(HUDSON, N.Y.) – Jerry Douglas, whose name is practically synonymous with the resonator guitar called the Dobro, and whose playing has been heard on over 2,000 albums, garnering him 13 Grammy Awards, three Country Music Association’s ‘Musician of the Year’ awards, a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Americana Music Association, performs his singular brand of roots music at Club Helsinki Hudson on Wednesday, August 6, at 8pm.
In addition to being widely recognized as the foremost master of the Dobro, Jerry Douglas is a freewheeling, forward-thinking recording artist whose work incorporates elements of bluegrass, country, rock, jazz, blues and Celtic into his distinctive musical vision.
Anyone who has been reading album liner notes since the 1970s is familiar with the name Jerry Douglas, who has lent his musicianship to artists as varied as Garth Brooks, Ray Charles, Elvis Costello, John Fogerty, Bill Frisell, Charlie Haden, Emmylou Harris, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Phish, Mumford & Sons, and the Chieftains, as well as the eight-million-plus selling soundtrack to “O Brother, Where Art Thou?” As a producer, Douglas has helmed albums by such notable acts as the Del McCoury Band, Maura O’Connell, Jesse Winchester and the Nashville Bluegrass Band.
Since 1998, Douglas has been a member of Alison Krauss and Union Station, touring extensively and playing on a series of platinum-selling albums. When not on the road with Alison Krauss and Union Station, Douglas tours with his band in support of his extensive body of work.
The Ohio-born Douglas began playing Dobro at the age of eight, after his father — a steelworker who played bluegrass in his spare time — brought him to a Flatt and Scruggs concert, where he was entranced by the sound of Dobro player Josh Graves. After playing with his dad’s group the West Virginia Travelers for several years, a 17-year-old Douglas joined the pioneering progressive-bluegrass band the Country Gentlemen in 1973. Two years later, he became a member of the seminal J.D. Crowe and the New South, which also included future solo stars Ricky Skaggs and Tony Rice. In 1976, Douglas and Skaggs co-founded the now-legendary bluegrass combo Boone Creek. In the late 1980s, he formed the acoustic supergroup Strength in Numbers with Sam Bush, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Mark O’Connor.
A Dobro-style resonator guitar uses a single inverted metal cone to produce and project its sound, instead of a wooden top face. Its distinctive sound is often favored by bluegrass, country, and blues artists.
For reservations in The Restaurant or in the club call 518.828.4800.