gordon was the first guy that I met. He was the one that was really steeped in bluegrass music and he was onto the people that were pushing the envelope of it. Tim O’Brien and Allison Krauss (very well respected bluegrass musicians) were guests on their records before I ever was. Which in a lot of senses turned me on to Phish. I liked the Grateful Dead, but they weren’t necessarily the musicians that I wanted them to be. There often seems to be a lot of meandering going on, but Phish, those guys are true musicians. Those guys jam.

So Mike called before they were coming through Nashville one time and said hey, why don’t you come out and play with us. So I went out and played with them and it was a really great experience. We played for thousands and thousands of people, and I got to experience that whole trip, you know, backstage with Phish, hanging on, trying to stay with them, go back out and play some more.

But I stayed in touch with them and became good friends with all of them. When they started to cut Farmhouse, they started to call around to see if I would play on some of that. I was on a tour with Bela Fleck at the time and when we were going through Burlington and while we were there we went over and put some parts on Farmhouse.

And I really think they are great guys and have done so much for that whole idiom, for the whole jam scene, they picked up where the Dead left off and I think made the music better. It gave the music a whole lot more integrity for people that didn’t know much about jam bands.

They seem to bridge a lot of gaps too, introducing kids to a lot of music they might not normally get into.

Yeah, definitely. When someone like Del McCoury walks out and sings with them that’s a really great thing.

Who were your musical influences along the way?

Well I’d have to say the great bluegrass bands. Especially Flatt and Scruggs, and Jim and Jesse and Reno and Smiley. I listened to those guys endlessly growing up.

But then I started listening to the Rolling Stones and The Beatles and The Byrds. That was what was on the radio when I was 10 and 11 years old and I was torn. I thought, wow, I love this but I love that too, so all that stuff ran together in my head. That’s where I'm from musically.

I also really liked Clapton and Cream and I just tried to absorb all that energy and Stevie Ray Vaughn. Those guys just tore me apart. I wanted to play with that energy.

Well that energy that those guys seemed to channel through their instrument seems to come though yours in the same way.

Yeah, it’s like every solo could be your last one. So make it count.

It seems with the “O’ Brother Where Art Thou” Soundtrack, bluegrass has really come into fashion. What do you think has drawn the mainstream to that project in particular?

I really think that the reason that that record did so well was because of the timing of when it came out. It had a movie attached to it and there was already a bluegrass music swell happening.

Music is a cyclical thing. It starts with the roots and then becomes more produced and slick and pop and then everybody reaches the saturation point with that and then it starts all over again. I’ve seen that happen in Nashville about 5 times since I’ve lived there which has been about 20 years now. [laughs]

Yeah, definitely.

I think that all of 9/11 had a lot to do with it also. People were starting over and refiguring everything. I think that this kind of music falls right into that category. During the couple months after the Twin Towers going down, bible sales went up and country music sales went down. But this record blew the doors off. You know 2 or 3 million copies and I think it was because people wanted to get back to square one. The music on that record is simple music. It’s simple to absorb and very accessible to anybody. It’s a good way to start over. I think that it’s still going on. Everybody’s still trying to figure stuff out and I think that this music is very comforting to them.

That’s my theory on its popularity. But its also just good music, there’s no way to discount it.

It seems like there is a growing mix between lots of genres, especially on summer festivals. There’s bluegrass bands, improvisational rock, jazz, pop, and some rap groups. Have you seen this breaking down of musical barriers in the past or is this a new thing?

Well one of the first festivals I ever went to was a bluegrass festival in Virginia and there were about 20 bands on the bill that day. One of the bands was New Grass Revival (boundry pushing bluegrass band founded by Sam Bush and John Cowan), which at that point was what Jam Bands are now, to a bluegrass festival. They put them on late at night, when they thought that all of the traditional bluegrass people wouldn’t want to come. And these guys were completely irreverent bluegrass, very rock infused. But that was what I wanted to see. That was the first time that I saw it happen.

But now everyone wants to push it on. It’s interesting to see 50 and 60-year-old people out there watching someone like String Cheese Incident play and they like it. People are much more open minded these days, and the festivals fall right in there with that. Its going to continue to get better and better. At a bluegrass festival, when I play with Jorma Kaukonen and Earl Scruggs on the same day that’s a great thing. Its just music you know.

Actually I think that Cake is on the bill at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival this year. [Laughs].

Well a few years ago, Hootie and the Blowfish wanted to do Merlefest and there was this huge uprising on the Internet of “NO, don’t let those guys come and ruin our festival.”

But those guys are huge bluegrass fans. Sam Bush told me that he remembers Darius Rucker (lead singer for Hootie and the Blowfish) being in the front row at new grass concerts all the time. And the musicians knew that, but there is no way to tell some of these people, that it’s alright, these people aren’t going to take anything away from you.

You’ve won so many awards and played with so many people, what have been some of your personal highlights of your career?

JD and Alison Krauss

I’m also really looking forward to bringing my band out because it’s going to be my music that were playing. I’m finally ready to do it.

Well I love your new album a lot. I think it is very accessible to a whole spectrum of people. I will be excited to see you on the road.

What can we look forward to from Jerry Douglas in the upcoming year?

Well there is a good chance that I’ll be working with String Cheese Incident in the next year on a record, producing something for them. And I’m really looking forward to just getting out there and playing. That summer tours going to be a real grind on us, but it should be so much fun as well.

Well I can’t wait to check it out.