Jerry Douglas
Dobro master and 16-time GRAMMY winner Jerry Douglas is to the resonator guitar what Jimi Hendrix was to the electric guitar, elevating, transforming, and reinventing the instrument in countless ways. Additionally, Douglas is a freewheeling, forward-thinking recording and touring artist whose output incorporates elements of country, bluegrass, rock, jazz, blues, and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision.
Called “Dobro’s matchless contemporary master” by The New York Times, three-time CMA Musician of the Year award recipient Jerry Douglas is one of the most innovative recording artists in music as a solo artist, band leader for The Jerry Douglas Band and his GRAMMY winning bluegrass band The Earls of Leicester, as well as a member of groundbreaking ensembles including Alison Krauss & Union Station, J.D. Crowe & the New South, The Country Gentlemen, Boone Creek, and Strength In Numbers.
Bluegrass Concerto
With a FreshGrass Commission, Jerry Douglas created the bluegrass concertos “The Fifth Season,” which was debuted live at 2024 FreshGrass | North Adams at MASS MoCA and appears on the album “The Set.” Hear from Jerry directly about the process of creating this concerto:
“Every year the music festival, FreshGrass at MASS MoCA, commissions two or three artists to write special concertos for the festival. I had witnessed another commission during a previous year of Aoife O’Donovan’s effort to reimagine the music for a silent film. I got really excited about possibly doing one of those, then FreshGrass asked for this format instead, which I was excited to do.
I had never written anything as structurally founded as a concerto. So “The Fifth Season” was a very special challenge for me. I quickly had the beginning and the end, but what would lie in the middle was a mystery. Mike Seal came over and we started brainstorming other ideas for what the shape should be and what surprises we could plant inside. Once we had the central theme, we, as an ensemble, wrote different sections that would juxtapose that theme and totally change the feel to take the listener on a little trip around the block. That trip included stripped down sections allowing a vulnerable, soft passage leading to a rhythmically tougher, pounding area, and even into our Bluegrass roots for a bit, finally circling back to the main theme and a placid scene to end on.”